298 Marlborough is located on the south side of Marlborough, between Fairfield and Gloucester, with 296 Marlborough to the east and 300 Marlborough to the west.

298 Marlborough was built in 1878-1879 by Goldthwait & Chapin, builders, for building contractor Samuel Tarbell Ames, for speculative sale, one of two contiguous houses (298-300 Marlborough).  Samuel Ames is shown as the owner on the original building permit application for the two houses, dated September 16, 1878; no architect is indicated.

The houses were built on land owned by Samuel T. Ames’s son, Harvard law professor James Barr Ames. He had purchased both lots on March 1, 1878, from Carrie E. (Ellis) Evans, the widow of Franklin Evans. Franklin Evans had purchased the property on April 19, 1871, from the estate of Sidney Homer. The land originally was part of one of several parcels purchased from the Boston Water Power Company on January 29, 1866, by a real estate investment trust formed by John Templeman Coolidge, Franklin Evans, and Charles Henry Parker. The trust had subdivided the property into lots, which it sold to investors and builders, who then frequently resold the lots to others.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 298 Marlborough, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Marlborough and Alley 427, from Fairfield to Gloucester.

On March 15, 1879, 298 Marlborough was purchased from James B. Ames by wholesale boot and shoe merchant Gilman Bradford DuBois. He and his wife, Ellen Laura (Griswold) DuBois lived at the Hotel Brunswick (southeast corner of Clarendon and Boylston). Their son, Loren Griswold DuBois, a lawyer who had graduated from Harvard Law School in 1878, lived with them. They previously had lived at 103 Beacon.

Loren DuBois married in June of 1879 to Mary Hurlbut Miles and they made 298 Marlborough their home. His parents continued to live at the Hotel Brunswick until their deaths, Ellen DuBois in October of 1880 and Gilman DuBois in June of 1895. Loren DuBois inherited 298 Marlborough from his father.

Loren and Mary DuBois continued to live at 298 Marlborough during the 1900-1901 winter season, but moved thereafter to 405 Commonwealth.

On April 6, 1901, 298 Marlborough was purchased from Loren DuBois by Elizabeth (LeBourgeois) Crockett, the wife of Dr. Eugene A. Crockett. They had married in July of 1900, and had lived briefly at 5 Chestnut.  Eugene Crockett was a physician and ear, nose, and throat specialist.  Prior to his marriage, he had lived at 226 Marlborough with Dr. Clarence John Blake and his wife, Frances (Hughes) Blake.  Dr. Crockett continued to maintain his office there until about 1906, which he moved his office to 298 Marlborough.

The Crocketts also maintained a home in Ipswich.

In August of 1925, Dr. Crockett applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling and doctor’s office into a two-family dwelling and doctor’s office.

Thereafter, the Crocketts leased the second unit to various short-term tenants.  Among the tenants were Susan (Shattuck) Cabot, the widow of Dr. Arthur Tracy Cabot, during the 1925-1926 winter season and again during the 1929-1930 season, and Rev. Erville B. Maynard, vicar at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and his wife, Ann (Rogers) Maynard, during the 1931-1932 season.

Eugene Crockett died in June of 1932, and Elizabeth Crockett moved soon thereafter, probably making Ipswich her year-round home.

The Crocketts’ sons, David Charles Crockett and Frederick E. Crockett, continued to live at 298 Marlborough.  Frederick Crockett had been a member of Admiral Byrd’s expedition to Antarctica in 1928-1930 and Mount Crockett in Antarctica is named in his honor.  He continued to live at 298 Marlborough until about 1934.

Rev. and Mrs. Maynard also continued to live at 298 Marlborough.  By the 1932-1933 winter season, they were joined by Rev. Rex Stowers Clements, who had been named pastor of the Church of the Covenant in October of 1932.  He previously had been assistant minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.

The Maynards had moved by the 1933-1934 winter season, probably to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he became rector of Grace Episcopal Church.  Rex Stowers Clements married in June of 1933 to Marian Katharine Hutchison, field secretary of the Presbyterian Board of National Missions.  After their marriage, they lived in Jamaica Plain.

By the mid-1930s, the number of apartments at 298 Marlborough appears to have increased to three or four based on entries in the Lists of Residents.

On May 11, 1935, Elizabeth Crockett transferred 298 Marlborough to the Institution for Savings in Roxbury and its Vicinity. The bank held a mortgage on the property and the transfer appears to have been in lieu of foreclosure. The deed was not recorded until May 11, 1938, and Elizabeth Crockett remained the assessed owner until 1939.

David Crockett continued to live in one of the apartments at 298 Marlborough. In about 1939, Elizabeth Crockett resumed living there as well as in Ipswich. She continued to live there and in Ipswich until her death in March of 1959.

During World War II, David Crockett served as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services.  After the war, he joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital, becoming deputy to the General Director.  He married in the late 1940s to Marion Yates, and they continued to live at 298 Marlborough until about 1949.

Elizabeth Crockett continued to live at 298 Marlborough and in Ipswich until her death in March of 1959.

By 1941, one of the apartments at 298 Marlborough was the home of investment banker Edward Nicoll Fenno, Jr., and his wife, novelist Rosamond (Tucker) Fenno.  They had married in June of 1940, and 298 Marlborough probably was their first home together.  Prior to their marriage, he had lived at 450 Beacon.  They also maintained a home in Falmouth and later in St. James, Barbados.  They continued to live at 298 Marlborough until about 1946.

On May 31, 1945, 298 Marlborough was purchased from the Institution for Savings in Roxbury by Elmer Percy Crooker, Jr., trustee of the Bailey Trust. He was a restaurant operator. In 1944, he lived in Reading; by 1946, he lived in an apartment at 290 Marlborough.

On May 10, 1946, 298 Marlborough was purchased from Elmer Crooker, Jr., by Howland Shaw Warren, an attorney with the Old Colony Trust Company. He and his wife, Margaret Holyoke (Turner) Warren, lived in one of the apartments.  They had married that year and previously lived in Cambridge.  They continued to live at 298 Marlborough until about 1950.

On May 26, 1950, 298 Marlborough was purchased from Howland Warren by Alton F. Tupper, Jr., trustee of the Legate Trust.

In June of 1950, Street & Company, a real estate management firm acting on behalf of Alton Tupper, filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into five apartments.

On October 1, 1964, 398 Marlborough was purchased from Alton Tupper, Jr., by real estate dealer Edward L. Britt.

On December 20, 1965, 298 Marlborough was acquired from Edward Britt by Pierre Louis de Bourgknecht.

On July 8, 1985, 298 Marlborough was acquired from Pierre de Bourgknecht by John R. Giles, trustee of the 298 Marlborough Street Realty Trust. That same month, the trust filed for permission to legalize the occupancy as six apartments, asserting that was the existing condition. It abandoned the application.

On December 19, 1985, the trust converted the property into six condominium units, the 298 Marlborough Street Condominium.