114 Marlborough is located on the south side of Marlborough, between Clarendon and Dartmouth, with 112 Marlborough to the east and 116 Marlborough to the west.

114 Marlborough was built in 1868 by Ivory Harmon, mason and builder, for Charles William Freeland, one of eleven contiguous houses (110-130 Marlborough) built for speculative sale on a parcel with a 198 foot frontage. Charles Freeland was a merchant, cotton manufacturer, and real estate developer. He and his wife, Sarah Ward (Harrington) Freeland, lived at 117 Beacon.

The eleven houses are arranged in a symmetrical composition, with two houses at each end of the group (110-112 Marlborough and 128-130 Marlborough) on 19 foot wide lots with bays which carry into the mansard roof, two pairs of intermediate houses (114-116 Marlborough and 124-126 Marlborough) on 17 foot 8 inch lots with oriel windows, and a central grouping of three houses (118-120-122 Marlborough), with 118 Marlborough and 122 Marlborough on 17 foot 8 inch lots and 120 Marlborough on a 16 foot lot.

Click here for a composite image of 110-130 Marlborough illustrating the symmetrical composition, assembled from several photographs taken in March of 2013.

The land for 110-130 Marlborough was sold by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at its public auction on April 9, 1863, as six 25 foot lots and two 24 foot lots. Dwight Foster, an attorney, was the successful bidder for five of the 25 foot lots, and Dr. John Cauldwell Foster, a physician, was the successful bidder for the sixth 25 foot lot and the two 24 foot lots. Charles Freeland subsequently acquired their rights to purchase the land and, on March 28, 1868, the Boston Daily Advertiser reported that he had begun construction of the eleven houses. He purchased and took title to the land from the Commonwealth on October 26, 1868, as they were approaching completion.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 114 Marlborough, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Marlborough and Alley 424, from Clarendon to Dartmouth.

In August of 1868, while the houses were under construction, Charles Freeland offered them for sale as a group. An August 10, 1868, advertisement in the Boston Traveller by real estate dealer John Jeffries, Jr., described them as “a block of 11 houses now being erected on Marlborough street. These houses are to be built in the most thorough manner, under the supervision of Mr. Ivory Harmon. They vary in size and price, and are intended to meet the present demand for medium-priced houses in a good locality. The horse cars are to pass within one hundred feet.”

The advertisement continued to run in October of 1868 (and possibly later), but the houses ultimately were sold to individual buyers.

On June 20, 1869, 114 Marlborough was purchased from Charles Freeland by the trustees under the will of Samuel Frothingham for the benefit of his daughter, Mary Eliza (Frothingham) Robbins, the wife of Rev. Chandler Robbins.  It became Chandler and Mary Eliza Robbins’s home. They previously had lived at 85 Pinckney. They also maintained a home in Weston.  In August of 1869, their son-in-law and daughter, Edward Crosby Johnson and Alice Trevett (Robbins) Johnson, purchased and moved to 118 Marlborough.

Chandler Robbins was minister of the Second Church (Unitarian), located on Bedford Street until the early 1870s, when it moved to Copley Square (on Boylston between Clarendon and Dartmouth).  He retired at about the time the new church was dedicated in 1874.

Mary Eliza Robbins died in June of 1870.  Chandler Robbins continued to live at 114 Marlborough and, in January of 1874, he remarried to Sarah Ripley (Fiske) Willard, the widow of Sidney Willard (who was killed in the Civil War).  Prior to their marriage, she had lived with her mother, Hannah Rogers (Bradford) Fiske, at 36 Commonwealth.  Sarah (Fiske) Willard’s brother, Charles Henry Fiske, had been married to Chandler Robbins’s daughter, Cornelia Frothingham Robbins, who had died in February of 1872.

Chandler Robbins died in September of 1882.

On October 11, 1882, the trustees under Samuel Frothingham’s will transferred 114 Marlborough to the four surviving children of Chandler and Mary Eliza (Frothingham) Robbins — Mary Eliza (Robbins) Hill, the wife of Hamilton A. Hill; Abby (Robbins) Hooper, the wife of Nathaniel L. Hooper; Alice Trevett (Robbins) Johnson, the wife of Edward Crosby Johnson; and Maria Louisa (Robbins) Davis, the wife of Edward Livingston Davis – and to Charles Henry Fiske, Jr., the son of Chandler and Mary Eliza Robbins’s deceased daughter, Cornelia Frothingham (Robbins) Fiske.

Sarah Robbins continued to live at 114 Marlborough.

During the 1885-1886 winter season, Sarah Robbins was living elsewhere and 114 Marlborough was the home of Dr. Elbridge Gerry Cutler, a physician. He previously had lived and maintained his offices at 91 Boylston. He married in October of 1886 to Fannie Gore Bradford; after their marriage, they lived at 275 Clarendon.

By the 1886-1887 winter season, Sarah Robbins resumed living at 114 Marlborough. She continued to live there during the 1895-1896 season, but moved thereafter to an apartment at 405 Marlborough.

Charles Henry Fiske, Jr., married Mary Duncan Thorndike in June of 1895. That same month, through a series of transactions, he acquired 114 Marlborough from the other heir of Chandler and Mary Eliza (Frothingham) Robbins who held interests in the property.

Charles Fiske, Jr., graduated from Harvard Law School in 1896 and entered practice in Boston. After Sarah Robbins had moved, Charles and Mary Fiske made 114 Marlborough their home. They also maintained a home in Weston.

The Fiskes continued to live at 114 Marlborough in 1904, but had moved to 39 Bay State Road by 1905..

By the 1904-1905 winter season, 114 Marlborough was the home of Dr. Daniel Fiske Jones and his wife, Mary Haughton (Richardson) Jones. They previously had lived at The Grosvenor at 261 Beacon.

Daniel Fiske Jones was a noted surgeon who specialized in colon and rectal cancer.  In a Spring, 2008, Harvard Medial Alumni Bulletin article, “Sistine Scalpel,” by Anthony S. Patton, he was described as “a brilliant surgeon” who “knew how to make an entrance” and “visited local hospitals in a chauffeured Pierce-Arrow, often followed by another large chariot carrying his scrub nurses and other assistants.”  Mary Haughton Jones was the daughter of the noted architect, Henry Hobson Richardson.

They continued to live at 114 Marlborough during the 1908-1909 winter season, but moved thereafter to 195 Beacon.

On April 9, 1909, 114 Marlborough was purchased from Charles Fiske, Jr., by Martha Tucker (Washburn) Folsom, the widow of Dr. Charles Follen Folsom. She previously had lived at 15 Marlborough.

Her unmarried sisters-in-law, Anna Folsom and Ellen Minot Folsom, lived with her.

On April 3, 1916, Martha Folsom transferred 114 Marlborough to attorney John M. Maguire, probably to hold on her behalf while she was traveling.

During the 1916-1917 winter season, Martha Folsom and her sisters-in-law were “in the South” (according to the 1917 Blue Book) and 114 Marlborough was the home of lawyer and real estate trustee Robert Treat Paine, Jr., who previously had lived at 55 Commonwealth. He was a widower, his wife, Marie Louise (Mattingly) Paine, having died in July of 1916.

By the 1917-1918 winter season, Robert Treat Paine, Jr., was living at 55 Commonwealth once again, and 114 Marlborough was again the home of Mrs. Folsom and her sisters-in-law. They also maintained a home on Nantucket.

On April 3, 1918, John Maguire transferred 114 Marlborough back to Martha Folsom, the deed specifying that she was to have the use of the property during her life, and thereafter was to be for the use of Anna S. Folsom and Ellen M. Folsom

Ellen Folsom died in March of 1926 and Martha Folsom died in July of 1927. Anna Folsom moved soon thereafter, probably to Weston where she died in October of 1928.

114 Marlborough was not listed in the 1928 Blue Book.

On January 12, 1928, 114 Marlborough was acquired from Anna Folsom and from the trustees under Charles Follen Folsom’s will by Joseph Frank Brown, a real estate and insurance broker, and his sister, Martha Thacher Brown.

114 Marlborough became their home and the home of their parents, Joseph T. Brown, Jr., and Irene Thacher (Jenney) Brown. They all previously had lived at 1 Marlborough.

Joseph T. Brown, Jr., was a druggist in his father’s firm and later trustee of his father’s estate.

Joseph T. Brown, Jr., died in March of 1929. Irene Brown continued to live at 114 Marlborough until her death in November of 1933.

In 1934, Joseph Frank Brown married to Marian H. Swan; after their marriage, they lived in Cambridge. Martha Brown continued to live at 114 Marlborough during the 1934-1935 winter season, but moved soon thereafter, also to Cambridge.

114 Marlborough was not listed in the 1936 and 1937 Blue Books, was shown as vacant in the 1935 and 1936 City Directories, and was not listed in the 1935-1936 Lists of Residents.

On April 27, 1936, 114 Marlborough was acquired from Joseph F. Brown and Martha Brown by Ingeborg G. Nielsen. She previously had lived at 11 Irvington.

In March of 1937, she applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling into a lodging house.

In July of 1937, she acquired 112 Marlborough, and in January of 1938, she applied for (and subsequently received) permission to change the legal occupancy of 112 Marlborough from a single-family dwelling into a lodging house, and to cut doors in the party wall to connect the two buildings.

Ingeborg Nielsen continued to live at 114 Marlborough and operate the two properties as a lodging house until the early 1950s.

On October 4, 1951, 112-114 Marlborough were acquired from Ingeborg Nielsen by Walter H. Eldredge. He died in February of 1952.

On September 21, 1954, 112-114 Marlborough were acquired from the estate of Walter Eldredge by Miss Grace (Grajia) J. Inferrera. She lived at 112 Marlborough and operated both properties as lodging houses.

On October 27, 1964, 112-114 Marlborough were acquired from Grace Inferrera by Frederick Rosenbaum, trustee of the Clark Realty Trust.

112-114 Marlborough subsequently changed hands, remaining lodging houses, and on April 18, 1978, were purchased by real estate broker and investor Patrick J. Glynn. On January 22, 1991, he transferred the property to himself and his wife, Anne T. Glynn, as trustees of the 112-114 Marlborough Street Trust, and on December 31, 1991, they transferred 112 and 114 Marlborough to Glynn Realty Associates II, LP.

112-114 Marlborough remained lodging houses in 2016.