15 Commonwealth is located on the north side of Commonwealth, between Arlington and Berkeley, with 13 Commonwealth to the east and 17 Commonwealth to the west.

15 Commonwealth was designed by Snell and Gregerson, architects, and built in 1865-1866 by Standish & Woodbury, masons and builders, for William Dudley Pickman and his wife, Caroline (Silsbee) Pickman.

William Pickman purchased the land for 15 Commonwealth on February 10, 1863, from Richard Codman. It had changed hands previously several times, and originally was part of a larger tract that had been purchased from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on May 2, 1860, by shipping merchant and US Congressman Samuel Hooper. The tract extended west from the lot where 11 Commonwealth would be built to the corner of Commonwealth and Berkeley.  Samuel Hooper and his wife, Anne (Sturgis) Hooper, built their home on the corner lot, at 27 Commonwealth.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 15 Commonwealth, and click here for further information about the land between the north side of Commonwealth and Alley 422, from Arlington to Berkeley.

On May 15, 1865, Standish & Woodbury filed with the Board of Alderman a Notice of Intention to build on William Pickman’s land. Construction probably started soon thereafter.

On September 8, 1865, Boston Evening Transcript article reported Snell and Gregerson were “constructing a magnificent residence for Mr. Wm. D. Pickman, Esq., on Commonwealth avenue. It has a front of 50 feet, a depth of 58, is three stories high, built of brick with freestone trimmings. The entrance steps are 17 feet wide and the vestibule 9 feet 8 inches square, paved with marble. Beyond the vestibule is a very large hall with niches for statuary, and from this hall a grand stairway leads to the upper story. On the first floor are very large library, drawing and dining-rooms. Near the centre of the building is an area extending to the second floor, thereby affording plenty of light and air to the interior. The whole building is to be finished in heavy black walnut.” On October 24, 1865, the Transcript reported that the house was “fast approaching completion.”

The Pickmans previously had lived in Salem, where William Pickman was a shipping merchant in his family’s firm. He had succeeded his father (who died in 1846) and moved the firm to Boston in the mid-1860s. William and Caroline Pickman also maintained a home in Beverly.

The Pickmans’ two children – Dudley Leavitt Pickman and Fanny Pickman – lived with them.

Fanny Pickman married in October of 1877 to William Fisher Wharton of 127 Beacon, an attorney who later would serve as Assistant Secretary of State in the Benjamin Harrison Administration. After their marriage, they lived at 18 Marlborough and then at 133 Commonwealth. She died in October of 1880, their only child, William Pickman Wharton having been born two months earlier.

Dudley Leavitt Pickman was a partner with his father in his family’s shipping merchant firm. He married in May of 1884 to Ellen Rodman Motley of 22 Commonwealth. After their marriage, they lived at the Hotel Agassiz at 191 Commonwealth and then at 98 Beacon.

William Pickman died in February of 1890. In his will, he left 15 Commonwealth and the home in Beverly to his wife, property on Summer Street to Dudley Pickman, and the residue of his estate in trust for the benefit of his wife, their son, Dudley, and their grandson, William P. Wharton. He named Dudley Pickman, William F. Wharton, and Walter Hunnewell as trustees.

Caroline Pickman continued to live at 15 Commonwealth until her death in February of 1898.

On June 29, 1898, 15 Commonwealth was purchased from the estate of Caroline Pickman by Oliver Ames.  He and his wife, Elise Alger (West) Ames, made it their Boston home.  During the 1895-1896 winter season, they had lived at 151 Commonwealth.  They also maintained a home in North Easton.

Oliver Ames was treasurer of Oliver Ames & Sons, the pick and shovel business founded by his great-grandfather in North Easton, and an investor in real estate, railroads, and other businesses.  He was known as Oliver Ames, II, until the death in 1895 of his father’s first cousin, former Governor Oliver Ames, who had lived at 355 Commonwealth.

After acquiring 15 Commonwealth, the Ameses remodeled the house, including adding a four-story bay in the rear and an additional story for servants’ rooms, set back behind the existing balustrade and with a mansard roof. The remodeling was designed by architects Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge. They also had the interiors remodeled extensively by architect and interior designer Ogden Codman, Jr.

Oliver and Elise Ames raised their four children – Elise, Olivia, Oliver, Jr., and Richard – at 15 Commonwealth.

Oliver and Elise Ames continued to maintain a home in North Easton and in 1904 had another home built in Pride’s Crossing, High Wall, designed by Ogden Codman, Jr.

Elise Ames married in August of 1917 to William Amory Parker, who was in training at the US Army’s officer training school in Plattsburg, New York. After his discharge from the Army, they lived at 30 Marlborough. He was a bond broker and later a mutual fund executive.

Oliver Ames, Jr., married in October of 1917 to Caroline Lee Fessenden of Newton. At the time of their marriage, he was serving as a lieutenant in the US Army stationed at the aviation training camp in Mineola, Long Island. In July of 1918, he was killed in action in France.

Richard Ames left Harvard in 1918, in his junior year, to enlist in the US Army. He served until mid-1919, after which he lived with his parents at 15 Commonwealth while working as a draftsman with Bigelow and Wadsworth, architects. In about 1924 he moved to Paris where he was a musician and composer.

Olivia Ames married in June of 1927 to Henry Bromfield Cabot, Jr., a lawyer. After their marriage, they lived in Needham.

Oliver Ames died in June of 1929. Elise Ames continued to live at 15 Commonwealth until her death in December of 1945.

On June 30, 1946, 15 Commonwealth was purchased from the Ames family by Frederick J. Bashaw, and on November 6, 1946, he sold the property to the Boston Business Institute, of which he was president.

In February of 1947, the Institute applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling into a school to be operated by the Boston Business Institute’s School of Real Estate Practice. Plans for the remodeling, designed by architect William Hoskins Brown – including floor plans, a rear elevation, and fire escape plans – are included in the City of Boston Blueprints Collection in the Boston City Archives (reference BIN R-78).

On October 16, 1951, 15 Commonwealth was acquired from the Boston Institute (formerly the Boston Business Institute) by the Boston Institute Real Estate Trust, and on November 14. 1951, it transferred the property to the Institute Realty Trust.  According to The History and Architecture of #15 Commonwealth Avenue, by Frances Ackerly and William C. Ackerly (October 30, 1995), the new owners planned to convert the property into an embalming school.

On December 4, 1952, 15 Commonwealth was acquired from the Institute Realty Trust by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.  It previously was located at 82 Marlborough.

In November of 1952, prior to completion of the sale (and probably as a condition for its completion), the Institute Realty Trust applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the building for use by the society.

The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute formally occupied the building on February 28, 1953.  In 1972 and 1985, it further remodeled the interior to accommodate the society’s changing requirements.

On September 30, 1987, the society transferred the property to the BPSI Supporting Corporation.  The society continued to be located there until 2012, when it moved to Newton Centre.

On March 27, 2012, Thomas E. Peckham, trustee of the 15 Commonwealth Avenue Trust, purchased 15 Commonwealth from the BPSI Supporting Corporation.

In July of 2012, Thomas Peckham applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert 15 Commonwealth back into a single-family dwelling and to install an interior garage.

The property was assessed as a single-family dwelling in 2023.