235 Marlborough is located on the north side of Marlborough, between Exeter and Fairfield, with 233 Marlborough to the east and 237 Marlborough to the west.

235 Marlborough was built in 1875-1876 for building contractor George Wheatland, Jr., one of four contiguous houses (233-235-237-239 Marlborough), designed as two sets of symmetrical pairs.

On November 14, 1874, the Boston Globe reported that George Wheatland, Jr., had been issued a building permit for the four houses. Construction may have started soon thereafter, but probably was delayed until the spring. In his Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, Bainbridge Bunting indicates that these houses were built in 1874. However, based on the date of the permit and references to them in advertisements and deeds, it appears that they were completed in 1876.

233-235-237-239 Marlborough were built on the eastern 66.67 feet of a 75 foot wide parcel of land that George Wheatland, Jr., purchased as three 25 foot lots at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’s public sale on March 2, 1872. On May 3, 1873, he transferred the Commonwealth’s bonds securing his right to purchase the lots to Eben Dyer Jordan and Charles Marsh, co-partners in the dry goods firm of Jordan, Marsh & Co. On November 25, 1876, after the houses were built, they transferred the bonds back to him, and on November 28, 1876, he purchased the land from the Commonwealth.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 235 Marlborough, and click here for further information about the land between the north side of Marlborough and Alley 417, from Exeter to Fairfield.

None of the four houses sold, and on February 28, 1877, George Wheatland, Jr., transferred the 75 foot lot and “four new dwelling houses thereon” back to Eben D. Jordan and Charles Marsh. They sold the houses between September of 1878 and January of 1881, and in September of 1881 sold the remaining 8.33 foot lot to the west to real estate dealer Samuel Horatio Whitwell.

235 Marlborough was not listed in the 1876-1877 Blue Books.

By the 1877-1878 winter season, 235 Marlborough was the home of merchant and cotton broker Walter Dabney and his wife, Harriet Heath (Larkin) Dabney.  They previously had lived in Brookline. They continued to live at 235 Marlborough during the 1879-1880 winter season, but moved thereafter to 331 Beacon.

235 Marlborough was not listed in the 1881 Blue Book.

On January 1, 1881, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Eben D. Jordan and Charles Marsh by Margaret Cushing (Pearmain) Osgood, the wife of Dr. Hamilton Osgood, a physician. They previously had lived at 499 Shawmut.

They continued to live at 235 Marlborough during the 1883-1884 winter season. In 1885, they traveled to Europe, where Dr. Osgood studied with Louis Pasteur.  They returned in mid-1886, after which they lived at 95 Mt. Vernon.  He brought with him samples of the rabies antitoxin developed by Pasteur; these formed the bases for research and development of the antitoxin in America.

The Osgoods lived at 95 Mt. Vernon until the 1894-1895 winter season, when they moved to an apartment at 295 Commonwealth. By 1899 they were living at 388 Beacon. Hamilton Osgood died in July of 1907; Margaret Osgood continued to own 235 Marlborough and lease it to others. She lived with her son-in-law and daughter, Fiske Warren and Gretchen (Osgood) Warren, at 8 Mt. Vernon Place. and with her son-in-law and daughter, Robert Erskine Childers and Mary Alden (Osgood) Childers, in London.

By the 1884-1885 winter season, 235 Marlborough was the home and office of Dr. Samuel Augustus Hopkins, Jr.  He was listed as a physician in the City Directories for 1885-1901, but by 1902 was listed as a dentist.

Dr. Hopkins also provided office space at 235 Marlborough to other doctors and dentists, and accepted lodgers.

During the 1888-1889 winter season, he was joined by attorney Charles Henry Fiske, a widower, and his son, Charles, Jr., who was entering Harvard in 1889. Their primary residence was in Weston.

During the 1889-1890 season, architect Edgar Allan Poe Newcomb was a lodger at 235 Marlborough. He previously had lived at The Pinckney at 94 Pinckney.  He was joined by his half-sister, Mrs. Sarah Louise Newcomb, the former wife of Hendric Morris Frederick von Stamp, whose surname she did not use.  They also maintained a home, The Two Stacks, in North Scituate, which they had made their year-round residence by 1891.

Charles Fiske once again was a lodger at 235 Marlborough during the 1891-1892 winter season. His usual residence continued to be in Weston.

Samuel Hopkins married in January of 1898 to Harriet (Woodworth) Sherman, the former wife of Adelbert C. Sherman. Her son, Nathaniel Woodworth Sherman, lived with them. He was adopted by Samuel Hopkins and took the surname Hopkins. They continued to live at 235 Marlborough during the 1902-1903 winter season, but moved thereafter to 49 Hereford.   He continued to maintain his dental practice at 235 Marlborough.

By 1904, 235 was the home and dental office of Dr. Arthur William Doubleday. He previously had lived in Springfield, Massachusetts. He married in June of 1904 to Nellie Louise Cotton of Windsor, Vermont, and they made 235 Marlborough their home. They continued to live there during the 1904-1905 winter season, but moved thereafter to 313 Marlborough.

Harriet Hopkins died in April of 1907, and by 1910 Samuel Hopkins moved from 49 Hereford back to 235 Marlborough, where he had continued to maintain his dental office.  His adopted step-son, Nathaniel Woodworth Hopkins, a student at Harvard, lived with him until his graduation in 1911, after which he moved to Arkansas and became a lumber merchant.

By 1911, Samuel Hopkins was living at 49 Hereford again, but by 1912 he had moved back to 235 Marlborough.  By 1914, he was living at 924 Beacon and 325 Marlborough was entirely medical offices, including Dr. Hopkins’s office.

In June of 1915, Dr. Hopkins joined the second Harvard Unit and traveled to England to work with the British hospital forces providing medical aid in France and Belgium.  He appears to have returned by November of 1915, when he purchased 400 Marlborough and made it both his home and office.

By the 1916-1917 winter season, 235 Marlborough was the home of Joseph G. Stearns, a widower, and his two unmarried daughters, Margaret Eldredge Stearns and Mildred Bangs Stearns.  They previously had lived at The Abbotsford at 186 Commonwealth.  He was vice president of the Old Colony Trust Company.

Joseph Stearns died in May of 1917 and his daughters moved back to The Abbotsford.

By the 1917-1918 winter season. 235 Marlborough was the home of Caroline Estelle (Mudge) Lawrence, widow of James Lawrence.  She previously had lived at 79 Mt. Vernon.  She also maintained a home, The Homestead, in Groton, Massachusetts.  She continued to live at 235 Marlborough during the 1919-1920 winter season, but moved thereafter. She died in January of 1921 at her apartment in the Lenox Hotel at 61 Exeter.

During the 1920-1921 winter season, 235 Marlborough was once again the home of Margaret and Mildred Stearns.  In the fall of 1921, they traveled abroad.

On July 1, 1921, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Margaret Osgood by Miss Mary Dorr and Miss Elise Dorr, sisters.  They previously had lived at 45 Commonwealth with their mother, Mary Louisa (Stanwood) Dorr, the widow of cotton broker Ellerton Lodge Dorr.  She had died in January of 1921.

Mary Dorr died in November of 1926.  Elise Dorr continued to live at 235 Marlborough until 1952. By 1953 she was living in an apartment at 270 Beacon.

On October 30, 1953, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Elise Dorr by James Vincent Adley and his wife, Rose Ann (McGovern) Adley.   They previously had lived in Roxbury.

In October of 1954, they applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the interior.  At that time, the house was a single-family dwelling and lodging house.  In August of 1959, they applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the house into a two-family dwelling and lodging house.

James Adley died in January of 1980.  Rose Ann Adley continued to live at 235 Marlborough and operate it as a lodging house.

On January 29, 1996, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Rose Ann Adley, by then a resident of the Bronx, by Kim L. Flood. In March of 1996, she applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a two-family dwelling and lodging house into a single-family dwelling. On November 12, 1997, Kim Flood transferred the property to herself and David Asprinio.

On November 12, 1997, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Kim Flood and David Asprinio by Paul Warren and his wife, Michi Warren. On December 16, 1999, they transferred the property to themselves as trustees of The Warren Realty Trust.

On April 28, 2004, Mitchell E. Harris purchased 235 Marlborough from the Paul and Michi Warren.

On May 9, 2012, 235 Marlborough was purchased from Mitchell Harris and his wife, Jacqueline M. Harris, by the GPM-LRM, LLC (Amelia L. McCarthy and C. Richard Beyda, managers).

The property was assessed as a single-family dwelling in 2022.