3 Exeter is located on the west side of Exeter, between Beacon and Marlborough, with 1 Exeter to the north and 5 Exeter to the south.

3 Exeter was built ca. 1870 for building contractor George Wheatland, Jr., for speculative sale, one of four contiguous houses (1-3-5 Exeter and 299 Beacon) which form a single unit between Beacon Street and Public Alley 417.

George Wheatland, Jr., purchased the land for 1-3-5 Exeter and 299 Beacon on February 2, 1870, from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The original parcel had an 80 foot frontage on Beacon. He built the four houses on the eastern 61 feet of the parcel, with 299 Beacon about 40 feet wide and 1-3-5 Exeter about 40 feet deep, leaving an open yard area of about 21 feet to the west. When he sold the houses, he included a permanent easement across the rear of 1-3-5 Exeter to provide for passage and drainage to the alley.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 3 Exeter, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Beacon and Alley 417, from Exeter to Fairfield.

On June 27, 1870, 3 Exeter was purchased from George Wheatland, Jr., by Abigail (Abby) Williams May, a noted abolitionist and advocate for women’s suffrage. Living with her were her mother, Mary (Goddard) May, the widow of Samuel May, and her niece, Eleanor Goddard May (daughter of Frederick Warren Goddard May). They all previously had lived at 27 Hollis.

Mary (Goddard) May died in March of 1882.

Abigail May lived at 3 Exeter until her death in November of 1888. Eleanor Goddard May inherited 3 Exeter from her aunt. She continued to live there during the 1888-1889 winter season, but moved thereafter to the Hotel Ilkley on Huntington at Cumberland.

On May 24, 1889, 3 Exeter was purchased from Eleanor May by Mary Ruth (Channing) Eustis, the widow of Frederick Augustus Eustis. She lived in Milton. On September 5, 1889, she transferred the property to Charles Henry Parker as trustee for the benefit of her daughter, Emily Augusta Eustis. Emily Eustis married later that month to Dr. John Amory Jeffries, a physician, and 3 Exeter became their home. Prior to their marriage, John Jeffries lived at 126 Beacon with his parents, John and Anna Lloyd (Greene) Jeffries.

John Jeffries died in March of 1892.  Emily Jeffries continued to live at 3 Exeter during the 1896-1897 winter season, but was living elsewhere (probably traveling) during the next two seasons.

During the 1897-1898 winter season, 1 Exeter was the home of Dr. Algernon Coolidge, Jr., a physician, and his wife, Amy Peabody (Lothrop) Coolidge.  Prior to their marriage in December of 1896, he had lived next door at 1 Exeter, where he continued to maintain his offices after moving to 3 Exeter.  He was born Algernon Lowell Coolidge but did not use his middle name and was referred to as Algernon Coolidge, Jr., to avoid confusion with his father, Dr. Algernon Sidney Coolidge, who also did not use his middle name. Algernon and Amy Coolidge lived at 3 Exeter while their home at 487 Commonwealth was being built. They moved there by the 1898-1899 winter season.

3 Exeter was not listed in the 1899 Blue Book.

Emily Jeffries was living at 3 Exeter once again by the 1899-1900 winter season.  She remained there through the 1903-1904 winter season.  By the next season she had moved to the Hotel Agassiz at 191 Commonwealth.

During the 1904-1905 winter season, 3 Exeter was the home of attorney Henry Morse Channing and his wife, Katharine (Minot) Channing.  They had married in November of 1904 and 3 Exeter was their first home together. They also maintained a home in Sherborn. Henry Channing was Emily Jeffries’s second cousin, once removed (his great-grandfather was Walter Channing, the brother of Emily Jeffries’ grandfather, William Ellery Channing; their shared ancestors were William Channing and Lucy Ellery).

In January of 1905, a trust established under the will of Katharine Channing’s father, William Minot, III, purchased 142 Marlborough, and the Channings subsequently made it their home. Katharine Channing’s uncle (and former guardian), Laurence Minot, and her brothers (William, Vredenburg, and Sedgwick Minot) lived next door, at 144 Marlborough.

By 1906, 3 Exeter was the home of attorney Charles Benjamin Barnes, Jr., and his wife, Josephine Lea (Low) Barnes.  They previously had lived at 301 Beacon.  They also maintained a home in Hingham.  By 1907, they had moved to 217 Beacon.

On July 5, 1906, 3 Exeter was purchased from Emily Jeffries’s trust by Dr. Cecil Porter Wilson, a dentist with offices at 85 Newbury. He and his wife, Caroline Josephine (Nourse) Wilson, made it their home. They previously had lived at the Hotel Agassiz at 191 Commonwealth.

The Wilsons’ unmarried daughter, Laura Little Wilson, lived with them. She married in June of 1907 to Oglesby Paul, a landscape architect. After their marriage, they lived in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Wilsons’ other daughter, Josephine Cecilia Wilson, had married in October of 1905 to architect James Purdon; they lived in an apartment at 405 Marlborough.

As originally built, 3 Exeter had a one story oriel window extending from the second floor, matching those at 1 Exeter and 5 Exeter. In July of 1906, Cecil Wilson applied for (and subsequently received) permission to add another, slightly smaller oriel at the third floor, on top of the existing window.

In September of 1908, Cecil Wilson sold 85 Newbury and moved his dental office to 3 Exeter.

The Wilsons continued to live at 3 Exeter during the 1914-1915 winter season, but moved thereafter.

By the 1915-1916 winter season, it was the home of Horace Morison, a real estate trustee, and his wife, Arria Frazer (Cotton) Morison.  They previously had lived at 3 Louisburg Square.  They also maintained a home in Peterboro, New Hampshire.  By the 1917-1918 season, they had moved back to 3 Louisburg Square.

3 Exeter was not listed in the 1918 Blue Book.

During the 1918-1918 winter season, 3 Exeter was the home of Anna (Russell) Apthorp, the widow of Harrison Otis Apthorp, former headmaster of Milton Academy. Their two children, Harrison Otis Apthorp, a student at Harvard, and Sarah Forbes Apthorp, lived with her.  They previously had lived at 19 Exeter. Anna Apthorp also maintained a home in Milton, which was their primary residence.

During the 1919-1920 winter season, 3 Exeter was the home of hemp merchant Richard Harding Weld, Jr., and his wife, Bertha R. (Eldridge) Weld.  They had married in June of 1919, before which he had lived at 109 Beacon with his mother, Laura Townsend (Winsor) Weld, the widow of Richard Harding Weld.

Richard Weld died in July of 1920 at their summer home in Harwichport.  Bertha Weld moved from 3 Exeter soon thereafter.

On August 30, 1920, 3 Exeter was purchased from Cecil Wilson by Henry Bancroft Sprague, treasurer of the Roxbury Carpet Company, He and his wife, Louise (Hill) Sprague, made it their home. They previously had lived at 182 Bay State Road, and before that at 319 Dartmouth.

They continued to live at 3 Exeter during the 1926-1927 winter season, but moved thereafter to Brookline.

3 Exeter was not listed in the 1928 Blue Book.

On February 17, 1928, 3 Exeter was acquired from Henry B. Sprague by Katharine (Minot) Channing, the wife of attorney Henry Morse Channing. The Channings had lived at 3 Exeter during the 1904-1905 winter season when they were newly married. They also maintained a home in Sherborn.

In May of 1928, Katharine Channing filed for (and subsequently received) permission to construct a “new entrance to basement at front” and add a new window on the third floor (probably in the rear), add a penthouse, and make various interior alterations. The remodeling was designed by architects Howe, Manning, and Almy.

The house was not listed in the 1929 Boston Blue Book, probably because of the construction being done, and the Channings spent the season at their home in Sherborn.

By the 1929-1930 winter season, 3 Exeter had become the Channings’ home.  In the mid-1940s, they were joined there  by their son and daughter-in-law, Laurence Minot Channing and Mary Laighton (Carter) Channing.  He was a lawyer in his father’s firm.  They all continued to live there until about 1948.  They also continued to maintain their home in Sherborn and another home in Wareham.

On July 13, 1948, 3 Exeter was purchased from Katharine Channing by Arthur Green Brick, a salesman, and his wife, Alice Genevieve (Weeks) MacMahon Brick. They previously had lived in Lexington. They continued to live there until about 1953.

In January of 1953, Arthur Brick filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling into a single-family dwelling and lodging house.

On April 22, 1953, 3 Exeter was purchased from the Bricks by Ezra Merrill, an executive with (and later president of) the H. P. Hood and Sons dairy. He lived at 3 Exeter and operated it as a lodging house for teenage boys with special needs. He previously had lived in Littleton, Massachusetts. He continued to live at 3 Exeter and operate the lodging house in 1961, but moved by 1962 to an apartment at 221 Beacon.

On July 27, 1961, 3 Exeter was purchased from Ezra Merrill by Shirley Clifford Speed, a real estate dealer who specialized in lodging houses and apartments. He previously had lived at 107 Beacon. He moved to 3 Exeter and operated it as a lodging house.

On March 19, 1962, 3 Exeter was purchased from S. Clifford Speed by Henry Pallotta and his wife, Eleanor (Agnetta) Pallotta. They lived at 3 Byron and operated a florist shop at 69 Beacon.

On August 27, 1962, 3 Exeter was acquired from the Pallottas by Dr. Armand Lozano, a physician, and his wife, Margaret M Lozano, who appear to have occupied the house as a single-family dwelling. They previously had lived in Jamaica Plain.

On December 2, 1968, 3 Exeter was acquired from the Lozanos by Henry Evan Cockshutt Schulman, a commodities and financial services investor.  In February of 1988, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling and lodging house into a two-family dwelling.

On November 2, 1999, Evan Schulman transferred the property to himself and his wife, Glorianna Davenport, a filmmaker and co-founder of the MIT Media Lab.

On June 30, 2001, 3 Exeter was purchased from Evan Schulman and Glorianna Davenport by Basil Garabet and Elizabeth J. Nethercott-Garabet, trustees of the Nethercott-Garabet Trust.

On July 17, 2003, the property was purchased from the Nethercott-Garabet Trust by Jonathan Goldstein and Kaia Miller Goldstein, trustees of the 3 Exeter Street Realty Trust.

3 Exeter was assessed as a two-family dwelling in 2023.