3 Marlborough is located on the north side of Marlborough, between Arlington and Berkeley, with 1 Marlborough to the east and 5 Marlborough to the west.

3 Marlborough was designed by architect Charles K. Kirby and built by William W. Bray, mason, in 1862-1863, one of three contiguous houses (3-5-7 Marlborough) that form a symmetrical composition with a single entrance porch.

In his Houses of Boston’s Back Bay, Bainbridge Bunting does not attribute 3-5-7 Marlborough to a specific architect. However, deeds for the houses and related agreements confirm that they were designed by Charles K. Kirby.

The land on which 3-5-7 Marlborough were built was part of a larger parcel purchased by Peleg W. Chandler, J. Amory Davis, and Henry Lee, Jr., on September 2, 1858, from George Goss and Norman Carmine Munson. George Goss and Norman Munson had purchased the land from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that same day; they were the contractors responsible for filling the Commonwealth’s Back Bay lands.

In 1862, Charles Kirby entered into an agreement with Peleg Chandler and his partners to purchase the land for 3-5-7 Marlborough and build the houses on it. The agreement does not appear to have been recorded with the Suffolk County deeds, but is referenced in a party wall agreement dated June 21, 1862, with George T. Shattuck, owner of the land at 9 Marlborough. On June 27, 1862, Charles Kirby entered into an agreement with William W. Bray, a mason, to provide the materials and labor to build the three houses in accordance with the “mason specifications and a set of plans made by said Kirby.”

On March 9, 1863, as the houses were nearing completion, Charles Kirby purchased the land from Peleg Chandler and his partners. On the same day, he sold 3 Marlborough to George Otis Shattuck.  He also sold 5 Marlborough on the same day, and sold 7 Marlborough in May of 1863. Each of the deeds included a provision preventing material changes to the front façades without the consent of the owners of all three properties.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 3 Marlborough, and click here for further information about the land on the north side of Marlborough from Arlington to Berkeley, south of Alley 421.

George Otis Shattuck and his wife, Emily (Copeland) Shattuck, made 3 Marlborough their home. They previously had lived at 71 Revere Street. He was an attorney.

They continued to live at 3 Marlborough during the 1881-1882 winter season, but moved thereafter to 166 Beacon.

On August 16, 1882, George Shattuck transferred 3 Marlborough to his daughter, Susan, who married on that day to Dr. Arthur Tracy Cabot, a surgeon specializing in genito-urology. The Cabots made it their Boston home; they also maintained a home at Ponkapoag in Canton.

On February 18, 1888, the house was seriously damaged by a fire caused by an overheated furnace which, according to the Boston Globe’s report, “worked its way up between the partitions to the roof.” A female servant was trapped on the top floor but rescued by fireman Walter Powers, who carried her to safety.

In March of 1893, Arthur Cabot purchased 1 Marlborough, next door.  He combined the parlors of 1 and 3 Marlborough and used the remainder of 1 Marlborough for his medical office and to rent lodgings and offices to other physicians.

In about 1900, Arthur Cabot’s first cousin, Dr. Hugh Cabot, who had graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1898, joined his practice at 1 Marlborough.  Arthur Cabot’s father, Samuel Cabot, and Hugh Cabot’s father, James Elliot Cabot, were brothers. Hugh Cabot lived at 1 Marlborough from about 1900 until his marriage in September of 1902 to Mary Anderson Boit, after which they moved to 5 Marlborough.

Arthur and Susan Cabot continued to live at 3 Marlborough during the 1911-1912 winter season, but moved thereafter to 36 Commonwealth. He died in November of 1912.

On October 2, 1912, shortly before his death, Arthur Cabot sold 3 Marlborough to Philip Cabot, the twin brother of Dr. Hugh Cabot. On the same day, he sold 1 Marlborough to Philip and Hugh Cabot’s brother, Dr. Richard Clarke Cabot.

Philip Cabot was a real estate trustee and investor. He and his wife, Lucy (Fuller) Cabot, had divorced in 1911 and his two daughters, Sylvia and Faith, lived with him. They previously had lived at 3 Mt. Vernon Square. They continued to live at 3 Marlborough in 1919, but moved to Milton by 1920.

In January of 1920, at the time of the 1920 US Census, 3 Marlborough was the home of Richard Hathaway Morgan and his wife, Joanna White (Davis) Morgan. Richard Morgan was a retired manufacturer and Colonel in the State Militia from New Bedford. Joanna Morgan’s brother, Charles Stevenson Davis, a widower, lived with them. He was a lawyer and former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  They also maintained a home at Long Pond in Plymouth, where Charles Davis died in September of 1920 and Richard Morgan died in June of 1921.

On June 1, 1920, 3 Marlborough was purchased from Philip Cabot by Mary Arnold (Whitman) Bullard, the former wife of Gardner Cutting Bullard. She lived in Brookline with her parents, William Whitman and Jane Dole (Hallet) Whitman.

In July of 1920, Mary Bullard’s father, William Whitman, applied for (and subsequently received) permission to replace the existing wooden laundry and sheds at the rear of 3 Marlborough with a brick ell. The remodeling was designed by architect Charles Greely Loring.  Charles Loring’s sister, Ruth, was the wife of Mary Bullard’s brother, William Whitman, Jr. William and Ruth Whitman lived at 17 Commonwealth.

By the 1920-1921 winter season, 3 Marlborough was the home of Mary Bullard’s son-in-law and daughter, Walter Irving Badger, Jr., and Jane Whitman (Bullard) Badger. They previously had lived at 140 Mt. Vernon. They also maintained a home at West Chop on Martha’s Vineyard. He was an attorney.

Mary Bullard died in May of 1922. 3 Marlborough remained the property of her estate and the Badgers continued to live there until about 1940, when they moved to an apartment at 172 Beacon.

On November 18, 1940, 3 Marlborough was purchased from Mary Bullard’s estate by Gurdon Saltonstall Worcester and his wife, Natalie (Shipman) Worcester. They previously had lived in an apartment at 9 Commonwealth.

Gurdon Worcester was a psychologist, author, and songwriter. Natalie Shipman Worcester was a novelist. They also maintained a home in the Lanesville neighborhood of Gloucester.

After several years as newspaper publisher, Gurdon Worcester had worked with his father, Rev. Elwood Worcester, Rector of Emmanuel Church, who established a clinic at the church to treat nervous diseases and alcoholism by combining medical treatment and spiritual support. After about five years, Gurdon Worcester established his own office as a consulting psychologist, with a major focus on alcoholism. Elwood Worcester and his wife, Blanche (Rulison) Worcester had lived at 186 Marlborough; she died in February of 1940 and he died in July of 1940.

Gurdon and Natalie Worcester continued to live at 3 Marlborough until 1960.

On June 29, 1960, 3 Marlborough was acquired from the Worcesters by Archibald Stark and his wife, Eleanor LaMar (McCandless) Stark. They previously had lived in Lexington. He was a guidance counselor at Newton High School. They continued to live at 3 Marlborough in 1962, but had moved th an apartment at 334 Commonwealth by 1963.

On October 1, 1962, 3 Commonwealth was acquired from the Starks by John Breining and his wife, Ruth Yates (Allen) Breining. They previously had lived at 304 Beacon, where they operated Miss Allen’s Back Bay School of Modeling.  John Breining’s mother, Emma (Olson) Breining, the widow of Eric Breining, lived with them until her death in May of 1965.

By the mid-1960s, 3 Marlborough had been converted into apartments, although no record of the change in occupancy appears to have been filed with the Building Department.

John Breining died in May of 1968 and Ruth Breining moved soon thereafter.  She continued to own 3 Marlborough and in March of 1974, the Building Department cited her for failing to provide a second means of egress for apartment 4, in the front, and for failing to provide a fire-rated partition to separate apartment 6 from the public hallway.

On June 26, 1979, Ruth Breining sold 3 Marlborough to her son-in-law and daughter, Christopher Peters, II, and Kimberly Breining-Peters.  They began remodeling the building, filing with the Building Department to indicate that they were “cleaning out the building and removing non-bearing partitions” and would file a subsequent permit application indicating their proposed future use.

On March 24, 1980, 3 Marlborough was purchased from Christopher and Kimberly Peters by 3 Marlborough Street Associates, Inc. (Robert Epstein, president).  In April of 1980, it filed for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the house into four apartments, including adding a penthouse story.

On March 9, 1981, 3 Marlborough Street Associates converted the house into four condominium units, the 3 Marlborough Street Condominium.