300 Commonwealth is located on the south side of Commonwealth, between Gloucester and Hereford, with 298 Commonwealth to the east and 302 Commonwealth to the west.

300 Commonwealth was designed by architect Obed F. Smith and built in 1880-1881 for Uriah H. Coffin, a building contractor, for speculative sale, one of two contiguous houses (300-302 Commonwealth). Uriah Coffin is shown as the owner on the original building permit applications, dated September 13, 1880 (for 300 Commonwealth) and November 11, 1881 (for 302 Commonwealth, with a notation that the “plans are duplicate” of 300 Commonwealth).

Uriah Coffin purchased the land for 300-302 Commonwealth on September 15, 1880, from William D. Pickman and Jacob C. Rogers.  It was part of a tract of land originally purchased by Nathan Matthews on January 2, 1871, from David Sears, Jr., Frederick R. Sears, and Knyvet Sears.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 300 Commonwealth, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Commonwealth and Alley 431, from Gloucester to Hereford.

On August 12, 1884, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Uriah Coffin by Olivia (Chapman) French, the wife of crockery merchant William Abrams French. They lived in Jamaica Plain and do not appear to have occupied the house.

Soon after buying the house, the Frenches sought to re-sell it.  In November of 1884, real estate dealer Brice S. Evans & Son advertised the house for sale in the Boston Evening Transcript, noting “parlor, dining-room and open hall on entrance story,” and “will be sold at a bargain.” The house did not sell and in the fall of 1885, William French advertised it for sale or for lease.

On January 1, 1886, 300 Commonwealth was acquired from Olivia French by Josephine P. (Appleton) Brown, the wife of stockbroker John Howard Brown. They previously had lived at 171 West Newton.

J. Howard Brown died in February of 1897.  Josephine Brown continued to live at 300 Commonwealth, joined by her sister, Myra (Appleton) Porter, the widow Lynn shoe manufacturer William Porter.

Myra Porter died in September of 1910 and Josephine Brown moved soon thereafter to an apartment at The Belvoir at 636 Beacon.

On November 1, 1910, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Josephine Brown by Grace Evelyn (Knight) Whitten, the wife of Charles Orville Whitten, a gelatine and glue manufacturer. They previously had lived in an apartment at 295 Commonwealth.  They also maintained a home in North Sudbury.

They continued to live at 300 Commonwealth during the 1922-1923 winter season, but by 1924 had made Marblehead Neck their home. By the 1928-1929 winter season they were living in an apartment at 192 Commonwealth.

On June 12, 1923, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Evelyn Whitten by Mary Fairfield (Robinson) Linnell, the wife of John Wesley Linnell, Jr. They previously had lived in Brookline, and before that at 15 Bay State Road.

A former stockbroker, John Linnell was president of the Massachusetts Consolidated Mining Company.

John Linnell died in December of 1943, and Mary Linnell continued to live at 300 Commonwealth until her death in 1949.

On October 10, 1949, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Mary Linnell’s estate by Dr. George Joseph Colantino, a physician, and his wife, Edith E. (Fitzgerald) Knight Colantino. In November of 1949, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling into a three-family dwelling.

The Colantinos lived in one of the apartments at 300 Commonwealth and he also maintained his medical offices there. They previously had lived in Medford. They continued to live at 300 Commonwealth until about 1953, but had moved to 404 Beacon by 1954.

By 1950, one of the other apartments was the home of Toba Esther Finn (Tresa E. (Finkelstein) Friedman), the former wife of Julian Friedman.  She was credit manager of Morris Gordon & Son, hotel and restaurant equipment dealers. She previously had lived in an apartment at 334 Beacon.  She continued to live at 300 Commonwealth in 1953, but in February of 1954 purchased and subsequently moved to 317 Beacon.

By 1954, 300 Commonwealth was the home and medical office of Dr. Juanita P. Johns, a physician and ophthalmologist, and her sister, Henrietta Beatrice Johns.  They probably lived in the apartment previously occupied by the Colantinos.  They previously had lived at 313 Commonwealth, where Juanita Johns also had maintained her office.

They continued to live at 300 Commonwealth in 1955, but moved thereafter to Belfast, Maine, where Henrietta Johns died in April of 1956. Juanita Johns returned to Boston and moved to an apartment at 3 Arlington and then to an apartment at 46 Commonwealth. She continued to maintain her medical office at 300 Commonwealth until about 1958.

On March 2, 1956, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from the Colantinos by Bessie E. (Moro/Murachowski) Sisson, the widow of Harold Howard Sisson (Sisonsky). She was an insurance broker in the firm founded by her husband. Their son, Wallace E. Sisson, lived with her. They previously had lived at 352 Commonwealth. On April 23, 1956, she transferred the property to Alice M. Keating, a secretary with the law firm of Jean (Jacob) Sisson (Sisonsky), Harold Sisson’s uncle. Alice Keating presumably held the property on Bessie Sisson’s behalf.

Wallace Sisson married in June of 1959 to Diane Margaret Beckwith. After their marriage, they lived at 36 Pinckney and then in Milton. He was an insurance broker with his family’s firm.

Bessie Sisson continued to live at 300 Commonwealth in 1959, but moved thereafter to the Hotel Kenmore at 496 Commonwealth.

On August 31, 1959, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Alice Keating by Benjamin Harrison Brightman and his wife, Doris (Cooperman) Lubarsky Brightman. He was a sales manager. They previously had lived in an apartment at 208 Commonwealth. They continued to live in one of the apartments at 300 Commonwealth until about 1973.

On April 27, 1973, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from the Brightmans by Edward Jackson Hall, a real estate developer, and his wife Virginia Flood (Coleman) Hall, an attorney.  They previously had lived in an apartment at 33 Commercial Wharf.   On August 14, 1986, Edward Hall transferred his interest in the property to his wife.

On June 30, 1995, 300 Commonwealth was purchased from Virginia Coleman (formerly Virginia Coleman Hall) by investment banker Thomas W. Blumenthal and his wife, Lisa (Achki) Blumenthal. In April of 1996, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a three-family dwelling into a two-family dwelling.  And in September of 2001, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into a single-family dwelling.

300 Commonwealth was assessed as a single-family dwelling in 2023.