313 Beacon is located on the south side of Beacon, between Exeter and Fairfield, with 311 Beacon to the east and 315-317 Beacon to the west.

313 Beacon was designed and built in 1871-1872 by Frederick B. Pope for speculative sale, one of fourteen contiguous houses (303-305-307-309-311-313-315-317-319-321-323-325-327-329 Beacon) he designed and built in the early 1870s.

311-313-315-317-319 Beacon are designed as a symmetrical composition. 311 Beacon and 319 Beacon are wider (on 24.5 foot lots) with bays (311 Beacon’s bay on the east side of the house and 319 Beacon’s bay on the west side). 313-315-317 Beacon are narrower (on 17 foot lots) each with an oriel window on the second floor. 313 Beacon and 317 Beacon have three dormers; the entrance to 313 Beacon is on the west, and the entrance to 317 Beacon is on the east. 315 Beacon forms the center of the composition, with a more elaborate mansard roof, set forward with a single, central double dormer window. The entrance to 315 Beacon has been removed – probably when it was combined with 317 Beacon in the early 1900s – but originally may have been centered on the façade.

311-313-315-317-319 Beacon were built on a 100 foot wide parcel of land originally sold as four 25 foot lots by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at its public auction on December 24, 1868. Dry goods merchant Eben Dyer Jordan, co-founder of Jordan, Marsh & Co., was the successful bidder for all four lots.

On April 25, 1870, Eben Jordan entered into an agreement with Frederick Pope under which Frederick Pope agreed to build at 311-313 Beacon “two Connecticut freestone front dwelling houses, one house to be twenty-four feet six inches wide, and the other to be seventeen feet in width, and of the dimensions and arrangements described by plans and specifications signed this day.” In the same agreement, Eben Jordan agreed to sell Frederick Pope the remaining land, to the west of 311-313 Beacon, with a frontage of 58 feet six inches.

On October 17, 1870, the Commonwealth conveyed Eben D. Jordan the eastern 50 feet of land, and on October 25. 1870, he conveyed the western 8 feet six inches to Frederick Pope. Eben Jordan also transferred his right to purchase the western two 25 foot lots to Frederick Pope, and he acquired them directly from the Commonwealth on October 10, 1870, and October 27, 1870. Once the houses were built, Eben Jordan sold 311 and 313 Beacon, and Frederick Pope sold 315-317-319 Beacon.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 313 Beacon, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Beacon and Alley 417, from Exeter to Fairfield.

On April 1, 1871, 313 Beacon was purchased from Eben Jordan by William E. French, a distiller. He and his wife, Sarah Augusta (Kenison) French, lived at 47 Chester Square and later would live 323 Commonwealth.

313 Beacon became the home of the Frenches’ son-in-law and daughter, Frederick F. Read and Adelaide A. (French) Read, who married that same month.

They continued to live at 313 Beacon during the 1875-1876 winter season, but moved thereafter to 558 Tremont. William French continued to own 313 Beacon and lease it to others.

By the 1876-1877 winter season, 313 Beacon was the home of Henry Stackpole, a banker, and his wife, Bessie (Value) Stackpole.  They had married in July of 1875.  Prior to their marriage, he had lived at 7 Fairfield with his mother, Susan Margaret (Benjamin) Stackpole, widow of Joseph Lewis Stackpole; Henry and Bessie Stackpole may have lived there briefly after their marriage, before moving to 313 Beacon.  By the next season they had moved to 20 Fairfield.

By the 1877-1878 winter season, 313 Beacon was the home of William Augustus Rust and his wife Nancy Elwell (Davison) Rust.  They had married in April of 1877 and 313 Beacon may have been their first home together.

William Rust was a wholesale shoe and boot dealer and president of the Freeman’s National Bank.

They continued to live at 313 Beacon during the 1880-1881 winter season, but moved soon thereafter to 305 Beacon.

By the 1881-1882 winter season, 313 Beacon was once again the home of William and Sarah French’s daughter, Adelaide.  Her marriage to Frederick Read had ended in divorce and she had remarried in June of 1881 to Frank R. Thomas, a salesman for a wholesale grocery company. William French continued to be the owner of 313 Beacon.

William French died in January of 1890 and Sarah French died in August of 1895. Their home at 323 Commonwealth and the Thomases’ home at 313 Beacon were inherited by their three surviving children: Adelaide (French) Thomas, Charles Edward French, and George Baldwin French.  Charles and George French lived at 323 Commonwealth and on November 3, 1903, Adelaide Thomas released her interest in that property to them and they released their interest in 313 Beacon to her.

Frank and Adelaide Thomas continued to live at 313 Beacon during the 1903-1904 winter season.  Charles French died in August of 1904 and by the 1904-1905 winter season, the Thomases had moved to 323 Commonwealth to live with George French.

313 Beacon was not listed in the 1905-1907 Blue Books.

On June 13, 1907, 313 Beacon was purchased from Adelaide Thomas by Lilian (Lillian) (Derby) Holmes Hamilton, the wife of Edward Wilbur Dean Hamilton. They previously had lived at 5 Brimmer.

E. Wilbur Dean Hamilton was an impressionist artist and illustrator, and taught at the Normal Art School.

They continued to live at 313 Beacon during the 1908-1909 winter season, but moved thereafter to the Hotel Buckminster in Kenmore Square.

During the 1909-1910 winter season, 313 Beacon was the home and medical office of Dr. Lesley Hinckley Spooner, a physician specializing in internal medicine.  He was unmarried.  He previously had lived at 12 West Cedar and had maintained his office at 419 Boylston.  By April of 1910, he had been joined at 313 Beacon by Dr. Joseph Hersey Pratt, also a physician, and his wife, Rosamond Means (Thomson) Pratt.  The Pratts had lived at 311 Beacon during previous winter season.

By the 1911-1912 winter season, Lesley Spooner moved his home and office to Haddon Hall at 282 Berkeley.  At the same time, Joseph and Rosamond Pratt moved to Brookline and he moved his office to 317 Marlborough.

By the 1911-1912 winter season, E. Wilbur Dean Hamilton and Lilian Hamilton were once again living at 313 Beacon. They also maintained a home in Dover. They continued to live at 313 Beacon during the 1913-1914 winter season, but moved thereafter.

On July 31, 1915, 313 Beacon was purchased from Lilian Hamilton by Charles Sanford Stanton. Lilian Hamilton died in December of 1915.

Charles Sanford and his wife, Ethel Emma (Butchart) Stanton, made 313 Beacon their home. They previously lived at 156 Newbury. He was an attorney. They also maintained a home in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard.

In September of 1915, he applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the interior of the house and also to enlarge the windows of the second floor bay.

On June 7, 1916, Charles Stanton transferred 313 Beacon to his sister, Katharine Stanton, as trustee on his behalf. She lived at 83 Marlborough. On December 16, 1924, she transferred the property back to her brother, and on October 2, 1931, he transferred it into his wife’s name.

Charles Stanton died in December of 1937.  Ethel Stanton continued to live at 313 Beacon until about 1939.

On September 28, 1939, 313 Beacon was acquired by Dr. John Paul Tierney, a physician and eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, who made it his home and medical office. He previously had lived and maintained his office at 411 Marlborough.   He also maintained an office in South Boston.  By the early 1940s, he also maintained a residence in Lewiston, Maine.

Dr. Tierney was separated from his wife, Mary Agatha (Genevicz) Tierney; they divorced in January of 1945.  At the time of the divorce, she was living in Whitman, Massachusetts.

In August of 1949, he married again, to Ethel B. Hyder.  They separated in about 1954.

In December of 1949, he applied for (and subsequently received) permission to erect a one-car garage at the rear of the property.

On February 21, 1955, Dr. Tierney transferred 313 Beacon to himself and Richard J. Cotter as trustees of the John Paul Tierney 1955 Trust. On April 11, 1975, the trust transferred the property back into John Paul Tierney’s name. The next day, he transferred the property to his son, Rev. Philip J. Tierney, an Episcopalian clergyman.

Dr. Tierney continued to live at 313 Beacon and, until he retired from practice in 1977, also to maintain his office there.

On October 16, 1978, Philip Tierney transferred the property back to his father. One week later, his father died and Rev. Tierney inherited the property from him.

By the late 1970s, 313 Beacon had been converted into apartments (although the Building Department files do not include any record of a change in the legal occupancy).

On September 1, 1983, 313 Beacon was purchased from Philip Tierney by Dorothy F. Wirth, trustee of The Beacon Group Trust. She had acquired 315-317 Beacon the previous month.

In November of 1983, she applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert 313 Beacon from a single-family dwelling into four apartments.

On December 28, 1983, Dorothy Wirth converted 313-315-317 Beacon into fifteen condominium units, the 313-317 Beacon Condominium, with four units in 313 Beacon (with a separate entrance) and eleven units at 315-317 Beacon (with an entrance at 317 Beacon).