337 Commonwealth is located on the north side of Commonwealth, between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue, with 333 Commonwealth to the east and 339 Commonwealth to the west.

337 Commonwealth was designed by Kirby and Lewis, architects, and built in 1880-1881, one of three contiguous houses built by building contractor Asa Harden Caton on land owned by wallpaper merchant Charles Henry Hayden. 337-339 Commonwealth were built for speculative sale and Asa Caton is shown as the owner on the original building permit application for the two houses, dated April 13, 1880. 341 Commonwealth was built by Asa Caton for Nehemiah W. Rice, who is shown as the owner on the original permit application, dated April 9, 1880, and took title to the house on January 4, 1881, after it had been completed.

By 1904, the front façades of 339 and 341 Commonwealth had been remodeled.

Charles Hayden purchased the land for 337-339-341 Commonwealth on February 27, 1879, from Grenville T. W. Braman, Henry D. Hyde, and Henry M. Whitney, trustees of a real estate investment trust that had purchased several parcels of land on March 1, 1872, from the Boston Water Power Company.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 337 Commonwealth, and click here for further information on the land on the north side of Commonwealth between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue.

On October 1, 1881, 337 Commonwealth was acquired from Charles Hayden by Harriet (Cottrell) Simes Nowell, the wife of Thomas Shepard Nowell. They had married in June of 1881 in Newport and, according to the June 28, 1881, Boston Herald report on the marriage, Thomas Nowell presented his bride with “a check for $25,000 and the deed of a house on Commonwealth Avenue” as bridegroom’s presents.  Prior to their marriage, he had lived at 10 Claremont Park in Boston and she had lived in Newport.

A former shoe manufacturer, from the early 1880s Thomas Nowell was president of the Avery Lactic Company, manufacturers of lactic acid.  By the mid-1880s, he was an investor in and promoter of gold mines in Alaska, where he spent much of each year.  In 1894, he served as Alaska’s delegate to Congress.

The Nowells were joined at 337 Commonwealth by George Manning Nowell, Thomas Nowell’s son by his first marriage, to Lydia A. (Ham) Nowell (who died in August of 1878). He was a pianist and piano teacher, and later would become a lawyer.  He married in January of 1891 to Anna Lee Ames of 355 Commonwealth, the daughter of Oliver and Anna Coffin (Ray) Ames. After their marriage they lived briefly with her parents and later lived at 522 Commonwealth. In 1907 they built a new home at 13 Commonwealth.

Also living with the Nowells at 337 Commonwealth was Ethel Katherine Simes (Simes-Nowell), Harriet Nowell’s daughter with her former husband, George Simes. She was a teacher. In 1914, she joined with Miss Sarah Alice Brown (Browne) as co-principal of Tolethorpe, a home and day school for girls in Newport. Miss Brown previously had operated a school at 66 Marlborough.

The Nowells continued to live at 337 Commonwealth during the winter seasons through 1900-1901, but moved thereafter. He subsequently lived primarily in Juneau, Alaska, and she in Newport.

337 Commonwealth was not listed in the 1902-1910 Blue Books.

Harriet Nowell continued to own the property, occasionally leasing it to others and probably occupying it herself for brief periods when she was in Boston. The property was heavily mortgaged, with the mortgages held by Alfred Hemenway, an attorney.

In 1900, 337 Commonwealth was the home of Jacob Wirth and his sister, Elisa (Elisabeth) Marie Wirth. They were both students. The previously had lived at 39 Eliot, next to the restaurant founded and operated by their father, Jacob Wirth, Sr., in 1868.  He had died in August of 1892 and their mother, Anna Marie (Lauppe) Hoenemann Wirth, had died in September of 1899.

During the latter part of the 1902-1903 winter season, 337 Commonwealth was the home of Nathaniel Hugh Cotton and his wife, Harriet Emma (Clapp) Cotton. N. Hugh Cotton was a West Indies shipping merchant.  They lived at the Hotel Somerset during the next winter season, and then at 221 Beacon for the 1904-1905 season.

During the 1905-1906 winter season, 337 Commonwealth was the home of William Samuel Patten and his wife, Anna Morton (Thayer) Patten. He was treasurer of an engineering and construction company. They previously had lived in Wellesley and, during part of the 1904-1905 season, at 22 Fairfield (239 Commonwealth) while her father and step-mother, Nathaniel and Pauline (Revere) Thayer, were traveling in Europe. The Pattens subsequently made their home in South Natick.

On April 28, 1909, the City of Boston Tax Collector sold 337 Commonwealth at public auction to Edmund K. Baker of Springfield for $505.10 in unpaid taxes and associated charges.  Edmund Baker’s ownership of the property was subject to Harriet Nowell’s right to redeem the property.

On July 20, 1909, Alfred Hemenway acquired 337 Commonwealth from Edmund Baker with the title still subject to Harriet Nowell’s right to redeem the property.  From 1910, Alfred Hemenway was the assessed owner of 337 Commonwealth; however, Harriet Nowell continued to be shown as the owner on the 1912, 1917, and 1922 Bromley maps.

By the 1910-1911 winter season, 337 Commonwealth was the home of investment banker Arthur Hewes Sargent and his wife, Emilie Hall (White) Sargent.  In 1909, they had lived in Brighton, and in mid-1910, at the time of the US Census, they were living in Hamilton. They continued to live at 337 Commonwealth until about 1913.

By the 1913-1914 winter season, 337 Commonwealth was the home of stockbroker and banker Joshua Bennett Holden, Jr.,  and his wife Mabel (Bonsal) Holden.  They previously had lived at 124 Marlborough.

They probably moved from 337 Commonwealth to 267 Beacon during the 1914-1915 season, inasmuch as they are listed at both addresses in the 1915 Blue Book (they continued to live at 267 Beacon until about 1918).

337 Commonwealth was not listed in the 1916-1920 Blue Books.

By the 1920-1921 winter season, 337 Commonwealth was the home of Lula M. (Fox) Darling, the former wife of Jerome M. Darling, who operated it as a lodging house.  She previously had lived at 356 Commonwealth, where she also had operated a lodging house, and several of the lodgers there moved with her to 337 Commonwealth. She continued to live there in 1931, but had moved to 320 Commonwealth by 1932.

In July of 1925, Alfred Hemenway foreclosed on the four mortgages he held on 337 Commonwealth and took possession of the property.  On July 26, 1926, she sold her remaining interest in the property to Alfred Hemenway.  She continued to be a resident of Newport, by then a widow, Thomas Nowell having died in January of 1914 in Seattle.

Alfred Hemenway died in October of 1927. On June 30, 1928, 337 Commonwealth was acquired from his estate by real estate dealer William John Stober. He conveyed the property on the same day to Miss Claire Carlin, probably Claire A. Carlin, who was a stenographer in a real estate office and may have held it on his behalf or on behalf of one of his clients.

On December 6, 1929, Taunton Savings Bank foreclosed a mortgage it held on the property and took possession of the property.

The house was not listed in the 1931-1937 Blue Books.

On January 14, 1932, the Garland School of Home Making (later to become Garland Junior College) acquired 337 Commonwealth from the Taunton Savings Bank.  It converted the property into a dormitory.

The school had acquired 341–343 Commonwealth in 1931, but left both buildings vacant until about 1934, when they converted them into dormitories.

By the late 1960s, Garland Junior College had assembled a portfolio of 22 properties in the western portion of the Back Bay: 315, 319, 321, 329, 337, 339, 341, 343, 349, 377, 407, 409, 411, 413–415 Commonwealth, 24 Charlesgate East (419 Commonwealth), and 447, 449, and 451 Marlborough (composed of 451-457 Marlborough).

In March of 1976, Garland Junior College announced that, because of financial difficulties, it was merging with Simmons College.  It subsequently sold twelve of its properties and transferred the remainder — those located furthest west (407-415 Commonwealth, 24 Charlesgate East, and 451 Marlborough) — to Simmons College.

Glen G. Grant, trustee of the Commonwealth College Trust, purchased eleven of the twelve properties that Garland Junior College sold. On October 27, 1976, he purchased 315 and 341 Commonwealth, and 447 and 449 Marlborough; on January 4, 1977, he purchased 319, 321, 329, 337, 339, 343, and 377 Commonwealth. The twelfth property, 349 Commonwealth, had been purchased in September of 1976, by Andrew Saggese, Jr., trustee of the Drew Realty Trust.

On May 27, 1980, Glen Grant transferred 315, 319, 321, 337, 339, 341, 343, and 377 Commonwealth to Judith S. Schwartz, trustee of Seofon Trust (the deed was dated in May of 1980 but recorded on June 9, 1981).

In April of 1981, the Commonwealth College Trust filed for permission to convert 337 Commonwealth from a dormitory into four apartments, which it stated was the existing use.  It subsequently abandoned the application.

On May 7, 1982, Judith Schwartz sold 319, 321, 337, 339, and 343 Commonwealth back to Glen Grant and Mac C. Grant. On May 24, 1982, they transferred 337-339 Commonwealth to Dorothy F. Wirth, trustee of the 337-339 Commonwealth Avenue Trust, and on June 8, 1983, they transferred 319, 321, and 343 Commonwealth to her, also as trustee of the 337-339 Commonwealth Avenue Trust.

In November of 1983, the 337-339 Commonwealth Avenue Trust, filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert 337 Commonwealth from a dormitory into seven apartments.

On January 4, 1984, Dorothy Wirth converted 337 Commonwealth into four condominium units, the 337 Commonwealth Avenue Condominium.