347 Commonwealth is located on the north side of Commonwealth, between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue, with 345 Commonwealth to the east and 349 Commonwealth to the west.

347 Commonwealth was designed by Allen and Kenway, architects, and built in 1888-1889 by Augustus Lothrop, mason and builder, as the home of Mortimer Blake Mason and his wife, Mary Emma (Phillips) Mason. He is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated December 3, 1888, and on the final building inspection report, dated May 27, 1890.

Mortimer Mason purchased the 31 foot wide lot for 347 Commonwealth on July 31, 1888, from Benjamin William Crowninshield. Benjamin Crowninshield had purchased the eastern 30 feet on the same day from builder Peter Graffam and combined it with the eastern one foot of a lot he owned to the west.

Benjamin Crowninshield’s lot originally had been 131 feet, extending to Massachusetts Avenue. He had sold the western 70 feet in February of 1880 to Oliver Ames, who built his home on it at 355 Commonwealth. After selling the one foot strip to Mortimer Mason along with the 30 foot lot from Peter Graffam, Benjamin Crowninshield retained the remaining 60 foot lot where 349-351-353 Commonwealth later would be built.

All of the land was part of a parcel that Grenville T. W. Braman, Henry D. Hyde, and Henry M. Whitney, trustees of a real estate investment trust, had purchased on March 1, 1872, from the Boston Water Power Company, one of several parcels the trust had purchased at the same time. On January 9, 1880, the trust sold the 131 foot parcel to Benjamin Crowninshield and the 30 foot parcel to Annie (Carlisle) Sweet, the wife of Walter H. Sweet. She sold her land to Peter Graffam on June 18, 1888.

The land owned by Grenville Braman and his partners originally had been divided by Parker Street, a 60 foot wide street located on top of the Cross Dam, which ran southwest from Beacon at approximately a 45 degree angle, intersecting the north side of Commonwealth at a point about 549 feet west of Hereford. After the street was discontinued as a public thoroughfare in 1877, Grenville Braman and his partners acquired the roadway and the land beneath it, and combined it with their other property. The houses at 345-347-349-351-353-355 Commonwealth were partially built on land that previously had been Parker Street, with the Cross Dam below.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 347 Commonwealth, and click here for further information on the land on the north side of Commonwealth between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue.

By the 1889-1890 winter season, Mortimer and Mary (Phillips) Mason had made 347 Commonwealth their home. They previously had lived at 190 Commonwealth. They also maintained a home in Swampscott. and later in Manchester, Massachusetts.

Mortimer Mason was a paper manufacturer in the firm of S. D. Warren & Co., founded by his maternal uncle, Samuel Dennis Warren.

On November 29, 1890, Benjamin Crowninshield sold the eastern 30 feet of his remaining land to Mortimer Mason, and the western 30 feet to Mortimer Mason’s first cousin and business associate, Samuel Dennis Warren, Jr. On January 27, 1894, Mortimer Mason purchased Samuel D. Warren, Jr.’s land.

On March 15, 1894, Mortimer Mason sold the 60 foot lot between his house at 347 Commonwealth and Oliver Ames’s house at 355 Commonwealth to building contractor Luther Moore Merrill. In the deed, he included language specifying that any buildings built on the land before February of 1899 could only be used for “first class private residences” and the depth of any such buildings could be no greater than the depth of his house at 347 Commonwealth.

In 1898, they built a new home, The Ledges, at Smith’s Point in Manchester, on the site of their previous home there. It was designed by architects Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul.

The Masons raised their six children at 347 Commonwealth and in Manchester: Mortimer Phillips Mason, Herbert Warren Mason, Harold Francis Mason, Charles Ellis Mason, Austin Blake Mason, and Miriam Phillips Mason.

Mortimer Phillips Mason graduated from Harvard in 1899, studied abroad for several years, and then returned to Harvard, receiving his Ph.D in 1904. From 1905 to 1907 he was an instructor in logic and psychology at Princeton and then returned to Boston and lived with his parents once again.

Herbert Mason, who was associated with his father’s paper manufacturing company, married in April of 1905 to Persis Emery Furbish of Portland, Maine. After their marriage, they lived in an apartment at 295 Beacon.

Charles Mason, also associated with his father’s firm, married in July of 1905 to Elizabeth Andrew of 32 Hereford. After their marriage they lived in Hingham and then, by the 1906-1907 winter season, at 8 Gloucester.

Mary Mason died in June of 1908 and Mortimer B. Mason died in February of 1909.

The Masons’ unmarried children – Mortimer, Harold, Austin, and Miriam – continued to live at 347 Commonwealth in 1909. They were joined there briefly by Herbert and Persis Mason, who moved there from their apartment at 295 Beacon and then moved to 14 Gloucester by the 1909-1910 winter season.

In the fall of 1909, the Masons’ home in Manchester was acquired by Boylston A. Beal of 108 Beacon, who had it remodeled by architect Arthur Little. He named the remodeled house Clipston.

Also in the fall of 1909, Mortimer P. Mason accepted a teaching position as Associate in Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College. He maintained his Boston residence at 391 Marlborough with his aunt, Sarah Dean Mason.

By the 1909-1910 winter season, Harold and Austin Mason had moved to an apartment at The Abbotsford at 186 Commonwealth. Miriam Mason was in school at Dobbs Ferry, New York, and probably made her Boston home with them. Harold Mason married in October of 1910 to Junia Killen Russell of Cambridge. After their marriage, they lived in an apartment at 308-310 Commonwealth and then in Dedham. Austin Mason and Miriam Mason subsequently moved to The Chesterfield at 371 Commonwealth and then to The Charlesgate at 535 Beacon. By the 1914-1915 season, they were living at 5 Gloucester.

347 Commonwealth was not listed in the 1910 US Census, nor in the 1910-1912 Blue Books.

On January 30, 1912, 347 Commonwealth was acquired from the Mason family by Israel A. Ratshesky.   The transaction was facilitated through deeds from the Mason family to attorney Frederic Sprague Goodwin, from Frederic Goodwin to real estate dealer and conveyancer William Stober, and from William Stober to Israel Ratshesky.

Israel Ratshesky and his wife, Theresa (Shuman) Ratshesky, made 347 Commonwealth their Boston home.  They previously had lived at 232 Commonwealth.  They also maintained a home, Beachhurst, in Swampscott.

Before moving to 347 Commonwealth, the Ratsheskys remodeled the interior.  Plans for the remodeling, designed by architect G. Henri Desmond, are included in the City of Boston Blueprints Collection in the Boston City Archives (reference BIN A-29.).

Click here to view scans of the elevations and floor plans for the 1912 remodeling.

Israel Ratshesky and his brother, Abraham, had been wholesale clothiers in the firm founded by their father, Asher Ratshesky.  In 1895, they became bankers, founding the United States Trust Company, which specialized on the needs of the immigrant population, providing banking services not otherwise available to them in Boston.  Abraham served as President and Israel served as Treasurer of the bank.  Israel Ratshesky’s wife, Theresa, was the first cousin of Abraham Ratshesky’s wife, Edith.

Israel Ratshesky died in May of 1927.  Theresa Ratshesky continued to live at 347 Commonwealth until about 1929. By 1931, she was living in an apartment at 56 Commonwealth.

On February 11, 1930, the estate of Israel Ratshesky transferred 347 Commonwealth to the A. C. Ratshesky Charity Foundation, and Abraham Ratshesky announced that he would donate the property to the American National Red Cross.  The donation was made in memory of his wife’s mother, Julia (Adams) Shuman, and was subject to the building’s continued use by the local chapters of the Red Cross.

That same month, the A. C. Ratshesky Charity Foundation filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from a single-family dwelling into offices for the Red Cross.  Abraham Ratshesky retained the firm of McLaughlin and Burr to design the remodeling of the interior for use by the Red Cross. Plans for the remodeling are included in the City of Boston Blueprints Collection in the Boston City Archives (reference BIN P-75).

The Foundation transferred the property to the Red Cross on March 11, 1930.

The Red Cross continued to maintain its offices there until October of 1938, when it moved to 17 Gloucester, which also was donated to them by the A. C. Ratshesky Foundation.

After the Red Cross moved, ownership of 347 Commonwealth reverted to the A. C. Ratshesky Foundation.

On July 14, 1939, the A. C. Ratshesky Foundation donated 347 Commonwealth to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for use by the National Guard.  The donation was subject to the continued use of the building by active National Guard and State Guard units as an armory.

The Massachusetts National Guard continued to maintain its armory there until 1952.

After the National Guard moved, ownership of 347 Commonwealth once again reverted to the A. C. Ratshesky Foundation.

On February 16, 1953, the Catholic Association of Foresters, a fraternal organization that offered various forms of insurance, purchased 347 Commonwealth from the A. C. Ratshesky Foundation.  That same month, in anticipation of the sale, the Foundation filed for (and subsequently received) permission to change the legal use of the building from offices for the American Red Cross and then the Massachusetts National Guard, into offices and committee rooms for the Catholic Association of Foresters.

In March of 1964, the Catholic Association of Foresters applied for (and subsequently received) permission to construct a one-story rear addition, 25 feet deep and the width of the lot, in order to increase its office space.

On October 4, 2005, the 347 Comm LLC purchased 347 Commonwealth from the Catholic Association of Foresters.  347 Comm LLC was formed by Payne/Bouchier, Inc., a home building and renovation company specializing in fine cabinetry and woodwork.

In January of 2006, the 347 Comm LLC filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property from offices and committee rooms into five apartments.

On April 2, 2008, it converted the property into five condominium units, the 347 Commonwealth Avenue Condominium.