372 Marlborough is located on the south side of Marlborough, between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue, with 370 Marlborough to the east and 374 Marlborough to the west.

372 Marlborough was designed by Kirby and Lewis, architects, and built in 1880 by mason and building contractor Asa Harden Caton as the home of Frank H. Skinner and his wife, Helen Frances (Fay) Skinner. Frank Skinner is shown as the owner on the original building permit application, dated January 27, 1880, and on the final building inspection report, dated October 25, 1880 (faintly drawn floor plans of the basement and second floors are bound with the building inspection report, located in the Boston City Archives).

Frank Skinner purchased the land for 372 Gloucester on November 5, 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 372 Marlborough, and click here for further information on the land on the south side of Marlborough between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue.

By the 1880-1881 winter season, Frank and Helen Skinner had made 372 Marlborough their home. They previously had lived at 14 Gloucester. He was a wholesale boot, shoe, and leather dealer until about 1881, when he and his partners dissolved their firm and he became a note broker.

During the 1889-1890 and 1890-1891 winter seasons, the Skinners were living elsewhere and 372 Marlborough was the home of Dr. Thomas Henderson Chandler and his wife, Elizabeth Caroline (Dowse) Chandler.  He was a dentist and maintained his office at 161 Newbury. They previously had lived at the Hotel Westland (corner Massachusetts Avenue and Westland).  Elizabeth Chandler’s sisters, Mary Ann (Dowse) Hall, widow of banker Francis Asbery Hall, and Sarah Jane Dowse, lived with the Chandlers at 372 Marlborough. They previously had lived at The Oxford (southeast corner of Exeter and Huntington); prior to Francis Hall’s death in February of 1885, the Halls had lived at 332 Beacon.

Sarah Jane Dowse died in July of 1890 and Mary Ann Hall died in September of 1890.  The Chandlers continued to live at 372 Marlborough during the 1890-1891 winter season, but moved thereafter to 1070 Boylston.

By the 1891-1892 winter season, the Skinners were living at 372 Marlborough once again.

On January 8, 1892, Frank Skinner transferred the property into his wife’s name. They moved soon thereafter and by the 1892-1893 season were living in an apartment at 497 Beacon.

On May 14, 1892, 372 Marlborough was purchased from Helen Skinner by Dr. Thomas Amory DeBlois. He and his wife, Louisa Dorothea (Anderson) DeBlois, made it their home. They previously had lived at 5 Park Square.

Dr. DeBlois was a physician specializing in diseases of the throat; he maintained his medical offices at 372 Marlborough.

Dr. Francis H. Davenport, a physician, also maintained his offices at 372 Marlborough from about 1894 through 1897.  He lived in Jamaica Plain.

Dr. and Mrs. DeBlois continued to live at 372 Marlborough during the 1897-1898 winter season, but moved thereafter to 48 Gloucester.

On April 30, 1898, 372 Marlborough was acquired from Thomas De Blois by Jessie Sophie (Rand) Goldthwait, the wife of Dr. Joel Ernest Goldthwait, an orthopedic surgeon. They lived at 398 Marlborough and converted 372 Marlborough into a combination of medical offices and residential apartments.

Dr. Goldthwait maintained his office at 372 Marlborough along with Dr. Charles F. Painter and Dr. Joshua Clapp Hubbard.  Dr. Hubbard and Dr. Painter also both lived at the house (the 1900 City Directory also shows Dr. Goldthwait living at 372 Marlborough; however, he and his family are listed at 398 Marlborough in the Blue Books and US Census).

Charles Painter married in June of 1900 to Alice Angier and they moved to 86 Bay State Road.  He continued to maintain his office at 372 Marlborough.

Joshua Hubbard married in October of 1900 to Marian Gray Richardson.  They lived at 372 Marlborough during the 1900-1901 winter season but moved soon thereafter to 84 Bay State Road, where he also moved his medical office.

Thereafter, it appears that 372 Marlborough was exclusively offices, possibly with one residential unit for a caretaker.

Other than Dr. Goldthwait, the two physicians who maintained offices at 372 Marlborough the longest were Dr. Robert Bayley Osgood and Dr. Lloyd Thornton Brown.

Robert Osgood had his office there from about 1902 until the late 1940s. He was Chief of Orthopedic Staff at Children’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He and his wife, Margaret (Chapin) Osgood, lived in an apartment at 409 Marlborough (in about 1903 and 1904) and later at 347 Marlborough (from about 1905 through about 1908).

Lloyd Brown had his office at 372 Marlborough from about 1910 until his retirement in 1951. In January of 1911, he married Marion Epes Wigglesworth. After their marriage, they lived at 9 Charles River Square and then, from about 1916, in Milton.

Based on the Bromley maps, it appears that the additional two stories at 372 Marlborough were added sometime between about 1908 and 1912.

On September 17, 1919, Jessie Goldthwait transferred 372 Marlborough to her husband, and on April 17, 1925, he transferred the property to himself, Dr. Osgood, and Dr. Brown, as partners.

On December 30.1925, the partners acquired 374 Marlborough. In addition to Drs. Goldthwait, Osgood, and Brown, the partnership also included Drs. Loring T. Swaim, Philip D. Wilson, and Francis Cooley Hall.

In April of 1926, Dr. Goldthwait applied for (and subsequently received) permission to cut a door in the party wall between 372 and 374 Marlborough on the fifth floor.

On December 31, 1930, the partners transferred 372-374 Marlborough to Marlborogh St. Associates, Inc., which they had formed to hold the property.

Jessie Goldthwait died in January of 1932, and Joel Goldthwait married again in April of 1936 to Frances Anna Fitch (Sherwood) Saltonstall, the widow of Philip Leverett Saltonstall.

On March 16, 1948, 372-374 Marlborough were acquired from Marlborough St. Associates by real estate dealer Norman Lipson, trustee of the Mackay Realty Trust (conveyed by Gladys Farrell). He then sold the property to separate buyers.

On April 14, 1948, 372 Marlborough was acquired from Norman Lipson by Michael Sabia and his wife, Dr. Marion (Corleto) Sabia. They lived in East Boston where she was an obstetrician.

372 Marlborough changed hands. It remained medical offices, and Joel Goldthwait continued to maintain his office there, until about 1956.

It was shown as vacant in the 1957 and 1958 City Directories.

On October 29, 1957, 372 Marlborough was acquired by real estate dealer Thomas J. Diab. In January of 1958, Joseph Barca (presumably acting on his behalf) applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into fourteen apartments. His application indicates that the previous use was as a lodging house, but this does not appear to have been correct.

The property changed hands and on September 6, 1963, was acquired by real estate dealer Jack Fay (Jacob Fagelman), as trustee of the Jack Fay Realty Trust (one-half interest), and his son, Stanley Fay (one-half interest).

On December 21, 1971, Jack Fay transferred his one-half interest, half (one-fourth interest) to Stanley Fay, as trustee of the Stanley Fay Realty Trust, and the other half (one-fourth interest) to his daughter, Marilyn Ruth (Fay) Weisman, the wife of Jason Weisman.

On October 6, 1980, Stanley Fay transferred his three-fourths interest in the property to himself, his wife, Nannette J. (Gold) Fay, and Marilyn Weisman, as trustees of the Fay Weisman Trust, and on the same day, Marilyn Weisman transferred her one-fourth interest in the property to the same trust.

On August 31, 1982, Stanley Fay, Nannette J. Fay, and Marilyn R. Weisman, trustees, Fay Weisman Trust, transferred the property to Marilyn Weisman, trustee of the Stanmar Trust.

372 Marlborough remained an apartment house in 2020.