377 Beacon is located on the south side of Beacon, between Fairfield and Gloucester, with 375 Beacon to the east and 379 Beacon to the west.

377 Beacon was designed by architect Frederick B. Pope and built ca. 1869, one of ten contiguous houses built as five symmetrical pairs (377-379-381-383-385-387-389-391-393-395 Beacon), each house on an 18 foot wide lot and each pair united by a shared portico. 377-379 Beacon are one story higher than the other four pairs, and probably were built that way (they appear as such on the 1887 Sanborn map).

The ten houses were built for speculative sale by a consortium of Frederick Pope, who was both an architect and a builder, and George Martin Gibson, a builder and contractor. They shared the same business address at 81 Washington in 1870.

Frederick Pope purchased the land for 377 Beacon on March 18, 1869, and George Gibson purchased the land for 379-381-383-385 Beacon and 389-391 Beacon between March and August of 1869. Once the houses were built, they sold them to individual buyers.

The land for 387 Beacon was owned by real estate investor Charles Uriah Cotting, and the land for 393-395 Beacon was owned by dry goods merchant Eben Dyer Jordan, co-founder of the firm of Jordan, Marsh & Co. In these three cases, the houses were constructed by Frederick Pope and George Gibson under agreements with the land owners, who then sold the houses after they were built.

The land for all ten houses originally had been part of a parcel purchased from the Boston Water Power Company on January 29, 1866, by a real estate investment trust formed by John Templeman Coolidge, Franklin Evans, and Charles Henry Parker. The trust subsequently subdivided the property into lots, which it sold to investors and builders, who then frequently resold the lots to others.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 377 Beacon, and click here for further information about the land between the south side of Beacon and Alley 416, from Fairfield to Gloucester.

On September 24, 1870, 377 Beacon was purchased from Frederick Pope by Ellen (Peavey) Davis, the wife of boot and shoe dealer Andrew Davis. They previously had lived at 54 Harrison.

Andrew Davis died in June of 1872.  Ellen Davis continued to live at 377 Beacon until about 1874, when she moved elsewhere.

In November of 1873, real estate dealer Francis H. Lincoln advertised in the Boston Traveller that 377 Beacon “will be sold, if applied for at once, on most favorable terms, or will be let furnished or unfurnished.”  The house was not sold and Ellen Davis continued to own it and leasec it to others.

By January of 1876 (when their son, Arthur, was born), 377 Beacon was the home of Daniel W. Wise and his wife, Mary Ann (Chamberlin) Wise.  They had lived at 62 Bowdoin in 1875.  Daniel Wise was an importer of kid gloves.  They continued to live at 377 Beacon in 1877.

By 1878, it was the home of Elliott Russell, an accountant, and his wife, Sarah L. (Tinkham) Russell.  Sarah Russell’s mother, Sarah (Lincoln) Tinkham, the widow of Spencer Tinkham, lived with them.  They continued to live there in 1880, but had moved to 371 Marlborough by 1881.

377 Beacon was not listed in the 1881 Blue Book.

By the 1881-1882 winter season, 377 Beacon was the home of attorney George William Tuxbury and his wife,  Harriet Matilda (Beals) Tuxbury.  At the time of the 1880 US Census, they had lived in Framingham.  They had moved to 333 Beacon by the 1882-1883 season.

On September 19, 1882, 377 Beacon was purchased from Ellen Davis by lumber dealer Charles Fay Morse. He and his wife, Seraphine (Randall) Morse, made it their home. Their son, George Maxwell Randall Morse, lived with them.  They previously had lived at 309 Marlborough.

On December 26, 1882, Charles Morse transferred the property into his wife’s name.

By 1885, they had been joined by Frederick S. Davis and his wife, Emma B. (Streeter) Davis.  They had lived at 200 Dartmouth in 1884 and before that at 16 Hereford.  He was cashier of Traders’ National Bank.  The Davises continued to live with the Morses in 1887, by which time Frederick Davis had become president of the Traders’ National Bank.  By 1888, they had moved to the Hotel Huntington (Huntington at Blagden Street).

The Morses continued to live at 377 Beacon during the 1886-1887 winter season. They separated at about this time and divorced in 1890. Seraphine Morse continued to live at 377 Beacon with their son, George.

By the 1887-1888 winter season, she and her son had been joined at 377 Beacon by Mary E. (Tarbell) Blake Whitmore, the widow of George Blake and Charles Octavius Whitmore.  She previously had lived at the Hotel Oxford (southeast corner of Exeter and Huntington).

By the 1888-1889 season, Seraphine Morse, George Morse, and Mary Whitmore had been joined by boot and shoe dealer George W. Merritt and his wife, Almira (Curtis) Merritt.  They continued to live at 377 Beacon during the next season, but moved thereafter to 39 Huntington.  Mary Whitmore continued to live at 377 Beacon during the 1890-1891 season, but moved thereafter to 286 Beacon.

Seraphine Morse and George Morse continued to live at 377 Beacon during the 1891-1892 winter season, but moved thereafter, she to The Charlesgate at 535 Beacon and he to the Hotel Thorndike at 230-240 Boylston.  She continued to own 377 Beacon and lease it to others.

By the 1892-1893 winter season, 377 Beacon was the home of John Franksford Tarbell and his wife, Annie A. (Tower) Tarbell.  John Tarbell was the nephew of Mary E. (Tarbell) Blake Whitmore, who had lived there the previous year.  He was a naval officer.

During the 1894-1895 winter season, they were living elsewhere and 377 Beacon was the home of Helen M. (Richards) Barnes, the widow of George W. Barnes, and their daughter, Alida K. Barnes.  They previously had lived at 673 Boylston, and had moved to an apartment at 46 Hereford by the next season.

By the 1895-1896 winter season, 377 Beacon was once again the Tarbells’ home,  They were joined by Annie Tower’s mother, Mrs. Abigail (Belcher) Tower, the widow of Isaac H. Tower.

The Tarbells and Mrs. Tower continued to live there during the 1898-1899 winter season, but moved thereafter 220 Commonwealth.

During the 1899-1900 winter season, 377 Beacon was the home of Miss Georgiana Gordon King and Miss Pomeroy, probably her niece (daughter of S. W. Pomeroy and Mary (King) Pomeroy).  Miss King also maintained a home in Newport.

During the 1900-1901 winter season, it was the Boston home of Albert Norton Parlin, treasurer and general manager of the Magee Furnace Company.  Earlier in 1900, he had lived at the Parker House.  He also maintained a home in Croyden, New Hampshire.

377 Beacon was not listed in the 1902 Blue Book.

During the 1902-1903 winter season, it was the home Mrs. Margaret B. Purdy, a widow.  She probably was the Mrs. Margaret B. Purdy who was manager of the Assembly Tea Room at 280 Boylston in 1911 and was manager of the tea room and restaurant at the Massachusetts exhibit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco.

By the 1903-1904 winter season, 377 Beacon was the home of Dr. Robert Battey Greenough and his wife, Amelia Mackay (Goodwin) Greenough.  He was a physician and surgeon, and later would also become a professor at Harvard Medical School.  He maintained his office at 377 Beacon.  They previously had lived in an apartment at 479 Beacon, where he also had maintained his office.

Dr. William Henry Smith, also a physician, lived and maintained his office at 377 Beacon with the Greenoughs.  He also previously had lived and maintained his office at 479 Beacon.

The Greenoughs and Dr. Smith continued to live at 377 Beacon during the 1913-1914 winter season.  By the 1914-1915 season, the Greenoughs had moved to Brookline and Dr. Smith had moved to 10 Gloucester, where both he and Dr. Greenough maintained their office.

Seraphine Morse died in April of 1914.

377 Beacon was not listed in the 1915 and 1916 Blue Books.

On December 3, 1915, 377 Beacon was acquired from Seraphine Morse’s estate by Dr. William Franklin Temple, Jr.

William Temple was a physician and surgeon. He was unmarried and his parents, Dr. William Franklin Temple, also a physician, and Mary Alice (Ferrin) Temple, lived with him at 377 Beacon, along with his brothers, Samuel Temple and Richard Temple. He and his father also maintained their medical offices there. They all previously had lived in an apartment at 499 Beacon.

William Temple, Jr., married in July of 1917 to Marguerite Mayberry. They continued to live at 377 Beacon with his parents and brothers.

Mary Alice Temple died in 1918. Samuel Temple married in May of 1918, while serving in the US Navy, to Ruth Alice Anderson. He later became a real estate and insurance broker, and she became an artist. In the 1920s, they lived at 53 Charles and in Gloucester. Richard Temple married in 1922 to Anna (Ina) Mildred Fuhrman. After their marriage, they lived in Los Angeles.

William and Marguerite Temple and William Temple, Sr., continued to live at 377 Beacon. They also maintained a home in East Pembroke.

William Temple, Sr., died in February of 1933.  William and Marguerite Temple moved soon thereafter to an apartment at 270 Commonwealth.

On April 22, 1933, the Suffolk Savings Bank foreclosed on its mortgage to William Temple, Jr., and transferred 377 Beacon to John A. McNamara. On the same day, he conveyed the property to Adelard Monet, a former second hand furniture dealer. He lived at 357 Beacon, where he operated a lodging house.

In February of 1937, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to convert 377 Beacon into a lodging house.

Adelard Monet continued to live at 357 Beacon until about 1939, but had moved to 377 Beacon in 1940.  He continued to operate the property as a lodging house and also operated lodging houses at 217 Beacon and 219 Beacon.

On May 16, 1947, 377 Beacon was acquired from Adelard Monet by Arthur A. Scanlon, and on October 9, 1947, it was acquired from him by Grace S. (Baxter) Frederick Dawes, trustee of the Baxter Trust. She was the wife of William Mills Dawes, an accountant. They lived at 325 Commonwealth, where they operated a lodging house.

On May 1, 1957, 377 Beacon was acquired from Grace Dawes by Rose Rochelle.

Rose Rochelle (Goldberg) Levin Glazer was the former wife of Reuben Levin and Max L. Glazer. She was a retired pianist and entertainer who performed as (and legally changed her name to) Rose Rochelle. She owned and lived in an apartment house at 273 Beacon, and also owned several other apartment buildings and lodging houses in the Back Bay and South End.

By 1957, 377 Beacon was being operated as a ten-unit apartment building.

The property changed hands and on March 16, 1962. was purchased by Charles J. Petitti. In June of 1962, he filed for (and subsequently received) permission to legalize the occupancy as a ten-unit apartment building.

The property changed hands and on October 9, 1969, was acquired by Martin E. Sher and James R. Keenan. On August 10, 1970, James Keenan transferred his interest to Martin Sher.

On January 7, 1982, 377 Beacon was acquired from Martin Sher by Uri Tsach. On June 10, 1982, he transferred the property to himself as trustee of the 377 Beacon Street Realty Trust, and on February 2, 2004, he transferred the property to the 377 Beacon Street LLC.

The property changed hands. It remained an apartment building in 2017.