409 Marlborough is located on the north side of Marlborough, between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue, with 407 Marlborough to the east and 411 Marlborough to the west.

409 Marlborough, a twelve-unit apartment building, was designed by architect Samuel D. Kelley and built in 1890 by Keening & Strout Brothers, masons, for jeweler and real estate developer Edwin B. Horn, Jr.  It was a companion building to 411 Marlborough, a six-unit building built at the same time at the corner of Marlborough and Massachusetts Avenue, and to 405-407 Marlborough, two six-unit buildings built for Edwin Horn in 1889.

Edwin Horn is shown as the owner on the original building permit applications for 409 and 411 Marlborough, both dated May 19, 1890, and on the final building inspection reports, both dated October 21, 1891.

Edwin Horn purchased the land for 409-411 Marlborough on May 1, 1890, from Walter C. Cabot. He had purchased the land on January 17, 1880, from Grenville T. W. Braman, Henry D. Hyde, and Henry M. Whitney, trustees of a real estate investment trust. The land was part of a larger parcel originally purchased by the trust on March 1, 1872, from the Boston Water Power Company.

Click here for an index to the deeds for 409 Marlborough, and click here for further information on the land on the north side of Marlborough between Hereford and Massachusetts Avenue.

In October of 1890, Edwin Horn advertised the new apartments at 409 Marlborough and 411 Marlborough in the Boston Evening Transcript. The advertisement noted that the suites were “exceptionally well arranged, having every modern convenience; bay windows, open fireplaces, large open reception halls, passenger elevator, electric lights, hot water supplied from hotel boiler all of the year.”

409 Marlborough and 411 Marlborough were purchased from Edwin Horn by real estate dealer Albert Geiger, 411 Marlborough on December 24, 1890, and 409 Marlborough on January 6, 1891.

When Edwin Horn first announced plans for the two buildings, the Boston Evening Transcript reported (on April 30, 1889) that they would be called The Everett. When he sold 411 Marlborough to Albert Geiger, he kept the name and very briefly used it in advertisements for 409 Marlborough. After Albert Geiger bought 409 Marlborough, the name was no longer used.

On January 24, 1891, 409 Marlborough was purchased from Albert Geiger by Benjamin Lowell Merrill Tower and Edward Jonathan Hammond as trustees of The Marlborough Association trust. Benjamin Tower was an attorney and also owned 405 Marlborough, where he and his wife, Eliza Curtis (Kneeland) Tower, lived in one of the apartments. Edward Hammond was a wholesale lumber merchant and also owned 407 Marlborough; he and his wife, Alice Ida (Eastman) Hammond, lived at 440 Marlborough.

On August 23, 1905, 409 Marlborough was purchased from The Marlborough Association trust by attorney and real estate investor Frederick Silsbee Whitwell. He and his wife, Gertrude (Howard) Whitwell, lived at 166 Marlborough.

Frederick S. Whitwell was the son of Frederick Augustus Whitwell and Mary Crowninshield (Silsbee) Whitwell. Frederick Augustus Whitwell’s brother, real estate dealer Samuel Horatio Whitwell, had purchased 411 Marlborough in January of 1891. He had died in March of 1904 and, under his will, his estate was inherited by his brother, Frederick Augustus Whitwell during his lifetime and then divided equally between Frederick A. Whitwell’s two children, Frederick Silsbee Whitwell and Natalie Silsbee Whitwell.

Frederick A. Whitwell died in July of 1912. On July 16, 1913, Frederick Silsbee Whitwell transferred a one-half interest in 409 Marlborough to his sister, Natalie. She and he thereby each owned one-half interest in both 409 Marlborough and in 411 Marlborough (which they had inherited from Samuel Horatio Whitwell’s estate following the death of their father). On November 1, 1916, Frederick S. Whitwell transferred his one-half interest in both properties to Natalie Whitwell.

On January 30, 1918, 409-411 Marlborough were purchased from Natalie Whitwell by real estate dealer Charles H. Gosse, and on the next day they were acquired from him by real estate dealer Charles W. Rowell.

The property changed hands and on May 29, 1922, was acquired by Grace Maria (Bishop) McClary, the wife of real estate dealer Walter Percival McClary. They lived in Melrose.

On February 14, 1924, 409-411 Marlborough were acquired from Grace McClary by Gibran Kahlil Gibran and Faris Salem Maloof. Gibran Kahlil Gibran was a noted artist, poet, and philosopher, best known for his work, The Prophet. He was unmarried and lived in New York City. Faris Maloof was manager of a wholesale bakery and later would become an attorney and leader of the Syrian and Lebanese American community. He and his wife, Hanny F. (Malouf) Maloof, lived in Jamaica Plain.

In December of 1924, Faris Maloof filed for permission to convert both 409 Marlborough and 411 Marlborough into lodging houses.  The Building Department denied the permit for 409 Marlborough due to insufficient egress. The application for 411 Marlborough was approved but not implemented, and it remained a six unit apartment building.

On March 4, 1925, 409-411 Marlborough were purchased by George Regina Boardman, the wife of Earl Griswold Boardman. They had married in May of 1924 and lived in Brookline. On May 27, 1926, she transferred the property to her husband’s sister, Clara (Claire) Althea Boardman. Earl and George Boardman divorced in 1928.

On January 20, 1928, Clara Boardman sold a one-half interest in 409-411 Marlborough to Zelda (Jacobson) Greenhood, the wife of attorney Benjamin Harris Greenhood. They lived in Brookline. On June 3, 1931, Zelda Greenhood transferred her interest to her husband.

Clara Boardman married in January of 1933 to Gordon Judson McCurdy. She continued to own a one-half interest in 409-411 Marlborough.

Zelda Greenhood died in May of 1941 and Benjamin Greenhood died in August of 1948.

On November 1, 1949, the Greenhoods’ three children – Alfred M. Greenhood, Ernest J. Greenhood, and Bernard Lionel Greenhood, as trustees under their father’s will – acquired Clara (Boardman) McCurdy’s one-half interest in 409-411 Marlborough.

On April 27, 1960, 411 Marlborough was seriously damaged by a fire that started in the basement and traveled to the upper floors through a dumb waiter shaft. The April 27, 1860, Boston Traveler article on the fire noted that “a fire wall between numbers 409 and 411 prevented the blaze from sweeping down the brick row of apartment buildings along Marlboro St.”

In July of 1960, the Greenhoods sold 411 Marlborough to real estate dealer S. Zelig Rivkind.

The Greenhoods retained 409 Marlborough, and in May of 1961, they applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into fourteen apartments and a retail store, adding a separate basement entrance to the store. By 1964, they operated 409 Marlborough as a combination of apartments and a lodging house, with two addresses, one at 409 Marlborough and the other at 409A Marlborough.

On July 30, 1964, 409 Marlborough was purchased from the Boardmans by Robert M. Cabitt, trustee of the 409 Marlborough Trust, and on July 28, 1966, it was acquired from him by Lee E. Ellison. In July of 1967, he applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into 36 apartments, 1 retail store, and 1 office.

On February 12, 1968, 409 Marlborough was purchased from Lee Ellison by real estate dealer Bernard (Ben) Smullin, trustee of the Alcher Realty Trust.

In February of 1968, he applied for (and subsequently received) permission to amend the permit previously approved for Lee Ellison and change the occupancy to 38 apartments, 1 retail store, and 1 office.

On March 7, 1969, he transferred the property to himself and his brother and business partner, Samuel Smullin. On November 3, 1980, they transferred 409 Marlborough to the Marlborough Properties Corporation, later known as the Florida-Marlborough Properties Corporation.

On March 17, 1982, 409 Marlborough was purchased from the Florida-Marlborough Properties Corporation by The Marlborough Group Limited Partnership (Camran, Inc., general partner). In April of 1988, it applied for (and subsequently received) permission to convert the property into 39 apartments and 1 retail store (the office having been converted into a residential unit).

On June 21, 2004, 409 Marlborough was purchased from The Marlborough Group LP by the 409 Marlborough Street LLC (Alfred Sabetfard, manager).

409 Marlborough was assessed as a combined residential and commercial building in 2022.