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Christmas
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Experience a Victorian Christmas at the Gibson House
Step back in time into the extravagant and carefully preserved Boston residence of a wealthy widow, decorated elegantly for the holidays
I am a Boston based contributing writer/photographer for Houzz, and a professional portrait and commercial photographer. My favorite design style is fresh, uncluttered, and modern although I appreciate any style that is well executed. I also love the surprise and rebellious twist of "a house within a house". This would be a contemporary home filled with period antiques or an antique home filled with modern design. I believe that what one chooses to surround themselves with reveals their true personality.
I am a Boston based contributing writer/photographer for Houzz, and a professional... More »
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Join us this holiday season on a virtual visit to the Gibson House Museum and experience traditional family life in Boston's affluent Back Bay neighborhood at the end of the 19th century. The home was built in 1859 by Boston architect Edward Clarke Cabot for Catherine Hammond Gibson, the widow of a merchant who made his fortune in the sugar trade — she was one of very few women to own a house in this area. Most of the rooms in this carefully preserved home, still filled with the Gibson family's original furniture and personal possessions, are decorated for the holidays, brimming with historical ambience.
Location: 137 Beacon Street, Boston
Hours: Guided tours are offered Wednesday through Sunday at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Cost: $9 adults; $6 students and seniors, $3 children under 12
Location: 137 Beacon Street, Boston
Hours: Guided tours are offered Wednesday through Sunday at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Cost: $9 adults; $6 students and seniors, $3 children under 12
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by Mary Prince
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| In the 1800s the visitors' entry in typical Back Bay row homes was on the side. But here visitors step into a grand and lavishly decorated space. The dark furniture, black walnut woodwork and dim lights were designed to impress and intimidate visitors. |
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Embossed and gilded wallpaper in the entryway, called Japanese leather, imitates the expensive leather wall coverings that were popular at the time.
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by Mary Prince
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| At 2 p.m. each day, the Gibson family would gather in the first-floor dining room for their main meal of the day — a 12-course formal event. |
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by Mary Prince
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| The dining room has been done up for a Christmas meal with green and red china, a decorated mantel and fruits on a serving table. The family china sits on display in a corner. Soot and smoke from the shallow coal furnace and gas lighting have greatly subdued the original bright gold wall coverings. |
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by Mary Prince
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| The mantel in the dining room is lavishly decorated with fruit and evergreens. This amazing house is like a time capsule, remaining intact for the past 150 years, with plenty of evidence of what life was like during the mid-1800s. |
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by Mary Prince
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| The dining room's view is of a back alley that originally ran along the rear of Boston's Back Bay townhouses. Lace curtains would have been hung to block the view yet let in light. |
by Mary Prince
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The butler's pantry, in utilitarian oak, was used by servants to stage meals for presentation in the dining room. The back door opens to the servants' staircase, which went from the top to the bottom of the home. A guest would typically never see this area.
The pantry has a dumbwaiter for lifting food up from the basement kitchen, a speaking tube system to speak with those in the kitchen, storage cabinets, wooden counters and a copper sink. The softness of the copper lessened dishwashing noises, which would have disturbed the Gibsons and their guests.
The pantry has a dumbwaiter for lifting food up from the basement kitchen, a speaking tube system to speak with those in the kitchen, storage cabinets, wooden counters and a copper sink. The softness of the copper lessened dishwashing noises, which would have disturbed the Gibsons and their guests.
by Mary Prince
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The servants' staircase has 94 steps.
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| The music room is styled after a French salon. This is where the family gathered for tea parties, music recitals and evening entertainment. The light color palette came about in the 1880s, when dark woods and colors went out of favor. This is the only room in the house with a hardwood floor; the rest are made with pine wide boards. The French wallpaper has a thin layer of mica to imitate silk. |
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by Mary Prince
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In Victorian times men and women parted for a period of time after a big dinner party to digest. The men would file into the library and smoke cigars, and the ladies would go to the salon to listen to the children play the piano. The butterfly grand piano (previous two photos) is by Boston piano company Mason & Hamlin.
Fresh greens, large pine cones and seasonal berries adorn the mantel (previous photo). A tree set in the bay window bathes in natural light.
Fresh greens, large pine cones and seasonal berries adorn the mantel (previous photo). A tree set in the bay window bathes in natural light.
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by Mary Prince
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| The music room opens into the hallway, with a view of the library beyond. This floor was called the parlor floor; it has a layout typical of most homes in this neighborhood at the time. |
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by Mary Prince
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| Portraits of almost all the Gibsons who lived in the house hang in the library — starting with Catherine Gibson, who commissioned the house; son Charles; and his wife, Rosamond. Rosamond's grandfather, John Collins Warren, was a prominent surgeon who founded Massachusetts General Hospital and the first surgeon to perform an operation on a patient under ether. A portrait of Rosamond and Charles' son, Charles, Jr., hangs above the mantel. He worked to preserve the house as a musem. |
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by Mary Prince
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| Men would conduct afternoon business in the library and gathered to smoke cigars after dinner in their formal attire. Casual attire was unheard of in a Back Bay parlor. |
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A simple gold Christmas tree decorates a table in the library.
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The floor above the parlor floor in Back Bay homes contains the master bedroom suite. Husbands and wives maintained separate bedrooms due to propriety and the luxury of privacy. Originally a bedroom, this room has been made over into a study.
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by Mary Prince
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| The bedroom has 157 matching pieces of bird's-eye maple, including the curtain rods. They are all carved to resemble bamboo, in a popular style of the time known as Japanesque. |
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by Mary Prince
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| Rosamond ran the house from this room when she and Charles lived there: hiring and firing servants, planning meals, managing the family’s correspondence and figuring out decoration schemes. Hand cranks on either side of the bed pull wires in the walls to ring the kitchen for service. |
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| The master bath sits between the bedrooms and still has plumbing fixtures from 1902. This floor of the house had cold running water in 1859; hot water was brought up by the servants. |
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by Mary Prince
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| The kitchen and the laundry room are in the home's basement. The massive coal stove, made in 1884, made this the warmest room in the house in the winter. Two call-bell systems are above the door. |
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by Mary Prince
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| The windows look into the backyard, which was mostly used as a loading dock for bringing supplies into the home. |
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| A female servant came into the house one day a week to do the laundry in this room. The room is equipped with a soapstone sink, a manual washing machine with a mangle, and a pair of rollers that press water out of the clothes. A cauldron for boiling linens and making soap, and a potbellied stove for heating irons, complete this workhorse of a room. |
by Mary Prince
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The brownstone's steps and first-story facade look much like those of Manhattan homes built during this period. However, red brick was more traditionally found in Boston architecture.
Comments
Superfine Handicrafts Beautiful !
5 months ago · Like
Dawn If this makes sense, the older the home and the more that is keep original the more I can feel it envelope and speak to me. I love home tours!
5 months ago · Like
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sundayprojectdreamer Gorgeous, gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing this. I love old Victorian homes. The dining room is grand and love the butler's pantry and master bath with its original fixtures.
5 months ago · Like
J. Alvis, LLC Thank you for this tour....very well done.
5 months ago · Like
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drago_braga If only I had that much wood working talent, carpentry, time and the money I would have a home just like this.
5 months ago · Like
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J. Alvis, LLC Well....you only really need money....but it helps to have good taste.
5 months ago · Like
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Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel So interesting to see how people lived. I don't envy people with more money, but I do envy a little the comfortable scale of those rooms. That old stove is fantastic, and the laundry area really makes me grateful.
5 months ago · Like
Fine Art & Portraits by Laurel I see they had hanging moldings, from which art is suspended. Some of my European friends still do this, and it is convenient for serious art collectors, who moved things around.
5 months ago · Like
mrsben Truly a feast for the eyes and a real education on craftsmanship. Thank you for the tour, Mary.
5 months ago · Like
Penny V. It's a lovely home. Reminds me of my late grandmother's place in Helsinki, Finland (periodically featured in magazines around the holidays, too). The biggest difference being, that the fireplaces in Northern European homes were more efficient heaters, so it would have been cozier all over before centralized heating was added. :)
4 months ago · Like
Ideabook published on Dec. 22, 2012.
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