With September marking the 150th anniversary of the Gibson House Museum, Executive Director Charles Swift is hoping more Back Bay residents will visit this largely unsung treasure of the neighborhood.
Built in 1859 and 1860 and designed by Boston architect Edward Clarke Cabot, the single-family Victorian row house at 137 Beacon St. is made of brownstone and red brick in the Italian Renaissance style. Its original inhabitants, the widow Catherine Hammond Gibson and her son, Charles Hammond Gibson, were among the first families to live in the Back Bay after the neighborhood was created from landfill beginning in 1857.
“It’s one of the oldest houses in the Back Bay,” Swift said. “Although no one can say definitively what the oldest house in the neighborhood is, the area across from the Public Garden was the first to be filled in.”
In 1871, Charles married Rosamond Warren, who moved into the Gibson House. She redecorated areas of the house in the modern style when her mother-in-law died 17 years later, and Rosamond’s influence is evident in the “Japanese leather” wallpaper that adorns the first-floor reception hall and the white woodwork in the second-floor music room.
Charles and Rosamond’s middle child, Charles Jr., eventually came into possession of the home and was determined to preserve it as a piece of the Victorian era that he remembered from his childhood. Also as an aspiring writer, he believed that house would become a point of interest if he gained fame posthumously. Three years after Charles Jr.’s death in 1954, the Gibson House Museum officially opened to the public.
“For a period of 100 years, the house has remained relatively unchanged,” Swift said. “If Charles Gibson Jr., walked in today, he would recognize everything.”
As Swift points out, the house can be viewed as two separate houses - one for entertaining the public, the other as private space for the family.
The opulent reception hall and music room were updated in the 1890s to reflect the latest style, which Swift said was due to the fact that Charles and Rosamond’s daughters came of marrying age and the house was frequented by more guests as a result.
“They had more visitors so they wanted those parts of the house to be more current or updated,” Swift said. “The Gibsons recognized that and put a lot of time and money into the first two floors.”
The house also has quarters for seven servants - six women who handled the laundry, cooking and childcare duties, and a man whose full-time job was lighting the coal fires used to heat the home. (Each bedroom has its own coal-burning fireplace). “The house couldn’t run without the staff,” he said.
At the time of its construction, the house boasted the most advanced technology available, with gas lighting, central heating and running water on the first three of its six floors.
As for the abundant artifacts that fill the Gibson House Museum, many date back to the 19th century, including paintings, furniture, imported rugs and family heirlooms. The museum is currently undertaking an inventory of its entire collection, which has brought to light many previously unknown items.
“The Gibsons were among the first Americans to acquire a lot of things,” Swift said. “The house reflects the need to store their possessions.”
Yet despite its grand appearance, Swift said the Gibson House Museum was a typical upper middle class residence of the mid 19th century.
“It’s a traditional Back Bay home of the time,” Swift said.
For more information about the Gibson House Museum, including tour schedules, special events, and information about the upcoming 150th anniversary programming, visit www.thegibsonhouse.org.

As a North End resident, Tony Massari was well aware of the need for a traditional coffee shop in the neighborhood when he opened the original Boston Common Coffee Co. on Salem Street five years ago.
Before that, Massari was a regular at Red Barn Coffee Roasters at Faneuil Hall, where he met Peter Femino, a part owner of the Massachusetts chain of coffee shops. Massari casually mentioned the need for a coffee shop in the North End to Femino, who soon signed on as a business partner. Together, they opened the first Boston Common Coffee Co. in December 2004.
Boston Common Coffee offers coffees from around the world, all of which are roasted medium at the company’s roasting facility in the small Worcester County town of Hopedale. In-house pastry chef Jean Paul La Pierre cooks up a daily selection of scones, cookies and specialty pastry items. Other menu items include grilled panini and breakfast sandwiches.
“A coffee shop serving sandwiches and great pastries was our original concept, and that’s still our first priority,” Massari said.
In December 2006, Boston Common Coffee opened its second store about a mile away from the North End on High Street in the Financial District.
“We wanted to keep things in the same general area,” Massari said. “Being a small business, we had our hands full just running two stores.”
A third store opened in an Suffolk College dormitory on Washington Street in the Financial District this May, and Massari expects this to be the busiest location once students from Suffolk, Emerson and other nearby colleges return in the fall.
“We expect it to exceed our other stores, even though it’s only a couple of months old,” Massari said. ‘There’s already huge foot traffic from workers in the area, but we wouldn’t have gone in there, if it wasn’t for the dorms.”
Looking forward. Massari is thinking about opening smaller stores, kiosks or even an iced coffee cart in the summer in Beacon Hill and the Back Bay, but the main objective for the time being is bringing Boston Common’s home-roasted coffee to a larger clientele.
The company recently landed a deal to supply its java to Scoops ice cream shop in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, and the plan is to continue to grow the wholesale operation through smaller distributors and vendors. Boston Common also hopes to offer online sales through its Web site and to launch a Coffee of the Month Club in which subscribers would receive a different selection of its home-roasted coffee every month.
“We’re at a juncture right now that’s really exciting to us,” Massari said.
Boston Common Coffee Co. has stores at 97 Salem St. in the North End, 10 High St. in the Financial District, and 515 Washington St. in Downtown Crossing. For hours of operation and more information, visit www.bostoncommoncoffee.com.

A Revere man was arrested last Tuesday for armed robbery and kidnapping in the area of the Back Bay MBTA station, police said.
Shortly after midnight on July 21, Area D-4 officers spoke to a victim who said he was walking in the vicinity of Boylston Street and Massachusetts Avenue when a bald white male approached him from behind and stuck an object believed to be a knife in his back.
“Give me your money and credit cards,” the suspect said to the victim.
The suspect then instructed the victim to walk with him in the direction of an MBTA station and followed the victim to the entrance of the station while holding the object to his back. At the entrance, the victim broke free and escaped.
When officers were en route to the MBTA station, a cab driver approached them and said he saw a suspicious looking bald man running towards the station.
The officers arrived at the station and found an individual fitting the description of the suspect. As officers approached the suspect, he said, “I have the guy’s stuff on me.”
The suspect further indicated to officers that he had the victim’s wallet by motioning to a trash barrel in the station, where officers found the item.
Chris Iandolo, 38, was charged with armed robbery and kidnapping.

Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Regional Review

The stock market and you

The New York Stock Exchange has risen dramatically since the near collapse of the economic system about six months ago.
The Index has broken through the 9,000 level, up from the dreariness of the lows that were reached when it appeared as though the economy was going to evaporate.
It is plain and clear now that the economy isn’t going to evaporate and that, in fact, it may be growing again.
However, a number of problems remain.
Almost 500,000 men and women per month for the past year have been laid off and placed on the unemployment rolls. The national unemployment rate is nearing 10 per cent.
New jobs aren’t being created at a fast enough rate to offset job loss, and there is the widespread belief held by economists that corporate profits may improve because of belt tightening, but that the expansion of business is going to be slow.
If you have children graduating from college and entering the job market, then you know there are very few jobs to be found. This is a situation that will intensify as Baby Boomers remain in their positions far after the time most of them thought they’d be leaving.
The near collapse of the stock market wiped out about $15 trillion in equity from all of our retirement accounts, stock portfolios and unless you’re living in the most fabulous of circumstances, it has vastly diminished the value of your home. Home values are continuing to decline and are expected to do so for another year.
The run-up in the stock market is satisfying as far as creating good feeling, but it hasn’t done much to allay our fears that we face a brave new world since the economic disaster befell us. Neither has it appreciably replaced the equity we lost in our various accounts.
It is an uncertain economic future that all of us face as the summer winds on.
Funny what a difference a year can make in the economic life of the nation.

The Gates affair

President Barack Obama has once again shown how he can act as a great conciliator by inviting Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to the White House to share a beer with Cambridge Police Sergeant Jim Crowley, the man who arrested Gates.
Most of us understand that being black or white has very little to do with whether or not we’ll be arrested – especially if we’ve been haranguing the police officer to the point where he says, “Put your arms behind your back. You are under arrest.” In such cases, we arrest ourselves, which is what we believe Professor Gates did.
We understand Professor Gates’ inevitable response and how it was framed historically.
We also understand Sgt. Crowley’s imperatives as a police officer.
That something can be learned from this incident is a certainty.
There is nothing wrong with having a national discussion about racial profiling.

Preliminary discussions are underway between Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Museum of Science to open a charter school for Back Bay, Beacon Hill, North End and West End children, and the proposed redevelopment of the Government Center Garage is being considered as a possible site, sources said.
On July 17, Gov. Deval Patrick filed legislation that would more than triple the number of slots in charter schools and allow the state more authority to intervene in underperforming schools. The legislation includes the Readiness Acceleration Schools initiative, which establishes Readiness Alliance Schools through comprehensive partnerships between external partners, such as universities, charter school operators and museums. One day before he filed the legislation, Patrick announced the proposed education reform during a press conference at the Museum of Science.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino also filed legislation earlier this month that would allow city officials to turn underperforming schools into in-district charter schools.
Ioannis Miaoulis, the Museum of Science’s Boston president and director, acknowledged that opening a charter school in partnership with BPS was a possibility.
“The Museum of Science is in regular discussions with the secretary of education on various issues related to Massachusetts education reform,” Miaoulis said. “The topic of the Alliance Schools was introduced as part of these ongoing conversations, and we are considering the role the museum might play in this effort. In the near term, the museum is focused on expanding its technology and engineering curriculum in schools throughout the commonwealth and across the country, as well as on the opening of upcoming exhibits and programs.”
BPS spokesperson Matt Wilder said while there were no plans to open up a charter school in partnership with the Museum of Science at this time, he didn’t rule it out, either.
“The Boston Public Schools has a long history of successful partnerships with the Museum of Science, and we are certainly open to exploring a collaboration for a new school,” Wilder wrote in an e-mail. “There are a number of possibilities on the horizon for new types of schools that could meet the needs of families and students through innovative approaches and new educational models. At this point, no specific plans have come forward, but we welcome the opportunity to learn more.”
Jonathon Palumbo, communication director for the state’s Executive Office of Transportation, said Boston and about a dozen other communities throughout the state were being considered for a charter school, although no specifics had been nailed down yet.
Meanwhile, State Rep. Marty Walz, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, supported the idea of opening a new school for Boston children.
“A public elementary or K-8 school serving Boston’s downtown is essential, whether it’s located in the proposed development at the Government Center Garage or at another nearby site,” Walz said.