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NUMBER TWO PARK STREET
ON March
24, 1801, the Town sold the lot adjoining the Granary, measuring seventy-eight
feet on Centry (now Park) Street, to General Welles, whose wife, Elizabeth, was
a daughter of General Joseph Warren. The new owner soon after conveyed the
northerly half to Isaac P. Davis, rope-maker, who built thereon a brick
dwelling-house, which he very soon sold to Francis C. Lowell. The latter, after
finishing it off, transferred it to Jonathan Mason, whose daughter was the wife
of Dr. John C. Warren, its first inhabitant. “The new owner at once allowed the
young couple to occupy the house, and thither they removed in the month of
October, 1805. There they continued to dwell until Mr. Mason’s death, when it
was found that he had left the estate to his daughter, Mrs. Warren. After the
decease of the latter, it came to her children by descent; as she left no will;
and Dr. Warren, their father, bought their respective interests, thus becoming
the owner thereof absolutely. At his death he bequeathed the ‘mansion-house in
Park Street, valued at forty thousand dollars,’ to his son, Mason, in fee
simple; from whom it ultimately passed by his will to Mrs. Warren for life,
with remainder to his children.” The house remained unchanged until the spring
of 1877, when it was taken down, and shortly after replaced by the present
Warren Building.
A
somewhat minute description of this house is given in a “Memoir of Jonathan
Mason Warren, M.D.,” by Howard Payson Arnold, 1886. The office or study, on the
left of the main entrance, was described as a fairly spacious room, with an air
of ancient and prosperous dignity. Beneath this office was a place of retirement
for students. This apartment was devoted to medical and surgical work, and the
compounding of drugs. “From the back windows of the house one overlooked the
Burying-Ground, and the rears of all the other dwellings which surrounded it.
Passing to the front of the edifice, one was impressed with a prompt and
striking contrast. The parlors at the head of one flight of stairs, and the two
chambers above them, overlooked the Common, sloping in a gentle and verdurous
expanse to the water, which then lapped its lower boundary.” The writer dwells
further upon the beauty of the western view from Dr. Warren’s windows. The
Great Elm and Flagstaff Hill were prominent features of the landscape; and in
the distance the Blue Hills of Milton.
In the
early days of Christian Science, meetings were held at the houses of different
Church members. Hawthorne Hall, at Number Two Park Street, with a seating
capacity of two hundred and twenty-five, was the scene of the first public
meeting, in November, 1883; and that Hall has therefore been appropriately
called the cradle of the Christian Science Church. The following Notice dates
from that period: “The Church of Christ respectfully invites you to attend
their Services at number two Park Street, Hawthorne Hall, every Sunday at 3 P.M.;
and learn how to heal the sick with Christianity. Mrs. Eddy teaches
Metaphysical Healing at 551 Shawmut Avenue, Boston. Many certificates could be
given of the sick, healed by her lectures.” The last service at Hawthorne Hall
was held, October 18, 1885. Mrs. Eddy herself was accustomed to preach at the
Park Street Services, “and was always effective on the rostrum.”1
A copy of the Notice given above may be seen at the book-store of Messrs. Smith & McCance, on the site of Hawthorne Hall.
1 The
Life of Mary Baker Eddy.
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