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Year
Built:
Permit Date: |
1925
8/21/1925 |
|
Architect: |
(William
P.) O'Hare & Houle |
|
Builder: |
O'Hare
& Houle |
|
Cost
to Build: |
$12,000 |
|
Owner
(On Permit Date): |
Ellen
A. O'Hare & Mary A. Jennings, Somerville |
|
First
Residents: |
Mary
V. & Walter E. Donovan |
The first
residents listed in the Street List at this address were Mary and
Walter Donovan who were listed for just one year (1928). Walter
(born c1895) was listed as a salesman in the Street List but as
the proprietor of an inn in the 1930 U.S. Census, when he and Mary
(born c1898) had moved to Plainville, MA.
The next
resident, after a one year gap, was Mary Elsa Coolidge, who was
listed here with a maid in 1930 and with two different maids from
1931 to 1935. Mary Coolidge (1890-1935) was the daughter of J. Randolph
Coolidge, an architect, and his wife Mary. The Coolidges were one
Boston's most prominent and wealthy familes and were descended from
Thomas Jefferson. (Mary, who was born in France, was Jefferson's
great-great-granddaughter.)
The 1930
U.S. Census listed the residents as: M. Elsa Coolidge, 39, born
France; and Emma Wilson, 60, servant, born Canada. Coolidge continued
to be listed at this address until 1935. Elsa Haggard, a maid, was
listed alone at this address in 1936, and there was no one listed
in 1937. From 1938 to 1940, Mary Coolidge's nephew, Hamilton Richards
(1913-1988), was listed. The son of Mary's older sister, Julia,
he was a banker/broker. Edith L. Richards, presumably his wife,
was listed with him in 1939.
The next
residents of 115 Tappan Street were Jacob and Sara L. Wallace. Jacob
Wallace (1906-1980) was a pediatric cardiologist and a staff member
of Beth Israel Hospital and the Children's Hospital Medical Center,
where he practiced for more than 40 years. Wallace, who was born
in New York, was also at one time examining physician for the Brookline
Public Schools and president of the Brookline Music School.
Sara Klier
Wallace (1909-2005) was born in Warsaw, Poland and came to the United
States at the age of 3. She graduated from the Portia School of
Law, now New England School of Law, in 1930. She served as a special
counsel for the Town of Brookline for four decades, according to
her obituary in the Boston Globe, and "put her tenacity and
intellect behind many projects to benefit Brookline from creating
affordable housing to upgrading a neighborhood park." The Sara
K. Wallace House, a refurbished building for low-income residents,
was dedicated in her name in 1997.
115 Tappan
Street was owned by Wallace family until very recently.
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