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|
| Year
Built:
Permit Date: |
1931
4/28/1931, 9/23/1931 |
|
Architect: |
Royal
Barry Wills |
|
Builder: |
Maurice
Dunlavy |
|
Cost
to Build: |
$10,000 |
|
Owner
(On Permit Date): |
Maurice
Dunlavy |
|
First
Residents: |
John
R. and Lynd Kansas |
50 Blake
Road was one of five houses on the street designed by Royal Barry
Wills and built by Maurice Dunlavy. It is the only one of the five
on the north side of the street.
The first
residents of the house, John and Lynd Kansas, lived in New York
before moving into this house. There was no age or occupation listed
for them in the Street List for the two years they were on Blake
Road.
The next
residents, appearing in the Street List from 1935 to 1940, were
Samuel and Helen Slosberg and their family. Samuel L. Slosberg was
an executive with the Green Shoe Manufacturing Company of Boston,
co-founded by his father Jacob. Green Shoe was the maker of the
Stride Rite brand of shoes. (The company name was changed to Stride
Rite in 1966.) Sam Slosberg became chairman of the company after
his father's death. He also served as head of the War Production
Board’s shoe division during World War II. He died in 1982.
Helen Slosberg,
who studied painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, was active as a
patron of the arts. She was the founder of the Brookline Chamber
Music Society and a founder of the Cambridge Society for Early Music.
She died in 1985.
The identity
of the next residents of this house is a little unclear. Morris
and Beth Rostan are listed in the Street List from 1941 to 1963,
although the last name is spelled three different ways -- Rostan,
Roston, Rostau -- in different years. Morris is listed at different
times as a manager and a salesman. Living with them was Lester Sneirson
(through 1945) and his mother Sarah Sneierson (note different spelling).
Lester Sneirson was the co-owner with his brother of the Able Building
Wrecking & Supply Co. of Waltham. He served as a rigger at the
Watertown Arsenal. He died in 2000. Beth Rostan may have been Lester
Sneirson's sister.
|