Asa Gray House
- Architect
- Ithiel Town
- Year
- 1810
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Boston, MA
- Collection
- federal boston
The Asa Gray House at 88 Garden Street, Cambridge, was designed in 1810 by Ithiel Town, the earliest known work of an architect who would go on to major importance in American architecture. Built originally for zoologist William Dandridge Peck at the corner of Garden and Linnaean Streets, on the grounds of the Harvard College Botanical Garden, it takes its name from its most famous later resident, botanist Asa Gray, who purchased it in 1842 and lived there for over four decades.
the building
A relocated house. The house originally stood at the corner of Garden and Linnaean Streets on the grounds of the Harvard College Botanical Garden before being moved to its present address at 88 Garden Street.
the style
The Asa Gray House is built in the Federal style of 1810, notable chiefly as the earliest known design by Ithiel Town, before he became a major figure in American architecture.
More on Federalthe architect
Ithiel Town designed the Asa Gray House in 1810; it is the earliest known work of an architect who would go on to become one of the historically important figures in American architecture.
significance
A National Historic Landmark, the house is significant both as Ithiel Town's earliest known work and for its residents: botanist Thomas Nuttall and Harvard presidents James Walker and Jared Sparks lived there before Asa Gray purchased it in 1842. Gray moved in during the summer of 1844 after his appointment to a Harvard professorship he would hold for 45 years, and while living there published his first complete work on American flora as a leading defender of Darwinian evolution.
nearby
- Taylor Square Firehouse
- William Dean Howells House
- Grace Hopkinson Eliot Hall
- Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson House
- Stillman F. Kelley House
- J.A. Noyes House