Charles Williams Jr. House
- Year
- 1858
- Style
- Italianate
- City
- Boston, MA
The Charles Williams Jr. House, built in 1858, was the private residence of the manufacturer whose shop at 109 Court Street in Boston built electrical telegraph instruments. It was in that shop that Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson first heard indistinct sounds transmitted by telephone on June 2, 1875. In 1877, Williams had a line installed connecting this house directly to his Court Street shop.
the building
Telephone numbers 1 and 2. As the line's owner, Williams held Bell Telephone Company numbers 1 and 2, the first two telephone numbers ever assigned, linking this house to his instrument shop across the river in Boston.
the style
The house is an example of Italianate architecture, built in 1858.
More on Italianatesignificance
The house is historically significant as the site of the first permanent residential telephone service in the world, installed in 1877.
nearby
- House at 81 Pearl Street
- House at 5 Prospect Hill
- Langmaid Building
- Louville V. Niles House
- James H. Brooks House
- Odd Fellows Building