Shirley-Eustis House
- Year
- 1741
- City
- Boston, MA
The Shirley-Eustis House at 33 Shirley Street in Roxbury was built between 1747 and 1751 as the summer home of William Shirley, the Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on a 33-acre estate. It is attributed to the architect Peter Harrison and built in part by Thomas Dawes.
the building
Later owners. In 1763, Shirley's son-in-law Eliakim Hutchinson, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County and one of Boston's richest men, acquired the house; Shirley himself moved back in after retiring as Governor of the Bahamas in 1769 and lived there until his death in 1771.
Revolutionary War seizure. After Hutchinson's death in 1775, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's Massachusetts Sixth Foot Regiment occupied the house, and in 1778 it was seized as Loyalist property, sitting unoccupied until it was purchased again in 1782.
the architect
The house is attributed to architect Peter Harrison, with construction carried out in part by Thomas Dawes.
significance
The Shirley-Eustis House is a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of only four surviving mansions built for Royal Governors in the United States.
nearby
- Dearborn School
- St. Mary's Episcopal Church
- Malcolm X Ella Little-Collins House
- Goldsmith Block
- Congregation Adath Jeshurun
- Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church