Listed: See inside the childhood home of the New Kids on the Block’s Knight brothers
Even before the Salvation Army began using the “Jubilee House” for religious services, people were already flocking to 10 Melville Ave. in Dorchester, hoping to catch a glimpse inside the imposing 6,058-square-foot Victorian.
The 23-room property, listed for $1,795,000, is the childhood home of New Kids on the Block members and brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, a fact fans did not let the new owners forget easily. When the band got back together in 2008, they arrived in droves, from as far as London and Seattle, to pose for pictures in the place where the popular boy band rehearsed and shot music videos.
The three-story home sits on 0.08 of an acre and has nine bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, and 2 half bathrooms. It was built circa 1880 by George Meacham, the architect behind Boston’s Public Garden. According to the listing by Michael Dorion of The Residential Group at William Raveis Real Estate, a number of rooms were gutted to the studs after a frozen pipe damaged the home last year.
Perched atop a grassy hill, the Victorian style is still clear in the A-frame turret, bay windows, and wood trim encasing many of the doorways and windows of the interior. A porte cochère on the side of the home adds an antique feel, as does the carriage house in the back, which is in need of “extensive repairs,” according to the listing.
The listing sheet describes the property as a multi-family with two units: one with five bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms, and seven fireplaces; the other with four bedrooms, one full bathroom, and a fireplace.
When the Knights bought the home in 1972, they ran a group home for teenagers, Sharon Knight, the second oldest of the six Knight siblings, told boston.com in 2008. Back then, fans were just as fanatical.
“People were camped out there all the time and coming to the door,” Knight said. “We had to put up a big wrought-iron fence.”
The Salvation Army is selling the property after announcing last year that the Jubilee House would merge with the Kroc Center of Boston, another Salvation Army facility located on Dudley Street in Dorchester.
“Our move allows us to invest in the critical programs and services that our community relies on in a newer, state-of-the-art facility,” the organization wrote in a post on Facebook in September 2020. “We look forward to continuing to serve our neighbors in the Dorchester community.”
The property could be used as single-family, multifamily, or for “institutional use,” the listing said. “Because of the location and the square footage of this property, it provides an array of different options for living opportunities,” Major Doris Gonzalez of the Salvation Army said in an e-mail.
In any event, the home “stands ready for its next chapter,” according to the listing.
Perhaps that next chapter will bring the home full circle. Former resident Jonathan Knight is now the host of “Farmhouse Fixer,” an HGTV series that has him showing off his “renovation know-how” by fixing up “centuries-old New England farmhouses that deserve a second chance,” according to HGTV.
Although the Dorchester property doesn’t exactly fit the farmhouse classification, who knows? Maybe season two will bring this Knight brother back to the city— and the home— where it all started. After decades away, he could be the new kid on the block once again.
See more photos of the home below:
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