Home of the Week: Woodwork defines the charm of this Chelsea Victorian
The town house has a porch with Boston skyline views, three bedrooms, and a flower-lined backyard. Search the latest listings to rent or buy at realestate.boston.com.
22 Willard St., Chelsea
$550,000
Style: Victorian town house
Year built: 1895
Square feet: 2,398
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 1 full, 1 half
Sewer/water: Public
Taxes: To be determined
It’s something of a journey to reach this elegant home, which was built around 1895 by J.H. Kibby and Son.
Sitting atop part of Powder Horn Hill, some two dozen steps lead to a classic Victorian porch with sweeping, unimpeded views of Boston and beyond.
The front door of the Charles Kibby House[Charles was the “Son’’] opens into a foyer where the skills of the family are intact. The foyer’s focal point is a decorative fireplace with a cherry mantel, a Chelsea tile surround, and a mirror. To the left is a curving stairwell with a carved newel post crowned by a statue hoisting a light.
To the left is the mudroom and then the bow-front living room, a space that is surprisingly sunny given that it parallels the porch. The ceilings throughout the house are 9 feet, and the majority of the flooring is a mix of Douglas fir and oak that is original to the home, except for a few planks.
To the right, past a kneewall with fluted columns, is the sitting room, and beyond that, a dining room with a stained-glass window, a built-in china cabinet, and a no-longer-working serving hatch to the butler’s pantry — all are original to the home.
The kitchen offers white quartz counters with a golden sparkle and white subway tiles with a gray grout. The upper cabinets are painted white, the lowers are royal blue. The stove is stainless steel, the flooring is linoleum, and there is more than enough space to fit a table for four.
The home’s half bath comes with a porcelain sink, bead board, and a linoleum floor.
The second floor can be reached by morning stairs near the kitchen or the foyer stairwell. A landing on the morning stairs has a linen closet with built-in drawers.
All of the home’s four bedrooms offer closets that are surprisingly substantial for a home built near the turn of the last century. Each bedroom has two windows and shares a full bath with bead board, a tile floor, a porcelain pedestal sink, and a tub/shower combo with a subway tile surround.
The walk-up attic is finished, but the basement, where the laundry setup is found, is not.
The 0.08-acre lot includes a flat backyard rich with brightly colored flowers, a deck, and grassy space for rolling a ball around.
Jeffrey Bowen of ERA Russell Realty Group is the listing agent. As of press time, an offer had been accepted on this property.
See more photos of the home below:
Follow John R. Ellement on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Send listings to [email protected]. Please note: We do not feature unfurnished homes and will not respond to submissions we won’t pursue. Subscribe to our newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
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