Once home to a Boston Brahmin family, Beacon Hill townhouse is more than meets the eye
Twenty years ago, this classic brick building from the 1890s got a modern art makeover.
You probably wouldn’t stop if you were walking by 5 Byron Street in Beacon Hill – just another beautiful brick façade.
“When you walk by the outside, you have no idea what is behind the front door,’’ the exclusive listing agent from Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty George Ballantyne told Boston.com.
When you walk inside it is not exactly what you would expect in a historic 1890 Beacon Hill home – in fact, it’s quite modern.
“It was a large baronial space with tapestry,’’ Ballantyne said. “Then they hired Graham Gund about twenty years ago to come in and do a contemporary interior.’’ Gund is an acclaimed architect based in Cambridge.
Story continues after gallery.
See inside 5 Byron Street #5 in the present and the past:
Gund kept the home’s unique structure, which includes a soaring two-story central living space, but added an array of modern architectural details. The listing’s brochure refers to it as an “architectural tour de force,’’ noting that “the two-story beam-ceilinged main living space combines monumental paneled accent walls, a brass-doored fireplace, and balconies with grid-motif balustrades in a harmonious overall effect.’’
The condo has an elevator that reaches all floors – from the garage, which has beautiful wooden exterior doors, to the roof deck, which is completely private and has a “Zen garden feeling,’’ according to Ballantyne.
“Someone will buy it who is looking for something with a lot of imagination,’’ Ballantyne said.
The stunning home has been waiting a long time for its imaginative owner, however. The three-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom, 5,323-square-foot condo which is for sale for $6,950,000, has been listed for almost two years, a rarity in Boston’s booming luxury market.
But if there’s any home with the patrician patience to wait for the right buyer, it’s this one. 5 Byron Street was once owned by the Sears family, considered among the rarified Boston Brahmin families with deep roots and deeper pockets.
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