Luxury Homes

In Back Bay, a $7m-plus condo with gold leaf ceilings and an infrared sauna

This isn’t a palace, but rather a four-bedroom posh unit where the next owner can live like Tom Brady did, down the street from his former residence.

In the living room of a $7,150,000 listing in Back Bay, a crystal chandelier shines down onto an oak floor and up toward gold leaf. Photo courtesy of Jack Vatcher Photography

By Victor Stefanescu

February 12, 2024

2 minutes to read

If prospective buyers find themselves standing between the images of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn etched into tin at the heart of this property in the Back Bay, they’ll see mahogany to their sides, glowing stained glass straight ahead, and gold leaf shining above them.

This isn’t a basilica or museum, but rather the living room of a $7,150,000 Back Bay condo where the next owner can live like Tom Brady, down the street from his former residence.

“I think it appeals to a buyer that would like to have a single-family feel with lots of space and large rooms, but doesn’t want the vertical living,” said listing agent Beth Dickerson of Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty.

The four-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom condo with 4,600 square feet of living space is part of the Bradley Mansion, which includes 11 luxury condos and a mezzanine lobby featuring the original Peabody and Stearns grand staircase, according to Dickerson.

But the new owner of Unit B at 409 Commonwealth Ave. will have a private entrance that’s also pretty grand. It opens to a sitting area with checkerboard marble floors and mahogany paneling.

The mahogany runs through a corridor featuring an arched gold-leaf ceiling that extends toward the doors featuring the Mozart and Haydn portraits. Those doors open to the oval living room: the jewel of the property.

A crystal chandelier shines down onto an oak floor and up toward the gold leaf. The colorful windows take inspiration from the outdoors, with images including an owl and a bird’s nest. Hidden storage space is built into the room’s walls, Dickerson said.

Heading to the kitchen, one leaves 1890s royal living for modern luxuries: two Sub-Zero fridges and two dishwashers. A porcelain farmhouse sink blends into a long marble island. The backsplash walls are also a glossy marble, according to Dickerson.

The kitchen sits on the entry floor, alongside an office with built-in bookcases, the living room, and the primary suite. The bathroom’s traditional soaking tub and marble walk-in shower make its infrared sauna come as a surprise.

*Photo courtesy of Jack Vatcher Photography*

The home’s three additional bedrooms feature en-suite bathrooms. One, which sits on the two-story home’s lower level, connects to a family room that opens up to a bluestone patio.

A built-in fireplace sits flush with a grill in this outdoor entertainment space. A staircase leads up to the home’s deck, which also features bluestone tiles.

And in the Back Bay, a Boston neighborhood where some offer $750,000 for a parking spot, this condo comes with three of them. Dickerson, the global real estate advisor for Gibson Sotheby’s, said the owner receives an elongated spot that can fit two cars parked in tandem, and an elevator system lifts up a third in the building’s garage.