Luxury Home of Week: Pill Hill mansion with Olmsted landscape

Caroline Anders

Boston.com Staff

September 9, 2019 1:39 pm

Many creatives have called this Brookline mansion home.

Its library was originally a petite stage, designed for the owners Shakespeare club meetings and complete with wings and even a mirrored panel over the windows to block out the sun during performances.

Famed storyteller Jay OCallahan grew up at 112 High St. on Pill Hill, a neighborhood named for its abundance of medical professionals. OCallahan has written extensively about his childhood on Pill Hill.

Cabot and Chandler, hailed by writer Bainbridge Bunting in Houses of Bostons Back Bay as the Back Bays most competent designers in the Queen Anne tradition, designed the home for Charles Storrow, son of the prominent civil engineer and industrialist. It was built in 1884, and has been masterfully restored, listing agent Alan Cohen of Hammond Residential Real Estate said. The roof was replaced in 2006, and the entire exterior was re-shingled in 2008. The wood trim and front columns have also been replaced.

The house features reading nooks aplenty: a window seat on a staircase landing, an alcove, and a gleaming glass conservatory, which was rebuilt from the ground up in 2013.

Cohen called the current owners extraordinary stewards of the house, and said they went to great lengths to restore it to its original glory.

For example, the home features stained-glass windows by celebrated artist John La Farge, but one oval piece was sold by a previous owner. Cohen said the current owners tracked it down to California and bought it to reinstall in the home.

The state-of-the-art kitchen includes custom, lighted mahogany cabinetry, an upright freezer, a granite island, flooring with radiant heat, and a wine cellar. Many of the bathrooms feature touches such as marble-topped counters or claw-foot bathtubs.

The home also has an apartment with a separate entrance on its lower level, in addition to an au pair suite. The lower level opens to the homes sweeping bluestone patio.

Famed landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted designed the estates grounds, which feature a stone bridge, ravine, and the original rhododendron grove imported from England.

The 8,437-square-foot estate has seven bedrooms, not including the apartment on the lower level; 6.5 baths, and a detached two-car garage. It sits on half an acre.

The property is scheduled to hit the market Tuesday for $4,200,000.

See more photos of the home below:

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Luxury Home of Week: Pill Hill mansion with Olmsted landscape