The House is Halved, 1940 to 1944
The Carrolls moved out of 318 Metropolitan Avenue during 1940 - when they moved to Jamaica Plain. It seems that 318 was bought by a trust, A.B C. Realty Trust, which was composed of at least two members Isador Myer and Philip Dwyer, who give their address as 10 Franklin St, Allston, and 72 Cherry St, Cambridge respectively. Their respective names appear on the permits to cut the whole of 318 Met Ave in half (in either 1940, 41, or 42). The architect and contractor was a Roslindale resident, Albin Fritof Brodin.
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A B C Realty appears to be a company who dabbles in realtor services as well as managing properties, and first appear in the 1920s, working in Boston and Cambridge. Philip A Dwyer was born in Ireland in 1898, and lives at 72 Cherry St, Cambridge in the 1940 census, where he describes himself as a Carpenter in the building trade. So far, details on Isador have been more elusive.
Albin was born in Solberg, Västra Götaland, Sweden on April 22nd 1880 and immigrated into the USA in 1901. By 1908 he was a naturalized citizen (having disavowed King Gustvus 5th!). He lived in Providence, RI, until he moved to Boston in 1910, where he worked as a carpenter, and draftsman. In 1929, in the Boston Directory, he finally described himself as an Architect, and lived with his wife Olga, and two children at 10 Hadwin Way, Roslindale - just across the tracks and north a bit on Hyde Park Ave from 318 Metropolitan Avenue. This is where he lived until he died suddenly at home in Roslindale, on 5th December 1945.
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Albin was active in the Boston construction industry - which included a number of houses in the Bourne area of Forest Hills, so was a good man to bring on to the job of slicing the house in two, as well as converting the stable to a single family dwelling. From what we see of the house today, with original details that were maintained or repaired during the split, or even the act of leaving the original wood in the basement - Albin did do a good job and deserves credit for not doing such a large job poorly, and rushed.
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Thank you Albin.
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The plans for the split and transformation were drawn up in November 1942 (from the plot plan by JF Hennessy, Brookline, MA), corrected and accepted on Jan 15th 1943 (stamp on plans). This means that the whole house may have sat empty from its sale in 1940/1941 by the Carroll's to 1943.At that point the three buildings became work sites, but all finished by July 1944.
From the voter registries show that the Carroll's occupied it in 1940, but no registered voters occupied 318 Met Ave until 1947 (Joseph & Evelyn Abele, and John & Claire Boyle and the house keeper Louise Hinckley).
324 Met Ave (the stable) is first occupied in 1945 (Maurice & Majorie Berman).
44 Maynard St (the other half of the house) is first occupied by Rollin & Sarah Fountain in 1946.
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In the Boston Globe, on 23 June 1944, 29 & 30 July 1944, 17 Sept 1944, 3 Dec 1944, we see that all three houses were up for sale. By 29 Apr 1945, there were two houses up for sale (318 & 324), and then finally 23 June 1945, only 318 Met Ave was still listed.
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In August of 1944, permit records for 44 Maynard show that a violation was sent to Sheba Shulman, who lived in Roxbury (roof needed to drain to sewer). The house at 44 Maynard must have been owned (by Sheba) and rented out. This is the year that we have no voter reg data.We do also know that Sheba left, to be replaced by long time owners, the Bloods (voter reg, permit data, and oral history from Mimi Agapite).
1943 Original permit for the cut
1944 July
1944 Sept
1944 Dec
1945 Apr
1945 June
1940
1944 Sheba's Violations
1941
1942
1943
1945
1946
1947
Maynard St. 1945
Maynard St. 1946
Memories from Mary O'Keefe
In the summer of 2020, the current occupant and our neighbour at 44 Maynard St, Yulia, lent us some information which she had gathered over the years on the house and the area. In the pack was a letter from Mary O'Keefe, who grew up on the corner of Maynard St (or Clarendon St as it was then called) and Poplar St. She lived diagonally across from The Dunns.
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She recalls 318 Met Ave being separated into two in 1943, and relates how the layout of the roads changed, with a tree in a mini-park at the join of Maynard and Poplar was removed in 1946 (see photo), as well as the paving of the area in the 1950s. She also remembers thinking that 318 was to be converted to a Church, although as you will see, the Reverend Reade may have belonged to a church, but was quite happy living there and converting 318 to a 2-family.
Tree removal, Maynard St. 1946
Re-paving in progress 1950
Re-paving finished 1950
1914 Map
Mary's memories
Mary is able to provide some color to the houses around 318 when she was there: 304 Metropolitan Ave, across Maynard from 318, was built and owned by Dr Smith and his family from the turn of the century until the 1940s.
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The Fox family were already at 318 Met when her grandfather built their family home at 408 Poplar St. She further comments that "Mr. Fox had married a Dunn" (Isabella of course), that one of her aunts, "Gertrude Sweet had dated Ned Fox" (presumably Edward), that one of the Fox daughters was an Opera Singer, and that Mr Fox was associated with newspapers, either the Boston Herald or New York Times.
As you can see her, memories are pretty accurate and backed up by our findings.
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She also has memories of the Carrolls, who she recalls bought the house from the Fox's: Her mother (Lillian Sweet Kramer) who was 81 at the time of writing (in 1982), used to baby sit the Carroll children. Of these she remembers Mark, Ruth and Richard. She mentions that Mark was a banker in Boston, and had his 'jaw blown away in WWII', and was featured in a Reader's Digest article. Ruth married Larry Doyle and moved to CA.
TheDivision of the House
The goal of ABC Realty was to break up the original 318 Met Ave lot into 3 pieces, leaving 318 with a large portion, and divide some for 44 Maynard St, and provide some for the new 324 Met Ave. 324 Met Ave was originally the stable, and was converted into a small single family house.
The cutting of the house would remove the dining room, the living room, the kitchen and a couple of bedrooms, and so In the blueprint of the whole house, you can see the yellow line where Albin cut the house. Part 1 on the left remains in place, and Part 2, was lifted up and moved to 44 Maynard St (2 doors down). The move was apparently cheaper than a rebuild.
The cut in obvious on the modern day 318 Met Ave, where the east wall is a sheer drop, with only a few windows, where old hallways or doors use to be.
The original permit, submitted by Philip Dwyer, is actually split into two parts. From the back of the original permit and stamp on plans, the move was approved Jan 15th, 1943 (after being initially drawn up in November 1942).
Part One asks to:
"Cut portion of existing building, re-frame roof and wall. Board up end wall and clapboard. build kitchen 12'.6" 13'.2" using wood frame and asphalt shingle on roof. New stone foundation 20" thick under. Also build new end foundation wall as shown stone 20" thick. Estimated cost $1000."
Part Two for 44 Maynard St, on an separate page asks to:
"Reframe portion roof. Stud up end with 2x4-16", board up end and clapboard. New foundation 20" stone. Plaster new end wall portion of existing building that was cut off to be moved to 44 Maynard St from 318 Metropolitan Avenue and set in new 20" stone foundation. Estimated cost $2000"
On Jan 12 1943, Albin received permission from the City for:
"Moving half of large dwelling (wood) on to adjoining lot at 318 Metropolitan Ave. Estimated cost $650."
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And then on April 9th 1943, a plan amendment (approved on April 13th) was made by Albin to:
"Change the foundation from 20" stone to 12" concrete block with 12 x 20 concrete footing".
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The cut in obvious on the modern day 318 Met Ave, where the east wall (which faces 324 Metropolitan Ave) is a sheer face, with only a few windows, where old hallways or doors use to be.
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In Jan 2022, the knackered 30 year old siding was replaced. During the demo process, the way Albin patched up the house after the cut was revealed. Planks of wood, birch and pine, were nailed to the interior studs, to make a very homey-covering. Floor joists can be seen beneath the long window on the second floor (you can see the width of the original corridor there), which itself was a door through to the other part of the house - as was the other window at the bottom left of the wall (to the Sitting Room). The door to the Dining room was covered up, but would have approximately beneath the long window (next to the stairs, where there is now a bookcase). The wood at the top left of the house is more narrow and seems newer. This may be a result of the 1923 fire? A couple of pieces of plywood can be seen on the left side of the house. The plywood on the second floor is in place of old door from the 'Dressing Room' to a Bedroom, whereas the one on the ground floor is not covering a particular opening. There is a lot of plumbing behind this, and it's possible that part of the wood was removed for access.
Part One, 1943
Part Two, 1943
The New 318 Met Ave
318 Met Ave was cut down a straight line at the eastern side of the piazza, along the line of the reception hall, leaving the reception hall and grand stairs, the music room (dining room), the parlour/sitting room, and porch on the first floor. Three existing bedrooms, sewing room, dressing room and toilet on the second floor, and two bedrooms and a studio on the top floor.
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Since the kitchen was removed, a new one was to be built by creating a door from the music room/dining room which would be joined to the existing porch as well as the piazza/porch, which wrapped around all the way. The kitchen layout was quite inefficient (and not Victorian) with the gas range and refrigerator separated by the door to the dining room. The sink was to be on the opposite wall underneath a window, surrounded by cabinetry (where it still is).
Similarly to the kitchen being removed from the first floor, the second floor lost the bathroom, and so Albin applied for a permit to 'move' the bathroom from the back into the front, whereas in reality, he was turning the dressing room into a bathroom and rearranging the entrances. The bathroom is still in that place, and the plumbing also remains in the same positions today as they were in 1943.
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Front of house
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East Side of house
Rear of house
These three sketches show how the house was set up in 1943.
The front is unchanged (apart from the cut!). Note the decorative columns go to the railing, now they go all down to the floor. Decorative windows are only on the top floor. The east side of the house is shows how Albin closed it up, after the cut. The windows represent where hallways or doors were beforehand: upper left was door from bedroom to dressing room; upper right hallway to remainder of house; bottom left pocket door to living room; bottom right door to dining room. The little window set back a bit at top right still exists and was the sewing room. This is also one of the few visuals of the rear porch and entry that we have.​
The rear of the house also shows the rear porch in good detail. This rear porch is now part of the 'family room', and yet is unclear when this conversion from outside space to inside space was made (no permit records).
New cellar
New first floor
The blueprints of the new cellar and first floor show nicely what happened at the cut.
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In the cellar, new stairs are created under the existing main staircase, and the wall next to it, and further along are newly created stone wall. This still exists, although at some point (unknown, since no permit records) a bulkhead access was added along from the new stairs.
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The bottom left of the picture (NW corner) a new accessible cellar is built, which acts as the foundations for the new kitchen. In 2020 this has now changed (or was never built to spec) as th under-kitchen cellar is not accessible, rather a crawlspace, and next to this, underneath the porch, are the foundations for the family room. This does not exist on the map (since it's just a porch in 1943).
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Also note, only 2 fireplace ash pit access exist centrally.
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The new first floor shows us that apart from the creation of a new wall along the top (east) of the house, the new kitchen is the major addition to this floor. The kitchen is poorly laid out - gas range separated by a door from the fridge, and a sink on the opposite side of the room between cabinets, and under windows. These is a doorway out of the kitchen to a porch (now interior family room), from which access to the house through a vestibule and toilet exists. The toilet is still there, albeit it has moved sides, but acces to the back of the house is now out the family room (where external steps are indicated).
1943 Proposed second floor v 1
1943 Proposed Second floor v2
The blueprints from 1943 show two iterations. One we believe is Albin's first thoughts, and the the final layout: the difference being the position of the bathroom. At first what was the Sewing Room (north or left side) was going to be converted to a bathroom, but then after an amendment to the plans (see application) like he settled on converting the Dressing Room (marked existing chamber), which is where it is today.
The passage between the two main bedrooms through a small toilet no longer exists. The hallway connection to the removed part of the house is turned into a window (still existing today).
1943 Attic
The 1943 blueprints of the attic are the first that we see after the fire in 1922, and they look very similar as they are today. With the creation of a new dormer the only forced change as this was the connection to the other side of the house.
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There is now a door between then two bedrooms next to the chimney flu, and a bathroom (installed in the 80s?) connected in the south east corner (top right) above the dressing room-cum-new bathroom.
bathroom amendment
We think this black and white photo from MACRIS was taken around the 1940s to 1950s, after the spilt (1 chimney). You can see the expanded kitchen with the sloped roof on the left hand side. There is no door out of the kitchen (put in in the '80s we believe). To the left of this, you can see some stairs, coming down to ground level. At the bottom right of the porch, it looks like its support is a brick pillar.
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You can also see that there is no bannister behind the second section of porch from the right. This suggests that there are likely stairs in this position, obscured by a bush, as in the original house.
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Also note vent pipe out of the roof by the highest central window, this is no longer here, but suggests that beneath this there was a bathroom or kitchen. This would match with the dormer space in the blueprint.
324 Met Ave, the transformed stable
The stable at 318 Met Ave was beautiful - right down to the rooster on the cupola. But, this was converted into another single family home, and this was an entire conversion, since only the frame existed to use as structure. You can always jump back to look at how the stable was when built.
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Everything here is changed. Gone is the cupola, but in comes a chimney connected to a fireplace in the new living room.
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The new, simple front door enters a new hallway, contains stairs up to the top floor and down to the basement, as well as a little closet and a small bathroom.The kitchen is at the back (note there is no fireplace here), connected to the dinging room, which is connected to the living room. The windows are different from 318 Met Ave, being less decorative.
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The barn door and small entry door has all gone, and is replace by windows to the dining and living room, as well as the bedrooms upstairs. Albin also changed the grading, so that it sits lower than Met Ave, and than it used to.
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The New 44 Maynard St
The plans submitted by Albin for 44 Maynard St, quite closely resemble the half of 318 Met Ave that was removed (obviously!). You can see these below.
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The Front elevation is completely new, since it was the wall connected to 318 Met Ave. This included building a gran entrance, and 4 windows which match the ones in 318 Met Ave, and still exist at 44 Maynard St! The view of the side (which is from the South) shows how Albin maintained the external look, with only the new basement foundation added. He even brought over the little mudroom and steps on the back side.
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From the plans of the inside of the house, it is really the Cellar which has the main changes - with new foundations. The chimney flu design stays the same, with a two flu for the dining and living room fireplaces, and a single for the kitchen fireplace. This plan matches the layout of the floor, as it exists in 2022, with the only difference being a backdoor in the side of the conservatory. New windows were placed in the second floor where connecting hallways in 318 Met Ave used to be.
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Unfortunately, there is no elevation view of the back of the house - either for 44 Maynard or 318 Met Ave, which leaves us to pick through other pieces of evidence to understand this part of the house.
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