444 West Chestnut Hill Avenue
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(photograph from Chestnut Hill Historical Society-John Naylor Collection: 1970.111)
MAP NUMBER: 23
DATE: 1884-1885
ORIGINAL OWNER: Charles A. Newhall
ARCHITECT: Wilson Eyre, Jr.
CONTRACTOR: Unknown
Known originally as “Wisteria,” this house is one of
several
country houses in Chestnut Hill designed by Wilson Eyre.
The elaborate Flemish gable is the defining characteristic of
the house. The west end of the dwelling has since been enclosed
and regularized, and a timbered wing projecting toward the street
was added. Alterations were made in 1919 (Carl Ziegler,
architect), and in 1922 (Heacock & Hokanson,
architects)
to what had been Eyre’s principally linear composition. Wisteria
vines, from which the house derived its name, grew against the
primary facade, which faced away from the street.
See Jarvis, "Chestnut Hill Revisited," p. 48.