Cambridge ‘gem’ long admired
Back in the day, the house belonging to Sullivan Niles of Avon Hill in Cambridge was all the rage.
The local newspapers called Niles’ place “one of the prettiest double houses built in Cambridge,” noting that the Dutch-style Colonial Revival was “uncommonly attractive” and a “gem.”
Now, some 120 years later, the home is still gemlike, with its tsavoriteg-reen, wood shingle facade standing like a carved jewel in the protected Avon Hill District.
Originally built as two addresses — now 86-88 Avon Hill St. — the building was split across the center, with single families on either side. The one at 88 Avon Hill — today on the market for $2,475,000 — is 3,414 square feet and six bedrooms over four levels.
From the outside, the place has that classic Dutch form — a steeply pitched, cross-gambrel roof with shed dormers. Sure, it’s no longer an “illustration of the modern style” as it was dubbed by the Cambridge Chronicle in the 1890s, but it is a fine example of oldfashioned elegance.
This is true inside and out, and obvious from the moment you spot the dentil moldings decorating the trim under the overhangs and the wide entrance flanked with pilasters and sidelights.
Once you’re inside, two clues tell you a lot about the place: The handsome, square staircase of mahogany and oak, and the lack of windows on one side of the home reveal the house was always built as a two-family residence, and not chopped up years later.
Go further, and you see the fine work of original architects E.K. and W.E. Blaikie.
The gorgeous dining room at the left of the foyer is adorned with a wide, shallow window bay and two noble-looking china builtins with Palladian-style glass doors and pediment tops. Just as striking, to the right, is the living room, with its brick fireplace and diamond-patterned leaded glass window.
Upstairs, in the bedrooms, the place is grand, if traditional, especially in the expansive 14-foot-by-17foot master bedroom suite on the third floor.
The home is surprisingly bright for only having sun exposure on three sides, thanks to the high ceilings and fat windows throughout, as well as the dormers and skylight on the upper levels.
The bathrooms and kitchen are all contemporary, yet classic in design: The first-floor kitchen is as simple as cream and coffee, with its black granite countertops and white cabinetry, while the bathrooms are mostly beige and white, with modern fixtures like all-glass showers.
The finished basement is white and slick with vertical built-in shelves surrounding a partial wall with a natural wood, barlike countertop in the living area.
The sale of the property is being handled by Frank Celeste at 617-242-4222.