Location key for Beacon Hill condo
For having a Beacon Hill address — and a Beacon Hill price tag — this streetlevel condo at 6 Grove St. has a strikingly modest feel. Yet, the no-frills place is comfortable, livable and bright.
These characteristics are likely in the spirit of the architect behind the late 19th-century brick Colonial Revival-style apartment building that houses the condo, which has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sunny living room and private garden patio.
Built by architect Frederick A. Norcross in 1896, the rowhouse is one of the couple hundred Boston buildings that the very busy Norcross had his hand in during the turn of the century, including many tenements and storefronts and even a Romanesque Revival church in Roxbury, according to state records. Noting Norcross’ contribution to the city, the Brighton Allston Historical Society calls him “by far the most prolific of the apartment house designers” of the early 1900s. Many of his works do feel built for the common man, and this home, though of course since renovated, is no exception.
Though the condo feels like neither a link to early Beacon Hill’s past nor a luxury dwelling, it’s a handsome home that magically lacks the cramped feel of the tightly packed neighborhood.
Just a few minutes by foot from the MBTA’s Charles/ MGH station, the condo is also in a great spot, near the shops of Charles Street, the river and downtown.
Inside, the first level of the nearly 1,100-square-foot home has an open living and dining area with a decent-sized kitchen. Making the small space feel bright and bigger than it is are the many windows — seven panes in total if you include the French doors.
Downstairs is a master bedroom suite that opens to a private garden patio with street access, and a second bedroom. Along the stairway is a wall of exposed brick that reminds you you’re in the city — and that you still live in a cool place.