Loring-Greenough House
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The Loring-Greenough House is the last surviving 18th century residence in Sumner Hill, a historic district of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. It is located at 12 South Street on Monument Square at the edge of Sumner Hill.
This mid-Georgian mansion was built as a country residence and farmstead in 1760 for wealthy British naval officer Commodore Joshua Loring on land that had been inhabited by colonists since the 1650s. Originally, the Loring-Greenough house was situated on a 60-acre (24 hm²) estate. Loring, a Loyalist Tory, abandoned the house in 1774 during the American Revolution when he fled the colonies. The house was confiscated by colonial forces and served as a headquarters and hospital for Continental soldiers during the Siege of Boston.
In 1780, the house was sold to Isaac Sears, the rebel leader from New York, and was then purchased in 1784 by Ann Doane, a rich widow, who then married David Stoddard Greenough. Their descendants lived here for five generations until 1926. At that time the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club (until 1993 a ladies'-only club and today a community group) purchased the house, along with two acres of landscaped grounds, to convert it into a museum and save it from development into a housing and retail complex.
A well-preserved residence with almost 4,500 ft² (418 m²), the property includes sweeping lawns and an orchard, a carriage house, and the three-story home itself. The house is fenced and gated with wrought iron, making access virtually impossible except for times when the building is formally open to the public. The Tuesday Club has carried out numerous sensitive renovations over the years. The most recent restoration occurred with a $350,000 grant and included painting and other repairs.
The Loring-Greenough property is now a historic house museum still owned and operated by the Tuesday Club, which offers tours and other events throughout the year. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Massachusetts Landmark and a Boston Landmark.
