Dorchester Victorian mansion is grand | Boston Homes Prime Real ...

Turn-of-the-century Dorchester home boasts five fireplaces, five bedrooms and a billiard room.

Just north of Codman Square and close to Wellesley Park in Dorchester is a majestic single-family home with more than 6,700 square feet of living space.
It would be a perfect home for a growing family or for grand entertaining.
Diane Davidson, Richard Giglio and Jeffrey Keller of Keller Williams Realty have listed this double bowfront home at 18 Melville Ave. at $849,000.
This regal house was built in 1888 for Charles F. Baxter, a civil engineer, but sometime between then and 1915, it was widened. The accompanying stable is long gone, allowing for a nice landscaped yard.
The recessed columned entry with leaded glass sidelights and a wide transom is beneath a portico with two pairs of fluted columns that rise two stories.
The hint of grandeur is confirmed when stepping from the vestibule through another doorway with leaded glass into the open foyer with wide arches supported by columns.
To the left is a spacious living room with a high ceiling, and a large fireplace. That hardwood floor has a mahogany inlay. An alcove in this room opens onto a deck that gives access to the side yard and driveway.
Straight ahead is an elegant staircase with a lovely balustrade. The stairs turn at two landings.
To the right of the foyer is the drawing room or music room. Two sets of French doors with wide transoms open into this room, which has a gleaming hardwood floor with an intricate Greek key mahogany inlay.
Another set of doors opens into a large dining room, featuring a wood-paneled coffered ceiling and a handsome fireplace with an oak mantelpiece and mirrored overmantel. On either side of the fireplace are wide benches.
The paneled wainscot is shoulder-high, interrupted by built-in china cabinets with glass fronts and three windows with a lovely stained glass design and stained glass transom. Toward the back of the house is a hallway/butler?s pantry with more built-ins and a full bath, which features bead board and a pedestal sink.
The hall continues to a huge eat-in kitchen that is striking. In the middle is a six-foot-wide center island at baker?s height, topped with Italian marble.
A long walnut counter provides plenty of workspace in front of two windows, which give views of a spacious deck. Custom-built walnut cabinets enhance the kitchen, and a deep-set Shaw?s farmer?s sink is in front of one of the windows.
A six-burner stainless steel Monogram range with a griddle plays center stage between more marble-topped counters and includes a convenient pot filler and a tiled backsplash.
The breakfast area is completely open to the kitchen and holds a large farmer?s table. Behind the range is a little hall that holds a refrigerator, and between the sink and the stove is a large pantry and access to the big deck.
The fourth side of the kitchen and breakfast area, opposite the stove, has two doors. One opens to the second staircase and the other to another pantry. Next to it is a refrigerator.
Returning to the hallway from the dining room, this area continues to another grand room that is used as a den. It too has a fireplace with an overmantel, like that in the dining room, flanked by wooden benches. The ceiling is wood-paneled, and the paneled wainscoting is waist-high.
An alcove features a long wooden seat that runs the width of this space, and above it are two stained glass windows. Pocket doors open to return to the front parlor.
The main staircase is open to the rooms below, including one wall that features an arch with latticework. The second floor wraps around the staircase, and another arch on the same plane introduces a large room that serves as a library. The light-filled room boasts a five-window bay and a window seat; one of the windows has stained glass.
Three rooms lie at the front of the house. In one bedroom a window seat occupies the space in front of the bow windows. The second room, which is above the foyer, has a ceiling fan and is used as an exercise room.
The largest room with a bow has no window seat but does feature a charming fireplace with a tile surround and wooden mantel. This room has two closets, one of which opens into a third bedroom, the master bedroom, which also has a second closet.
The northwest side of the house also holds a fourth bedroom, which is newly carpeted, and a spacious laundry room, which is actually larger than one of the bedrooms! It holds a side-by-side washer and dryer.
A full bath with a combination tub/shower and a marble-topped Queen Anne vanity is off the hall, which continues toward the rear of the house. Here is the billiard room, a spacious room with two four-window bays with window seats on either side of the room and a splendid fireplace with a mirrored overmantel and a tile surround. A window on either side of the fireplace has a storage seat.
A half bath with a pedestal sink is off the billiard room.
And, there?s more. Another bedroom is on this floor and more closets. Next to one of them in the middle of the house is a staircase that leads to the unfinished attic. Although servants may have lived there decades ago, this area now serves as storage space, with evidence of the original roof of the house, before its expansion.
In addition, a full basement has at least a 7-foot ceiling with a workshop, the mechanicals and plenty of storage space.
DETAILS
Address: 18 Melville Ave., Dorchester
BR/BA: Five bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths
Size: 6,788 square feet
Age: 1888; 1991; 2008; recent updates
Price: $849,000
Taxes: $7,674 (FY 2012)
Features of home: Victorian mansion with new kitchen; designed for a gourmet chef; formal living room, dining room and family room, each with a fireplace; beautiful woodwork throughout; hardwood flooring with inlays, high ceilings, abundant storage; master bedroom with fireplace; second-floor billiard room with fireplace; large laundry room; seven zones for heating; landscaped grounds enclosed by cedar fence; parking for three cars.
Close by: Codman Square shops and restaurants, Codman Square Health Center, Codman Square Branch Library, Wellesley Park, Epiphany School, MBTA Red Line at Shawmut Station.
Contact: Diane Davidson, Richard Giglio or Jeffrey Keller of the Davidson-Giglio Team at Keller Williams Realty, 607 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116. Phones: 617-549-8989 (Davidson), 617-312-5102 (Giglio) or 617-257-7179 (Keller).
This property may be seen by appointment.

Source: http://wickedlocalbostonhomes.com/2012/11/boston-real-estate/dorchester-victorian-mansion-is-grand/

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