A red-brick townhouse tucked along a private way in Boston’s South End comes with an architectural pedigree stretching back nearly a century and a half.
Built around 1883, 2 Pelham Terrace was designed by Gridley J. F. Bryant, one of the most prolific architects working in Boston during the 19th century and the man behind some of the city’s most recognizable civic buildings.
Now, the three-bedroom Victorian is on the market for $3.695 million following a restoration that preserved many of its original details while introducing a few antiques from considerably farther afield.
Among them are marble fireplaces imported from Burgundy, France.
The four-level townhouse spans more than 2,700 square feet and is listed with Manny Sarkis, co-founder and COO of The Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman.
Bryant’s involvement gives the property a particularly interesting place within the South End’s already rich architectural history.
During a career that helped shape Boston through a period of enormous growth, the architect worked on hundreds of buildings. His projects included Boston’s Old City Hall and Boston City Hospital, along with Ballou Hall at Tufts University and major additions to the Massachusetts State House.
Architecture also ran in the family. His father, Gridley Bryant, was the engineer behind the Granite Railway in Massachusetts, widely recognized as America’s first commercial railroad.
At Pelham Terrace, however, Bryant was working at a much more domestic scale.
The house survives as part of a residential ensemble from the Victorian era, complete with its sloped black slate roof, dormer windows and a skylight positioned above the original wooden staircase.
Those historic elements became important during the property’s renovation.
The current owner, antiques dealer François Baronet, restored and modernized the townhouse while preserving much of its original architectural character. A comprehensive renovation completed in 2020 brought the interiors up to date without stripping away the details that reveal the home’s age.
Baronet’s background in antiques also left a visible imprint on the house.
Rare artworks, antique furnishings and lighting fill the interiors, while the imported French marble fireplaces give the formal rooms a distinctly European layer.
Two of those antique marble fireplaces appear on the parlor level, where the living and dining rooms retain restored millwork. One has been fitted with a gas insert.
The central staircase connects all four floors, with the overhead skylight drawing natural light down through the middle of the narrow townhouse footprint.
Downstairs, the garden level takes on a more casual character.
A den can function as a media room, office or secondary sitting area, while the kitchen has been thoroughly modernized with custom cabinetry and appliances from Sub-Zero and Wolf.
Large LaCantina folding glass doors open the kitchen directly to the fenced garden.
That outdoor space is a particularly valuable addition for a single-family home in the middle of the South End, creating a private area behind the townhouse that can function almost as an extension of the kitchen in warmer weather.
The second floor contains a guest bedroom and full bathroom, along with a dedicated library lined with custom built-ins.
Here, another restored original fireplace provides a reminder that not all of the home’s historic details were imported during the renovation.
The third floor is reserved entirely for the primary suite.
It includes the bedroom, a full bathroom, walk-in dressing room and in-suite laundry, keeping the owner’s quarters separated from the entertaining spaces and guest accommodations below.
Altogether, the house has three bedrooms, three full bathrooms and one half-bath.
But two of its most useful features are found outside the roughly 2,700-square-foot interior.
In addition to its private fenced garden, 2 Pelham Terrace has dedicated off-street parking for two vehicles — a combination that’s considerably harder to come by in a historic central Boston neighborhood than antique fireplaces or original millwork.
Its position on a private way also gives the property a degree of separation from the surrounding city, despite being close to the restaurants, galleries, parks and streets that define the South End.
Nearly 145 years after Bryant designed it, the house remains recognizably Victorian from the street.
Inside, its original staircase, skylight, dormers and restored fireplace coexist with folding glass doors, high-end kitchen appliances and modern building systems — plus a few centuries of decorative history brought in by an owner who happens to make a living finding it.
The property at 2 Pelham Terrace in Boston’s South End is listed for $3.695 million with Manny Sarkis of Douglas Elliman.
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