This photo was taken shortly before the widening of Beacon St. The house of Charles H. Stearns is on the left. Its apparent standing as a typical house on Beacon St. is misleading and requires explanation:

• The house was built in 1767 before Beacon St. existed (1851). It fronted on Pleasant St. and was positioned at a right angle to the street. It is seen at an angle here because Pleasant St. ran diagonally across Beacon St. approximately where the carriage is seen.
• The driveway (viewed in the Pleasant St. photos) is on the left side of the house in this photo, as is the front of the house.
• Charles Stearns would soon be compelled to move his house 400 feet to the southwest to Harvard St. to accommodate the 1888 widening of Beacon St., a requirement he actively opposed.

With the death of Charles H. Stearns in October 1935, the house, the last holdout in a prime commercial location, was demolished. This photo also has an excellent view of how the planks were slightly raised on the wooden sidewalks
incl. Streets

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]