16 Beacon Street
Boston, MA, USA

Chester Harding House

The Chester Harding House is an historic building located at 16 Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 for its association with the noted portraitist Chester Harding, whose home it was from 1826 to 1830. The building has since 1963 been home to the Boston Bar Association.


History
The four-story town house was built in the Federal architectural style as a private home by real estate developer Thomas Fletcher in 1808, at a time when Park Street and Beacon Street were lined by run-down public buildings. State officials decided to build replacements in other parts of the city, financing the construction of the new public buildings from the sale of the Park Street lots.

In 1826, the famous American portrait painter Chester Harding bought the house, which he occupied until 1830.

According to the Lawyers Pictorial Register, published by the Boston Bar Association in 1981, in the middle of the 19th century, the building was bought by Dr. Henry C. Angell, an art collector. As the neighborhood began to change from residential to commercial, many old houses were torn down and replaced by larger buildings which dwarfed the Chester Harding House. One such building is the 1884 six-floor Claflin Building. In 1919, the house was given by Martha B. Angell to the American Unitarian Association, which housed offices there until 1933. The American Unitarian Association loaned the house to Universalist Church of America until 1961, when the two merged. In January, 1962, the Boston Bar Association bought the house and moved its headquarters there from 35 Court Street. The Chester Harding House remains home to the Boston Bar Association.

As commemorated on a plaque hanging on the left-hand side of the building, the Chester Harding House was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1965.

National Register of Historic Places - Chester Harding House

Statement of Significance:

This four-story brick building, located at 16 Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts was from 1826 to 1830 the home of Chester Harding. Though largely self-taught, Harding was one of America's most successful portrait painters in the four decades before his death in 1866. When he settled at Boston in the late 1820's, the popularity of his work amounted to a ""Harding fever""--a term coined by Gilbert Stuart, whose own popularity the younger man temporarily eclipsed.

The Harding House, constructed in 1808 in Federal style, was substantially altered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1963 the building was purchased by the Boston Bar Association and renovated for use as that organization's headquarters. Though interior spaces have not been returned to their original form, the period character of the house has been restored. The Harding House is not open to the public; however, interested visitors are admitted by appointment.