The Montrose facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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The Montrose
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1648 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1898 |
| Architect | J.S. Harold |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| MPS | Cambridge MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 86001311 |
| Added to NRHP | May 19, 1986 |
The Montrose is a historic apartment building located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a tall, six-story building made of yellow brick. The building shows off beautiful Italian Renaissance style details. These include a fancy copper trim at the top, different window designs on each floor, and decorative brick lines between some levels. The main entrance has special columns called Doric columns.
Built in 1898, The Montrose was one of the first "French flat" style luxury apartment buildings in Cambridge. This meant it offered large, fancy apartments, often taking up an entire floor, which was a new idea for city living at the time. In 1986, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This is a special list of places in the United States that are important for their history or architecture.
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What Makes The Montrose Special?
The Montrose was designed to be a very grand place to live. An old booklet from 1899 shared details about its construction. It was built about 25 feet away from another apartment building called The Dunvegan. Interestingly, these two buildings are connected by an underground passage.
How The Montrose Looks
Both The Montrose and The Dunvegan are the same height, with six stories. They are also similar in size and built using the same materials. They even look alike from the outside. However, The Montrose has a mostly rectangular shape, while The Dunvegan is shaped like a triangle.
Inside The Montrose, the entryways, main hall, and stairs are decorated with beautiful materials. These include Siena marble, dark mahogany wood, and colorful mosaic floors.
Inside the Apartments
When it was first built, The Montrose had twelve large apartments, called "suites." Each suite was very spacious, with ten rooms and a bathroom. These rooms included:
- a parlor (a formal living room)
- a reception-room (for greeting guests)
- a library
- a dining-room
- four bedrooms
- a kitchen
- a servant's room
- a main bathroom
- a separate toilet for servants
- a butler's pantry (a small room for preparing food and drinks)
Modern Features for Its Time
The Montrose was built with many modern features for the late 1800s. It had wiring for doorbells and electric lights, which was quite advanced. It also had pipes for both gas and hot and cold running water. For warmth, the building used a low-pressure steam heating system. This made it a very comfortable and convenient place to live when it was new.
