The "brother's mansion" that the Spite House blocked

Included in Boston Public Library's Boston Pictorial Archive is a photo of 1-2 Hull Street Place from 1944. This is notable because, as far as I know, it's the only photo of the structures that existed behind the skinny house on Hull Street.

There's an old apocryphal story that says the skinny house on Hull Street was built to block the sunlight of the house behind it. We know that this story probably isn't true and that what is now a skinny house seems to be what remains of a larger structure.(Never mind that the building faces north and wouldn't do much to block the sun).

These are the structures that it was blocking. This photo would have been taken from what was Hull Street Place looking West. The (now bricked over) rear windows of 33 Snowhill Street are visible in the upper-right.

Behind the present day skinny house - 1 & 2 Hull Street Place

The buildings were erected circa 1871 at the same time as the original larger structure at 44-48 Hull Street.

The skinny house blocked them until 1944, at least... that's when the City had them razed. After the building department reported that the structures were dilapidated in 1943, it sent a letter to the owner - Mr. Joseph Leverone of Arlington Heights, MA - asking him to make the structures safe.

This building is in a dilapidated condition with sills rotted, foundation walls bulged, roof in poor condition and sagging, window sash nearly all broken; unsafe and dangerous, and a fire menace. (Recommend building be razed.)

This notice is an order to correct violation.

When that letter went unanswered for a year, the City sent the contract to demolish them out to bid. It went with the lowest of four bids which was from Central Building Wrecking Company for $240. (The high bid was from Mystic Building Wrecking Co for $390). After receiving approval from Mayor Tobin, the city sent one final notice to Mr. Leverone letting him know that they intended to raze the buildings some time after September 22nd, 1944. On October 10th, Central Building Wrecking Co sent a letter back to the City confirming that they had completed the work.

This was the fate of many buildings in Boston around this time from Roxbury to Charlestown (although not nearly as severe or complete as the razing of the West End a few years later). Fay Foto Service (under contract with the city?) captured photos of dozens of the buildings before they were demolished. Many are available in the Digital Commonwealth's Online Collection. Amazingly, Fay Foto remained in business until June of 2024!