Boston homebuyers looking to make a real lifestyle upgrade will want to check out this residence at 25 Beacon St.—right next to the Massachusetts Statehouse. One of the building’s residences is on the market right now for just under $9 million.
Though it dates to 1860, 25 Beacon St. has an exterior that is classic Boston and an interior that has been completely renovated.
The three-bedroom, 3.5 bathroom condo spans over 3,500 square feet and is accessible via a private-entry elevator. The layout includes soaring ceilings, custom cabinetry, and quarter-sawn white oak flooring. The kitchen is equipped with Gaggenau appliances and Basaltina lava stone counters.
Realtor® Manny Sarkis of the Sarkis Team at Douglas Elliman considers the double garage parking spaces a major selling point. Beacon Hill is not known for its parking, and Sarkis tells Realtor.com® that the residence is one of just six local listings featuring two parking spaces.
Sarkis also notes that there’s a live-in, on-site superintendent.
“It is a very well-known building, one of the most prestigious addresses in the city, and it’s pretty much a turnkey residence,” he says. “Every unit owner has their own wine locker in the wine cellar downstairs, and there’s a gym on site.”
Beacon Hill in the beginning
This building wasn’t always luxury housing—nor was it always known as 25 Beacon St. The building, located at 32 Beacon St., was purchased by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1927. When the UUA moved to the address, it lobbied and won the right to retain the address of its old location—and so 25 Beacon St. is actually out of sequence.
By 2013, the UUA was apparently fed up with the location. In a blog post on the UUA website, author Richard Higgins called the building an “archaic, ill-configured, energy-wasting, command-and-control style building with a broken elevator.” Higgins noted that UUA President Peter Morales had previously complained that the building “reeks of privilege and hierarchy.”
A year later, the property was sold to Sea-Dar Construction—the UUA moved to South Boston—and work began to turn it into its current luxury iteration.
Sarkis says he thinks buyers will be wooed by the chance to own in one of Boston’s most iconic neighborhoods. The area dates to the late 1700s, and notable residents have included “Little Women” author Louisa May Alcott and poet Robert Frost.
And even if the history doesn’t hold appeal, Sarkis says the chance to live across from Boston Common and next to the Statehouse should do the trick.
“If you walk down Beacon Street, Beacon Hill turns into the Back Bay,” says Sarkis. “So you’re about a 5-minute walk to the Back Bay,” which is known for its luxury shops and restaurants.
Of course, none of this convenience and charm comes cheap: In addition to the sticker price of $8,995,000, prospective buyers need to factor in an HOA fee of $11,251 a month.
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Julie Gerstein is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia. She previously worked at Business Insider as an executive editor covering news, entertainment, and digital culture, and was the company’s founding Singapore bureau chief. She was also a senior editor at BuzzFeed, covering lifestyle, fashion, and beauty. She earned a B.A. in women’s studies from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in media and cultural studies from the University of Sussex.
