We've long been enthralled by the girthquakingly wide townhouse at 10 Marlborough Street. Not only is it a knockout stylistically and scope-wise—33.5 feet of frontage; 10 bedrooms; nine bathrooms; more than 11,000 square feet total of living space; garaged parking and basement storage; and elegant finishes dating from the tail end of the (last) Gilded Age—but it's got a literary pedigree as well: Novelist Edwin O'Connor lived there in the mid-1960s, trading it in 1967. O'Connor, among other neologistic accomplishments, coined the term "the last hurrah."
The townhouse also has a history of rather epic price-chops. It hit the market in October 2011 for the first time in 44 years (the folks who O'Connor sold to are the ones trying to sell now). It was price-chopped by $750,000 just two months later. Then, in July 2012, it went ahead and lopped an even $1,000,000 off. It's now asking $11,750,000 and has been on the market for 503 days now. Which is why we declared it one of Boston's Beached Whales earlier this week. Believe us, we didn't want to.
· Listing: 10 Marlborough Street [Zillow]
· $13.5M Back Bay Listing 44 Years In The Making [Curbed Boston]
· 10 Marlborough's $1M Shave: Last Hurrah for Storied TH? [Curbed Boston]
· $750K Off Back Bay Manse Edwin O'Connor Owned [Curbed Boston]
· Our Whale Week 2013 archive [Curbed Boston]