Massachusetts is one of only five states that does not have an official residence for its governor. It's not for want of trying. State and local officials have offered and been offered various plans stretching back more than 150 years, but fiscal anxiety and geographic considerations have stymied each and every one. That includes the last big push for a Massachusetts Governor's Mansion in the early 1970s, an effort we first revealed on Wednesday. We told you about how the new Sargent administration was offered a house in Back Bay, though we weren't sure which house. Thanks to the always-discreet Curbed Boston Tipline, now we know.
A source tells us that the new Sargent administration was offered the Ames-Webster Mansion at 306 Dartmouth Street as the new governor's digs. The timeline makes sense: The 50-room, 26,000-square-foot palace was converted from a private residence into commercial offices in the very early 1970s. So it would have been up for proverbial grabs during the period of that Back Bay offer. Alas, the state passed amid concerns about the cost. And the Ames-Webster remained one of Boston's most beautiful office buildings into the 21st century, when a Saudi sheikh bought it with the intention of turning it back into a private home. Who knows what's up with it now?
· The Little-Known Last Push for a Mass. Governor's Mansion [Curbed Boston]
· Why Massachusetts Doesn't Have a Governor's Mansion [Curbed Boston]
· The Ames-Webster Buyer Is a Saudi Sheikh [Curbed Boston]
· Is Back Bay's Ames-Webster Mansion Up for Sale Again? [Curbed Boston]
· Our Curbed's Could Have Been archive [Curbed Boston]
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