clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Historic Asa Gray House on sale in Cambridge for $5.75 million

The 10-room, six-fireplace manse is one of the oldest houses in that Boston neighbor

By Tom Acitelli
A large dining room with a table and chairs as well as a fireplace.
The house’s common rooms are particularly expansive by Cambridge standards.
Photos via Coldwell Banker

The expansive house at 88 Garden Street in Cambridge went up in 1810, making it one of the oldest standalone residences in the city.

It was originally constructed at the corner of Garden and Linnaean streets amid the old Harvard Botanical Garden, and then moved to its current spot a little farther out along Garden at Madison Street.

Nicknamed the Asa Gray House after the famed 19th-century botanist who lived there while teaching at Harvard, it was expanded over the centuries and unfolds today to just over 6,000 square feet. That includes five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms as well as six fireplaces and a library.

All of this—plus the location a short jaunt from Harvard Square—means that the house doesn’t come at all cheap: It’s asking $5.75 million, or $956 a square foot, through Coldwell Banker’s Gail Roberts-Ed Feijo Team.

Interestingly, the cabinetry in the family room and that front staircase are historically protected. So know that going in.

A large living room with seating arranged facing a fireplace.
The living room includes one of the house’s six fireplaces.
A large kitchen with a table and chairs and lots of shelving and cabinetry.
The kitchen includes room for a table and chairs.
A large entertaining room with a grand piano in one corner.
It’s big enough for a grand piano, and it’s a bibliophile’s dream.
A large bedroom with a bed.
This is one of the five bedrooms.
A massive walk-in closet with large cabinets on either side and a set of shelves in the middle.
At more than 6,000 square feet, 88 Garden is one of the larger houses in Cambridge too.
A large, long bathroom with a glass-enclosed shower next to a soaking tub.
There are five and a half bathrooms.
A large, cavernous bedroom with a sitting area and a bed.
The house has been added to a few times since its original 1810 construction, including an ell.
A large entry foyer with a staircase and rooms off it.
The house is on the National Register of Historic Places, and its front staircase is historically protected from alteration.

Next Up In For Sale in Greater Boston