Elmwood House, Boston

Elmwood House, also known as the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, is a registered historic abode. The list of its distinguished former residents reads like a who’s who of early American history written directly into the walls of a single home.

Built in 1767 by Thomas Oliver, this elegant Georgian mansion arrived just in time for revolutionary drama. Thomas’s brother Andrew briefly lived here as the royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, but in 1774, with colonial tempers flaring and revolution looming, he made a rapid departure—a telling example of the importance of good timing in real estate...

Among others on the Elmwood guest list were Elbridge Gerry, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and later Vice President of the United States, whose famously creative political district map drawing tactics gave the English language the term “gerrymandering,” as well as James Russell Lowell, a gifted poet, writer, and globe-trotting diplomat, who helped shape 19th-century American literature.

Throughout the centuries, the house has retained its dignified Georgian exterior, with symmetrical brickwork and twin chimneys standing like loyal sentries. Inside, although later owners did add Victorian flourishes, Harvard eventually restored much of the original Georgian character, wisely deciding that historical restraint aged better than decorative excess...

Today, Elmwood lives a quieter but no less exclusive life. After student protests in 1969 encouraged Harvard’s president to relocate from the center of campus, the mansion became the official residence of the university’s president. That means no wandering through the halls or peeking into the parlors—Elmwood remains firmly behind the curtain, a private residence wrapped in public curiosity...