The Shirley Stable
A Remarkable Case of Preservation
42-44 Shirley Street is the building most recently added to the Shirley-Eustis House Association’s properties, but it is historically one of the oldest. Constructed in 1747, the building once served as half of the grand Georgian stable for Shirley Place. Governor Shirley would have owned a number of well-bred, exceptionally well-trained horses to pull his fine coach around Massachusetts colony, and this was where they were stabled. Based on evidence found in this and other stables from the period, we believe that some of the men and boys Shirley enslaved would have lived in the stable’s upper floors.
The building survived in its original location until 1867, when it was purchased and moved about 50 feet to the southeast following the death of Madame Eustis. It currently rests on some of the last remaining 18th century ground on Shirley Street. After being moved, it was converted into a two-family Victorian home. Residents in the former stable included:
A hatter and his wife, son, and a servant (1880)
A Swedish cabinetmaker, his wife, and their two daughters (1880)
An Irish-American dyer, his wife, three sons, and three daughters (1900)
An Irish-American man, his mother, a son, and four daughters who worked in the nearby electrical and piano factories (1900)
A folder, driver, fireman, and tire factory worker (1916)
A machinist and his wife in one side of the building, and his son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids on the other side (1959)
In 2019, the building was sold to a private developer and slated for demolition to make way for new condos. The Shirley-Eustis House Association successfully petitioned to designate the stable a Boston City Landmark, making it the first Boston City Landmark to draw its significance from its history as a site of enslavement. In July 2023, the Association closed on the purchase of the building and now it is part of the Shirley-Eustis House campus. Below you can see images of the building’s interior as it looks today.
What Happens Next?
Now that the Shirley Stable has been preserved, the Shirley-Eustis House Association is evaluating how to best restore and incorporate the building into our site’s story and mission. To this end, we held a visioning process with Mass Design Group in early 2024. Our next step is to hire a Historic Architect to complete a historic structures report - the estimated date of the report’s completion is mid-2025.
In November 2024, the Shirley-Eustis House Association was awarded a grant from the Legacy Fund for Boston which will enable us to conduct a historic structures report of the Stable. We extend our gratitude to the Legacy Fund’s board and directors for their support of this vital preservation work.