George Abbot James House "Lowlands"
East Point
Nahant, Mass.
Year Built: 1867
Year Demolished: 1960s
This house was built in 1867 and was destroyed sometime thereafter. Mrs. James was the sister of neighbor Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. The Lodge and James plots were one large parcel purchased by John E. Lodge and divided between his two children. James had the Lodge house built first and then the house he himself occupied. The property was taken in 1941 by the government for use as the headquarters for Battery B, 187th Coast Artillary Battalion during WWII. It was abandoned in the early 1960s.
The dining room opened from the hall and was 17 x 27 feet. Stylistically, the room was domestic Gothic, with floors of pine finished with sepia color and waxed. The sideboard was tall, stately, measures 8 x 10, and is lightened and relieved by lockers protected by brass grills. The woodwork is of ash and simply filled and oiled; the light wood makes a bright and cheerful room. The walls are tinted brownish grey; the ceilings much lighter; on the lines of the cornices and above the dado are narrow but strong bands of red brown and blue. Great spaces of strong color are dangerous, but laid on this way all dullness and commonness is banished.
References
• John Hubbard Sturgis Papers, Library of the Boston Athenaeum, “James plans,” 1867
• Wilson, Fred A., Some Annals of Nahant, Massachusetts, Wright & Potter Publishing, Boston, 1928, pp. 210 and 280.
• "John Hubbard Sturgis," American National Biography, Oxford University Press, 1999, American Council of Learned Societies ("George Abbot James, Nahant").
• Matthias, Christopher R. and Turino, Kenneth C., Nahant, Massachusetts, Arcadia Publishing, Great Britain, 1999, pp. 54 and 59.
• Book of American Interiors, Charles Wyllys Elliott, Osgood & Co., Boston, 1876, pp. 119-122, picture of dining room.
• The Architectural sketch-book, August, 1874, Vol. 2, No. 2, Plate 31
Images
Dining Room
Gate House, The Architectural sketch-book. 1873:July-1874:Dec., Plate 31, built 1868
Interior after abandonment by the military
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