Somerset Club

42 & 43 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts

Built from 1822, for David Sears II (1787-1871) and his wife Miriam Clarke Mason (1789-1870). The original house at its core, the David Sears House, was the city's first ashlar building and it was designed by Alexander Parris who by then had replaced his former employer, Charles Bulfinch, as the leading architect in Boston. In the 1830s, Sears built No. 43 Beacon Street in the same style as his own which adjoined his house to the west before building No. 41 Beacon Street to the east in red brick. In 1872, the year after he died, "the twin houses" were purchased as the new home of the Somerset Club and in 1897 they added No. 41 and all three remain as the club's home today....

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This house is best associated with...

David Sears

Colonel David Sears II, of Boston; Massachusetts State Senator etc.

1787-1871

Miriam (Mason) Sears

Mrs Miriam Clarke (Mason) Sears

1790-1870

The club was first established in 1826. Having become known as the Beacon Club, in 1852 they purchased the former home of the late Benjamin W. Crowninshield at the corner of Beacon and Somerset Streets and that year became known as the Somerset Club. During the Civil War, some members (eg. Oliver Wendell Holmes) defected and formed the Union Club of Boston after other members began to express anti-Union sympathies.

After the club purchased the "double swell houses" they hired the architects Snell & Gregerson to make several interior alterations to make it suitable for club life which included installing a badminton court and bowling alley. The Somerset Club has long been regarded as the most fashionable and exclusive of all Boston's clubs.