Swallow Mansion (33 Cordis St) Study Report

The Boston Landmarks Commission has posted a study report on the proposed designation of the Swallow Mansion at 33 Cordis Street in Charlestown as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as amended.

The Swallow Mansion, built in 1845, is architecturally significant as a rare Boston-area example of a Greek Revival temple-form house with a full-height columned portico capped by a pediment. Although the Greek Revival style was common throughout New England, only a handful of homes in Boston are temple-fronts with full-height porches. With the monumentality of its columns, entablature, and pediment, the Swallow Mansion could be considered the finest example of a Greek Revival house in Charlestown, and one of the finest in all of Boston. Set back from the street, the house’s position on its site is also unique for its neighborhood. From the south end of Cordis Street, the Swallow Mansion rests on its foundation like a temple projecting from the incline of Breed’s Hill.

Constructed at a moment of social tension, amid efforts to both create an upper-class enclave in Charlestown and counter increasing immigrant habitation in the area, the history of the Swallow Mansion uniquely centers around both Boston’s political and merchant elite and its immigrants. The subtle changes made to its fabric, including the early twentieth-century alterations that transformed it from the high-style home of the prominent Swallow family into a multifamily home for Irish immigrants, make it a uniquely well-preserved example of Boston’s elite housing stock creatively adapted by underrepresented groups to help propel them into better standards of living.

Therefore, Boston Landmarks Commission staff recommends that the Commission designate the Swallow Mansion as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as amended. If designated, the Standards and Criteria in this report will serve as guidelines for the Commission’s review of proposed exterior changes to the property, with the goal of protecting the historic integrity of the landmark and its setting.

Read the Swallow Mansion study report

There are two ways to provide feedback on this potential Landmark designation:

Written feedback can be provided until May 11, 2026, by visiting this link: feedback form
The study report will be discussed at a public hearing on May 12, 2026. Members of the public are invited to attend this hearing and provide comments there as well. Please look for the hearing notice in the public notices section of our website. Hearing notices are posted no later than ten days in advance of the hearing.