The freshly renovated award winning house house at 22 Linden Ave.

By Marian Berkowitz

Denise Price is not your typical developer. When she purchases and redevelops a home in this area, she cares not only about design and construction, but also about the property’s history. She notes that every house represents a unique piece of local history and digging out old maps and census files of Somerville are a good place to learn more, as they can reveal the location and names of owners at each address.

The oldest map that Denise found related to 22 Linden Avenue was 1852 when Nathaniel Gilson was the owner. The Somerville census records indicate Mr. Gilson was a real estate developer who died in 1895. Jumping to a map from 1900 tells Denise that Nathaniel’s wife Delilah was responsible for additional development on the block, adding five houses and a tiny adjacent street to be known as Gilson Terrace.

The house was originally a single-family and like many others in Somerville, it was converted in later decades to a two-family dwelling. At some point, a large addition was added to the back of the house with an entrance facing Gilson Terrace. The last occupants were a brother and sister that lived in each of the two units. Once both siblings had passed away the house was listed for sale, and Denise purchased it with the intent of restoring it as a single-family, with its original Greek Revival style, including front columns and symmetrical windows.

The 22 Linden Ave. time capsule.

Her restoration work, both inside and outside, was considerable. First, the entire house was raised in order to put in a new foundation. Exterior aluminum siding was replaced with new clapboard siding in the front and matching concrete siding in the back. The staircases were restored. Property excavation in the front revealed an old gas line likely used for an evening gas lantern. Denise decided it was a valuable detail to include in the plans and installed hand-made historic gas lanterns in front of each unit. What a pleasure it is to see how they look at night.

Denise’s final and unusual touch was a time capsule hidden between the walls where she hopes that “when the next person tears apart this house in 100 years, I want them to find out what the Boston area was like.” She includes in the time capsule several items found during demolition – a 1925 license plate, an 1882 Commemorative Longfellow’s death edition of the Cambridge Chronicle, a 1945 copy of Colliers magazine, and a 1954 Newsweek. She adds her own items – an issue each of the New York Times and Boston Globe from last June, as well as a copy of her own recently published Boston Freedom Trail Pop-Up book that displays a 3D image on each page of all the prominent historic sites of downtown Boston.

Denise was surprised and delighted to be nominated for and receive a 2019 Director’s Award from the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission at their end of May Ceremony in recognition of her outstanding house restoration work.