490 Washington Street

490Washington.jpg

Title

490 Washington Street

Description

Year Built:
Permit Date:
1933
5/22/1933
Architect: Royal Barry Wills
Builder: Maurice Dunlavy
Cost to Build: $6,000
Owner 
(On Permit Date):
N/A
First Residents: Mary C. McCue

This house on Washington Street at the foot of Gardner Path was one of 25 Blake Park houses designed by Royal Barry Wills and built by Maurice Dunlavy, whose own Wills-designed house was behind it on Weybridge Lane.

490 Washington Street was home initially to Mary McCue (1882-1970), a widow, and her three children. Mary McCue was born in Ireland and came to the United States in 1893. Her husband Robert, a truck driver in the 1920 Census, died some time between 1920 and 1930. In 1930, Mary McCue was doing housework for a private family, while she and her children rented an apartment at 5 High Street Place.

The McCues first appeared in the Street List at this address in 1934. John McCue, the son, then 20, was listed as a laborer. The family was listed again the next two years, but then left temporarily, possibly renting the house to another family.

George W. and Mary A. Achey were listed here from 1937 to 1940. George Achey's occupation was listed as "milk" the first two years, and clerk the next two. Mary was listed as a waitress in 1939 and a housewife the other three years.

The McCues were back in 1941 and continued to own the house until the early 1970s. Barbara McCue, the middle of Mary's three children, was listed as a clerk when the family first returned and was in the U.S. Navy after 1944. Her sister Edith was listed variously as a student and a clerk. John McCue (1913-1968) was in the U.S. Army from 1942 through the end of the war. He later became a foreman for the Brookline Highway Department.

Date

1933