16 Locke Street

16 Locke Street

16 Locke Street  Cambridge, MA 02140

sold for: $1,775,000

Houses – like people, like cities – are constantly evolving.

In 1981, a young couple arrived in North Cambridge/Davis Square Somerville to start a family medical practice and their lives together. They bought a big old 4 bedroom house in a neighborhood rich with history and just beginning to transition. 16 Locke Street was spacious, comfortable, and in need of some tender loving care, which over the years they happily gave it. As they matured and their family grew, so did their home, evolving into a wonderfully funky family house in high Design Research style, that 1970s mecca for contemporary furnishings and décor. The heart of the house was – and still is – a true cook’s kitchen where they lived, worked, and played – precisely the theory behind today’s popular kitchen/family room plan. He could walk to work, greeting patients and friends along the way. She could escape to her top floor studio to write an acclaimed memoir. Their kids could attend Cambridge public schools and get around easily on their own. A jazz musician, he helped create HONK!, Somerville’s Festival of Activist Street Bands, with musicians practicing in their big back yard. And over the years, as their home sheltered them across the arc of their lives, their close-knit residential neighborhood transformed. Davis Square became one of the region’s hippest urban destinations. They gave back, to their neighborhood and to their house, as it gave to them, keeping it vital and strong. 16 Locke Street did exactly what a house should do: keep them safe, help them grow, provide safe harbor in an ever-changing world. And now it is available to do the same for someone new.

Property Details

Interior

Size: 2,034 sq. ft.
Rooms: 9
Bedrooms: 4   
Bathrooms: 2
Basement: Full, unfinished

Exterior

Lot Size: 3,942 sq. ft.
Material: Wood shingles (painted 2017) 
Roof: Asphalt shingles (2012)
Outdoor space: Back yard with storage shed
Parking: Driveway for 2-3 cars in tandem

Systems

Heat: Forced hot water, fueled by gas (older) 
Electrical: Circuit breakers
Hot Water: Tank, heated by gas
Laundry: In basement
Windows: Mix of old and new

Other

Year Built: 1890
Taxes: $8,539.21 ($5,852.58 to Somerville, $2,686.63 to Cambridge)
Exclusions: Dining room chandelier

Disclosures

The front of the house is in Cambridge and the back is in Somerville. The owners pay taxes to both Cambridge and Somerville. Some of the skylights have broken seals, the vent for the cooktop is not working.