The Italianate home now at 11 Chesley Rd in Newton was built sometime between 1849 (assessor database) and 1855 (1st sale). The home was originally a few hundred feet to the west (e.g. in the 1874 or 1886 maps) and was the main house on the Wardwell Estate. It was moved to 11 Chesley Rd around 1895 when Chesley Road was created.
It was first purchased by Charles E. Pike from Horace Cousens in 1855. Pike was a Bowdoin College grad from Maine who in 1836 was part of a new newly formed Frontier Guards light infantry. He was a Boston lawyer, and Newton State Representative . Pike moved to Wisconsin in 1860 for the heath of his wife Mary Bowles Pike, and formed the Northwestern newspaper. who would go on to become Solicitor of the IRS. His brother Frederick Pike was a US Congressman during the Civil War.
Ezra C. Dudley purchased the Wardwell estate in 1891 bordered by Beacon, Sumner, and Everett for $23,000 and this land was readied for development in 1892. There were issues with the sidewalk height relative to the street on Sumner that came before the Board of Alderman.
The plot plan for the Beacon/Chesley Rd/Everett/Sumner block was recorded in August of 1895. You can see the house, including its two rounded front windows and earlier barn in back in the 1897 pictoral map of Newton Center on Wikipedia. The barn was removed recently by Craig and Ellen but portions of its foundation remain under the ivy.
Erza C. Dudley was a prominent real estate owner in Newton in the late 1800’s and is known for founding a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. His comings and goings from the ranch to Newton were regularly logged in the paper. Dudley died of heart failure on December 28th, 1901. His wife Harriet Elizabeth Sawyer Dudley died in 1912. There is some info on Ms. Dudley in the history of Needham in 1854. Dudley had a stable on Beacon St. and his horses participated in an 1864 horse show.
Asa C. Jewett lived in the home from 1902 to 1925. He was the Grand Commander of the Knights Templar (of MA and RI) passed away in 1925 on a pilgrimage to Seattle. Jewett’s 1st wife Minnie died at the age of 39 in November 1917. Asa Jewett had a wallpaper store on Union St. next to what is now Union Pharmacy. Per his Boston Globe obituary he was also a member of the Newton Rotary Club. He was pictured in the Boston Globe in 1903 and in another photo in 1911. He was noted as attending Grand Commandery meetings in 1914. His honorary sword is on display in a museum in Lexington which also lists his biography.
Here is the full ownership history of the house. You can explore more house history by year or by resident using the tags on the sidebar.
Further information on the home can be found from the Massachusetts Historical Society report and the report from the Newton Historical Society.