High up on a hill overlooking the area where Otis Pettee established the Saco Pettee Machine Shop sits one of the most important properties of Upper Falls history — the Otis Pettee Sunnyside House, at 277 Elliot Street. Now the centerpiece of The Stone Institute, the building will be up for review at the next Newton Upper Falls Historic District Commission meeting, on Thursday, August 11 at 7PM (Zoom link). The owners are seeking a Certificate of Appropriateness to install four arrays of solar panels on the area of the property facing Elliot Street and a cogeneration unit (CHP) at the basement level, and to replace several windows on the 1914 brick addition.
Who was Otis Pettee? In 1819, Otis Pettee (1795-1853) came to Upper Falls and worked as a supervisor at Elliot Mills, located on the river at the end of Elliot Street. In 1826, Mr. Pettee purchased 9 acres of land in Newton Upper Falls for $1,000. In 1828, he built his Federal style home, “Sunnyside,” on the highest point of the property and lived there with his wife, Matilda, his three boys, and three girls. In 1931, he established Saco-Pettee Machine Shops, manufacturers of cotton textile machinery, and its buildings are now being renovated as part of the Pattern District in the new Northland Development on the corner of Needham Street and Oak Street. In addition, he built and owned many of the surrounding mill worker houses in Upper Falls. The Sunnyside property was still in the family when, in 1898, The Stone Institute Corporation, funded by a trust of Newton resident, Joseph L. Stone, and his wife, Elmira Reed Stone, purchased the property.
Joseph L. Stone was a prominent Newton banker and philanthropist. In 1894, he and his wife left money to fund a trust to establish a home for “aged and respectable Men and Women in indigent circumstances.” The corporation was additionally funded through the generosity of its seven original members, including the Honorable Henry E. Cobb, Newton’s mayor from 1896-98, and many other interested Newton residents. When they had raised enough money, they bought Sunnyside, and after renovations and refurnishing, The Stone Institute was opened to residents on May 4, 1899. In the early 1900s, there were fifteen ladies in residence, and due to high demand, they build a new brick Georgian Revival wing, which was opened in 1914 to accommodate a total of 26 residents. (See 1916 Building Committee Appeal for funds.)
Now known as the Stone Rehabilitation & Senior Living, the corporation has been serving the community for over 100 years as a non-profit facility. The property was included in the inventory of the Local Historic District in 1975, and as a contributing member of the National Register District and National Register Multiple Resource Area in 1986, in part for its architectural and social significance.
