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Boston homeowner thought something was odd about his house. He discovered it was cut in half.

By
Chris Tanaka
Chris Tanaka
Chris Tanaka co-anchors the morning news on WBZ-TV. He joined WBZ in 2022 after most recently working in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Chris Tanaka

/ CBS Boston

A house in Boston is on its way to becoming an historic landmark after the current owner discovered something unusual about the home's history.

"It just looked odd," said Adam Shutes.

Shutes felt that way when he first saw the house at 318 Metropolitan Boulevard in Roslindale back in 2016. He and his wife were home shopping and noticed some irregularities.

house1.jpg
318 Metropolitan Boulevard in Roslindale. CBS Boston

"We didn't understand when we bought the house, we didn't understand why this wall here was so abrupt," he said from just inside the entry. The vestibule opens to the middle and left but is walled off to the right.

A scientist by trade and curious by nature, Shutes set about researching the property and previous owners. When checking some old permits, he discovered the unimaginable.

"Then it sort of clicked because that house just down the road, two houses down, which looked very similar," said Shutes.

house2.jpg
The other half of the house that was originally at 318 Metropolitan Boulevard in Roslindale. CBS Boston

Boston house cut in half

It turns out, the original structure was literally cut in two back in 1941. When looking at it from the street, one side of the house is an ornate Victorian with a wraparound porch. The other side is a flat exterior wall, the right side of that entry vestibule.

"The back half was the kitchen, the storage area for the butlers, servants' quarters in here. And there's actually another staircase, a little staircase, a service staircase which is in the other house," explained Shutes.

blueprint.jpg
A 1943 blueprint of the original home at 318 Metropolitan Boulevard in Roslindale. City of Boston Archives

The "other house" is the back half which was moved two doors down to Maynard Street. Armed with all of this fascinating history Shutes knew he had to act.

"This was the spur. 'Maybe we should just do something about this and try and maintain it for future generations,'" said Shutes.

Landmark status?

Shutes applied for historic landmark status and the voted unanimously to advance the application. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the city council still have to approve the application before it's officially designated as a landmark. If so, 318 Metropolitan Boulevard will be Roslindale's first building to achieve the status.

The house was first featured in the digital series . It was viewed thousands of times and shared back to Shutes, who saw it and invited WBZ-TV inside.

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