BROOKLINE HISTORY: The Rooney Block, Brookline Village

This panoramic view taken sometime between 1902 and 1908 shows a group of 19th century commercial buildings, all still standing, on the east side of Harvard and Washington Streets in Brookline Village.

In the center of the picture are the three buildings of the Rooney Block at 1-9 Harvard Square, built in stages by James Rooney whose boot and shoe shop was on the first floor of the three story building on the right of this block. (Rooney died in 1897; by the time of this photo the shop was operated by his son James C.) The Paine Brothers plumbing business was next door. Their shops are shown in the close-up view below. (See the full image on the Digital Commonwealth site to zoom in on other parts of the picture.)

James Rooney was born in Ireland in 1827 and moved to the U.S. and to Brookline sometime before 1855. He had a shoe shop across the street from this location by 1859 and prospered enough after the Civil War to become one of the leading developers of the post-war boom in the Village. The origins of this particular building are uncertain, but it was most likely a wood-framed boarding house that was purchased by Rooney around 1865 and raised by him on top of a new first floor with the two storefronts. He probably added the mansard roof as well.

The Paine Brothers were Henry and Isaac Paine. Henry’s son William D. Paine had his own shop in the Colonnade Buildings on the right side of the photo. Known as “Paine the Stationer,” he later moved across the street to the corner of Davis and Washington and was a fixture in Brookline Village until his death at the age of 86 in 1956.

The wooden upper stories of this building, in poor condition, were removed in 1964. A new brick-faced second floor and mansard roof were added in 2002. The two storefronts are now occupied by Boca Grande and the Village Convenience Store.

The one-story building in the center of the photo was built by James Rooney in 1874. At the time of the photo it was occupied by the provisions store of Horace E. Smith. (Provisioners sold meat, canned goods, and other foodstuffs.) Today, it is occupied by Serenade Chocolatier.

The largest and most impressive of the buildings in this block is the Rooney Building at the corner of Kent Street. It was built in 1876 and features decorative brickwork, similar to that found on other 1870s buildings in the Village. There are small ornamental iron balconies on two of the second story windows. One of those windows has the letter “R” for Rooney in the stonework above it. It’s visible in the photo and still there today.

The two stores on the ground floor of this building at the time of the photo were Clarence Delano’s dry goods business and George M. Harper’s fish store. Both spaces are now taken up by the Magnolia Smokehouse restaurant.

James Rooney’s house, built in 1874, is also still standing, though used as office space today. It’s around the corner from the Rooney Building at 7 Kent Street (formerly Harrison Place).

The three buildings to the right of the Rooney Block in the photo are collectively known as the Colonnade Buildings. They were built between 1872 and 1875. The building to the left of the Rooney Block is a later addition, built in 1892 and expanded and redesigned in 1902.

Photos and description provided by the Brookline Historical Society and the Public Library of Brookline. For more Brookline history, visit http://brooklinehistoricalsociety.org and https://www.brooklinelibrary.org/what-we-have/local-history/