Dorchester is home to dozens of carriage houses, some of them historic, and one of the most notable and charming of the class is currently on the market in the Melville Park neighborhood at the edge of Codman Square.

Set behind a main house at 4 Melville Ave., this carefully restored property is being offered as a unique single-family home whose original owners were horse and race horse enthusiasts who also used them as their primary means of transportation.

The Realtor Leslie MacKinnon, who has the carriage house listing, said the motivated seller is getting lots of interest in the property and has just reduced the price to $789,000 for the 1,250-square-foot open concept home that sits on a 5,000-square-foot subdivided lot.

“I’ve had so many interested people looking at it with lots of ideas for it,” MacKinnon said during a guided tour earlier this month. “I had a florist who loved the living space and could have a studio in the downstairs. I had a personal trainer who wanted to live and work in the space, and I had a personal chef who felt that working and living in the space would be ideal. There are a lot of possibilities here if someone wanted to operate a business from their home. “I don’t have trouble getting interested people here to view it,” she noted.

The home is situated on what is known as the Merrihew Estate. The main home sold for $1.34 million in July, and the properties have been separated into two lots with a small home-owners association (HOA) for insurance and tax purposes.

The open concept kitchen features large windows and new appliances.

The living room space still features the hay loft doors on the floor, and two double doors that open to the outside, right where hay was once hoisted into the loft. In the old days, horses were kept in stalls on the first floor where the foyer and garage are now. Photos courtesy Media by Domino

This carriage house is a rare find, as many have been torn down or have deteriorated to the point of no return. Others have been carefully restored, however, such as the one at 4 Melville that has maintained its original character, sporting a horse weathervane on top of a grand Palladian-windowed cupola and hay loft doors still visible (but non-working) in the living room floor. A balcony on the second floor opens to the world where hay was once hoisted up to the loft – which serves as an massive open living room and kitchen space. A possible second bedroom with a bathroom is on the first floor with a garage and workspace and a large basement below.

The property was featured during a Dorchester Historical Society-led house tour in 2001 and a description from that event noted: “At the rear of the property stands the original carriage house with its Palladian-windowed cupola.  Continuing the multi-paned fenestration of the main house, the radiating lights of the gable windows’ upper sashes suggest the spokes of carriage wheels.  Inside, the original horse stalls and beaded-board wall sheathing survive to suggest that the equine members of the household lived almost as stylishly as their human counterparts.”

Previous owners painstakingly renovated the space from time to time. The main house was known as having the best candy for years during the Melville Halloween stroll and also for hosting memorable Christmas parties for the neighborhood during the holidays.

Research by the Historical Society shows that the home and carriage house were built around 1880 or 1881, and that both buildings appear on the 1884 city atlas. The land was owned by the heirs of the Vinson family, who sold the lot to Edward T. and Louise Merrihew on Sept. 27, 1880. The Merrihew family is listed as living at the property in the 1881 Boston Directory.

Edward was a cashier and treasurer for the Western Security Company in downtown Boston on Milk Street. They lived at 4 Melville until selling the property about 10 years later.

On June 7, 1893, Edward F. and Annie Dunham purchased the property, and lived there for about seven years. Dunham was a leading boot and shoe dealer on Summer Street downtown, and raised two sons, Thomas and Lawrence, on the Melville Avenue property. They also had two live-in servants on the property who were born in Ireland.

The Dunhams sold the property to Frederick and Carrie Brand in June 1900. Brand was a president of the popular Dorchester Gentleman’s Driving Club. Its yearbook described him as a man extremely interested in horses who had made his money in the felt business – founding the Boston Felting Co. that later merged into the nationwide conglomerate American Felt Co.

Brand had moved to Melville Avenue from the South End and was an active member in the Dorchester community – participating in the St. John Lodge, Dorchester Royal Arch Chapter of Masons, the Colonial Club of Dorchester, and the Boot & Shoe Club, and serving as an elected member of the Boston Common Council. He died in the spring of 1915.

His life’s passion had been horses and racing horses – some of which he likely kept in his carriage house at 4 Melville Ave.

“He has always had a love for, and interest in, horses and has been and is the owner of some speedy ones,” read the Driving Club yearbook from 1905. Some of those horses included Dr. G (pacer), Princess Ebilo (trotter), Bath Belle (trotter), King Wilkes (trotter), Joe King by May King (pacer), and Helvetia.

Though the horses lived in relative comfort for the times, the people who next move into the carriage house will be even more comfortable, said MacKinnon. The property boasts central air conditioning via new mini-splits, high-efficiency heating, and a tankless water heater – as well as a large gas fireplace in the living room area.