Chateau Fairmount

History / Sources

The Lowell Sun, “C. Brooks Stevens Buys Lilley Castle”

Date
May 29, 1925
Type
newspaper
Repository
Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell (page copy sent October 27, 2026); also on NewspaperArchive (subscription)
Locator
Friday, printed p. 14 (NewspaperArchive image page 7)
Access
Copy courtesy of Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell. The page is reproduced on this site in full, with the article enlarged. NewspaperArchive page: lowell-sun-may-29-1925-p-7. Read the source
Rights
Public domain (published 1925).

Reports the sale by “Mrs. Bonney L. Dunbar,” then of West Newton, to C. Brooks Stevens, treasurer of the United States Bunting Company: six acres, assessed at about $30,000, “one of the most beautiful estates in the city.” Its statement that Atherton started the house and “the late Judge A. P. Bonney” completed it is not used for the building history: Bonney was not a judge, and the 1887 report describes a finished house (C-1051).

The document

Short newspaper article headed C. Brooks Stevens Buys Lilley Castle, set across three columns (view full size)
“C. Brooks Stevens Buys Lilley Castle,” The Lowell Sun, May 29, 1925, p. 14. Copy courtesy of Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell.

Open full size · Public domain (published 1925).

Full newspaper page of The Lowell Sun for May 29, 1925, with a house plan, a photograph of a returned battle flag and advertisements (view full size)
The Lowell Sun, May 29, 1925, p. 14, the full page. Copy courtesy of Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell.

Open full size · Public domain (published 1925).

Statements this record supports

  • C-016 — On June 26, 1925 'Bonney L. Dunbar, wife of Philip R. Dunbar, of Newton' conveyed the property to Charles Brooks Stevens and Edith Ames Stevens of Tewksbury (Book 724 p.271).
  • C-1032 — The Lowell Sun reported each change of ownership of the house between 1925 and 1951. May 29, 1925: 'C. Brooks Stevens Buys Lilley Castle', the purchase by C. Brooks Stevens, treasurer of the United States Bunting Company, from Mrs. Bonney L. Dunbar, formerly of Lowell and then of West Newton. July 7, 1944: 'Apartment House Sold: Lilley Castle Bought by Harvard Street Man' on the front page, continued as 'Lilley Castle Changes Hands', recalling the house as the Atherton place, then the Bonney and the Lilley castle, at 236 Fairmount Street. January 11, 1951: 'Large Real Estate Deal Completed', a sale of three apartment buildings with 20 apartments, 'The Castle' and two buildings on Nesmith Street, the castle described as at various times the property of the Bonney estate and the late Judge Lilley and as converted to apartments by the late C. Brooks Stevens.
  • C-1054 — When C. Brooks Stevens bought the house in 1925 the Lowell Sun described it as 'the picturesque stone mansion in Fairmount street, familiarly known as the Lilley castle', on six acres, 'one of the most beautiful estates in the city', assessed for about $30,000, built 'of durable granite' with 'several large rooms, spacious hallways, turrets and towers'.

Events on the timeline that cite it