West of Westcott

Mansfield Joseph French (1872-1953) was a civil engineer and designed the house himself in 1916. He supervised construction, and the house was finished in 1917. Despite the Sumner address, the house has a drive that opens onto Clarendon Street. The original horse carriage house is now a garage.

French was a transportation engineer who loved architecture. He married Alma Louise Klock, heiress to the Armour Packing Company, and it may have been Alma’s money that funded the building of the house, or at least its costly details. According to Giancarlo Moneti, “judging from the beams of the basement the frames seems to be cedar, doors and window frames of the dining room are of mahogany, the wood in all the other rooms is quarter sawn oak, with the exception of the kitchen and third floor rooms. The house has several closets, four of which are walk-ins, a pipe intercom and a laundry shoot that connects the second floor and kitchen with a laundry container in the basement. The house has also been called the Moneti Family House since 1970.