Richard Baker (merchant)

Richard Baker Jr. (January 22, 1819 – January 1, 1875) was an American businessman who was called the "King of Merchants".[1] He is best known today for building Westcliff, a large cottage in Newport, Rhode Island, designed by Richard Morris Hunt.

For other people named Richard Baker, see Richard Baker (disambiguation).
Richard Baker Jr.
Born(1819-01-22)January 22, 1819
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 1, 1875(1875-01-01) (aged 55)
Boston, Massachusetts
OccupationMerchant
Spouse
Ellen Whittemore
​
​
(m. 1847)​
Children4

Early life

Baker was born on January 22, 1819, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Cape Cod and was brought up in Charlestown, the oldest neighborhood in Boston.[2] He was a son of Capt. Richard Baker (1794–1876) and Jerusha (née Rich) Baker (1798–1882). Among his siblings were Susan Baker (wife of Massachusetts Representative Samuel Atherton) and fellow merchant, Frederick Baker.[3][4]

His paternal grandparents were Richard Baker and Huldah (née Rich) Baker.[5] His maternal grandparents were Mary and Uriah Rich.[6]

Career

In 1834, Baker became clerk to William Fletcher Weld, eventually becoming partner in the well-known shipping and commercial house of William F. Weld & Co. in 1842, which "was among the largest ship-owners in the world."[3] Upon the 1866 retirement of William F. Weld and William G. Weld, Baker formed a new firm, of which he was managing partner, "under the style of William F. Weld & Co., consisting of Richard Baker, Jr. and George W. Weld, of Boston, and Frederick Baker, of New York."[7] Between 1869 and 1870, the firm "owned about thirty-five barks, ships, and steamers."[1]

Baker was called the "King of Merchants" and was said "that he could transact more business in a few hours than any one else in a whole day."[1] He was reported to be a millionaire.[8]

Personal life
Baker's Boston residence, 152 Commonwealth
Baker's Newport cottage, Westcliff, 1876

In 1847, Baker was married to Ellen Whittemore (1827–1896) in Charlestown.[3] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Mary Rich Baker, who married leather dealer Thomas Owen Richardson in 1885.[9]
  • William W. Baker (1851–1882), an invalid.[10]
  • Alice Starr Baker (1859–1880), who died unmarried.[11]
  • Richard Baker III (d. 1896)[10]

Baker died of tuberculosis at his residence in Boston on January 1, 1875.[12] After a funeral held at his home in Boston, he was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.[12] In his will, he left his wife "his residences in Boston and Newport, his furniture, paintings, horses and carriages, and $10,000 at once, and $500,000 in trust--total supposed to amount to about $900,000."[10] His widow died in Newport in 1896.[13]

Residences

In 1871, Baker purchased 152 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston from the Jarvis Williams estate and moved there from their previous home, 47 Mount Vernon on Beacon Hill. The house had been designed by architect Henry Richards of the firm of Ware and Van Brunt.[14][lower-alpha 1] After his wife's death, the 152 Commonwealth was sold in 1900 to stockbroker William Bowditch Rogers and his wife, Augusta (née Kellogg) Rogers. Today, the entrance is on Dartmouth Street and the house is the home of Chilton Club.[16]

The Bakers purchased a cottage on Ledge Road, Newport, Rhode Island that had been built by Charles Mixter in 1854. They hired noted architect Richard Morris Hunt to renovate and greatly enlarge the house, which they called Westcliff.[17] The property, a large asymmetrical stick style home, overlooked Bailey's Beach. After his wife's death in 1896, the cottage was rented out, including to Cornelius Vanderbilt III and his wife, Grace Vanderbilt for a season in 1899.[18] In 1923, his daughter sold Westcliff which then comprised 10 acres, and was located between the Charles W. Lippitt and Oliver Gould Jennings estates.[19] The estate was sold to J. Murray Howe of Boston, who transferred it to Henry J. O'Meara of Boston, who tore down the house and developed the estate into several different properties.[19]

Legacy

In the 1879, Channing Memorial Church in Newport commissioned artist John La Farge to design what was then the largest stained glass window of his career as a memorial to Baker and his daughter, Alice Starr Baker, who died in 1880.[11] Baker donated $5,000 to Harvard College upon his death.[20]

His daughter, Mary Richardson, left a bequest of $1,000,000 for the erection of the Baker Memorial Hospital, to be named after her parents.[21] The hospital, which was the first "white-collar hospital"[21] became part of the Massachusetts General Hospital,[22] before it was torn down.[23]

References
Notes
  1. Some sources claim the Baker's Boston residence, 152 Commonwealth, was designed by architects Peabody and Stearns, not Henry Richards.[15]
Sources
  1. Mass.), State Street Trust Company (Boston (1919). Other Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston: Being More Information about the Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston who Played Such an Important Part in Building Up the Commerce of New England, Together with Some Quaint and Curious Stories of the Sea. State Street Trust Company. p. 61. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  2. Coffee and Tea Industries and the Flavor Field. Spice Mill Publishing Company. 1915. p. 140. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  3. Sawyer, Timothy Thompson (1902). Old Charlestown: Historical, Biographical, Reminiscent. J.H. West Company. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  4. "SUDDEN DEATH OF FREDERICK BAKER". Boston Evening Transcript. 21 April 1899. p. 7. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  5. Staff, Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants (December 1996). The Mayflower Descendant,: Volume 28 1930. Heritage Books. ISBN 978-0-7884-0548-8. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  6. Rich, Shebnah (1883). Truro--Cape Cod, Or, Land Marks and Sea Marks. D. Lothrop and Company. p. 557. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  7. Court, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial (1876). Massachusetts Reports. H.O. Houghton and Company. p. 182. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  8. American Millionaires: The Tribune's List of Persons Reputed to Worth a Million Or More. Lines of Business in which the Fortunes Were Made. Tribune Association. 1892. p. 20. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  9. Social Register, Summer. Social Register Association. 1902. p. 285. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  10. "WILL OF THE LATE RICHARD BAKER, JR". Boston Evening Transcript. 18 January 1875. p. 1. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  11. Yarnall, James L. (5 July 2017). "John La Farge, A Biographical and Critical Study". Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-351-56155-6. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  12. "RICHARD BAKER, JR". Boston Post. 2 January 1875. p. 4. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  13. "DEATH OF MRS RICHARD BAKER | Boston Society Woman Expired at Her Beautiful Summer Villa at Newport--Health Had Been Failing a Year". The Boston Globe. 21 September 1896. p. 9. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  14. "152 Commonwealth Avenue". BOSarchitecture.
  15. Southworth and Southworth. AIA guide to Boston, 3rd ed. 2008.
  16. "152 Commonwealth (287 Dartmouth)". backbayhouses.org. Back Bay Houses. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  17. Miller, Paul (29 January 2010). Lost Newport: Vanished Cottages of the Resort Era. Applewood Books. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-4290-9112-1. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  18. "TABLE GOSSIP". The Boston Globe. 25 June 1899. p. 34. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  19. Times, Special to The New York (23 November 1923). "TO CUT UP NEWPORT ESTATE; Richard Baker Property to Be Developed for Small Homes". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  20. Vaille, Frederick Ozni; Clark, Henry Alden (1875). The Harvard Book: A Series of Historical, Biographical, and Descriptive Sketches. Welch, Bigelow. p. 58. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  21. Bullard, F. Lauriston; Times, The New York (22 February 1931). "MEMORIAL TO BAKER SUCCESS IN BOSTON; Hospital for 'White Collar' Folk Reports a Satisfactory Initial Year". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  22. "Baker, Richard Jr". history.massgeneral.org. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  23. "Massachusetts General Hospital, 1992". hekint.org. Hektoen International. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
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