Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Acquires $22 M. Residential Building

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has purchased a 62-unit apartment building for $22.8 million, securing the only non-museum property on the block adjacent to its new wing. Located at 14 Palace Road and 11 Tetlow Street in Boston’s Fenway Court, the five-floor residential building now makes the museum, constructed as a 15th-century Venetian palace, a landlord for its tenants.

The museum said its acquisition of the building was a move to safeguard the area from potential development that could threaten the current state of the museum’s surrounding area and the experience of visitors.

The money for the building’s acquisition is separate from the museum’s funds that go to exhibitions, programs, and conservation of work in the collection. In 2023, the museum reported $19.3 million in revenue in 2023.

“We believe this was the best course of action for the neighborhood, ensuring no negative impact on the community, our neighbors, or the museum’s visitors,” Hardwick said in a statement to Boston Business Journal, which first reported news of the sale.

The deal shows how ingrained the Gardner is within the area—and seems to suggest that the museum views nearby commercial development nearby as a real threat. A Fenway fixture since the early 20th century, the museum stated in its 2023 public filings that it is focused on landscape architecture and its “role in the place of the contemporary city.”

The apartment building was sold by a private Boston-area family, the Gilberts. As part of a larger group of real estate sales, the Gilberts also sold six other properties in Fenway and Longwood, totaling 222 units, to a Cambridge-based property group.

The Gardner Museum will maintain the building as residential housing, with a property management company overseeing tenants and leases.