When George R. Earle decided to construct the building at what is now 161-167 Benefit Street in 1876, he was already living in and running the hotel next door at 159 Benefit Street, the Mansion House Hotel. The Mansion House, originally named the Golden Ball Inn, opened in the 1780s. Dozen of early American leaders — from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington — passed through the front doors and spent some time at the hotel.

George Earle first shows up as hotel keeper in the 1850 census, when he was 26 years old. He would go on to get married, construct the building which now bears his namesake, and raise his children there — he worked for and lived in the hotel for more than half a century. Unfortunately, the hotel began to fall from popularity at some point during that time. In 1850, the hotel appears to have been staffed by more than a dozen servants and waiters, including a mixture of Irish-born immigrants and Americans. By 1900, the once bustling staff had been reduced to a mere three people: 60-year-old Ellen Flanagan, a cook; 33-year-old Mary Talbot, a chambermaid; and 25-year-old Mary McManus, a waitress.

George Earle was also renting his space in the hotel at this time. In the 1880s, George defaulted on his mortgage and ownership of the entire Mansion House Estate, including the George R. Earle building, was tossed around to a few different buyers. For a couple of decades, it was owned by Sidney F. Adams, a butcher who had been a tenant there for several years.

The original Mansion House remained a hotel, but the George R. Earle building became mixed-use apartments and retail space sometime in the 1890s. George Earle left his post as hotel keeper sometime between 1900 and 1910. He died in 1912.

In 1941, the adjacent hotel building at 159 Benefit Street was torn down, and it has served as a parking lot ever since.

If you would like to read our full 2024 historic house marker report on 161-167 Benefit Street, click here.