18 Southbourne Rd

Of all the Jamaica Plain neighborhoods, Woodbourne is the one people grow into. One of Boston's earliest planned garden suburbs, its streets were drawn in the 1910s and 1920s with intention — varied façades, generous setbacks, a coherence of stucco and stone that still reads a century later. 18 Southbourne is one of its bespoke originals: a 1922 center-entrance Colonial on a corner knoll, set back and a half-story above the road, lovingly restored and shaped over a century by only four families.

The house sits at a slight angle to the street. The façade faces southwest. The sunroom captures west and northwest light into the evening. The office wing takes the southeast morning sun. The orientation is deliberate, and it shapes how the rooms live throughout the day.

From the portico the front door opens directly into the living room — no center hall in the conventional sense. Instead, the room itself takes the entry, with a beamed ceiling overhead, an original mantel over a working wood fireplace, and a pair of French doors bookending the fireplace. Both sets open into a heated sunroom on the west side, wrapped in mature conifers — a glass pavilion you can enter from either side of the hearth.

To the right of the front door, a wide opening leads to the dining room. Wainscoted, south-facing, with mostly original double-hung windows and the same warm wood trim that runs through the house. At the far end of the dining room is a solid wood deco door — opaque, in the same wood as the trim, with simple geometric details — that opens to a first-floor office suite. Private entrance to the street, full bath, originally the consulting room of the home's physician owner. It is one of the most genuinely flexible first-floor spaces a house of this vintage can offer.

One staircase rises to the second floor, the matching wainscoting carrying up with it. Another descends a few steps into the kitchen. The arch behind opens back to the living room. It is a hub that makes the floor plan feel both compact and generous at once.

The kitchen is tastefully renovated and doesn't play over the home's art deco themes. Top-line Candlelight cabinetry, quartz counters, a butcher-block peninsula, and a pro range vented to the exterior. Five points of access — to the dining room, to the basement, to a step-down back vestibule and the yard, to a full bath, and back to the central landing — make it the connector for the rest of the floor. A closet pantry with semi-transparent folding doors borrows kitchen light.

Upstairs, three bedrooms. The primary has a second working wood fireplace. There's a renovated full bath at the top of the stairs that brings some contrast and modernity. The oak hardwood flooring throughout is in excellent shape.

The third floor — originally the home's staff quarters — has been thoughtfully reimagined as two flex rooms with a skylight added during renovation, plus a preserved antique bath. With its existing bedroom-plus-bath layout, the third floor functions today as flex space but offers a real alternative for a future buyer: a private primary suite that takes the whole top of the house.

In the basement, a soundproofed and ventilated music studio, custom-built with New England Sound. The isolation works — the studio sits directly beneath the living room without issue. The rest of the basement is half-finished and ready for whatever the next owner needs: workshop, game room, kids' space, home gym, or quiet office.

Outside, the corner lot rewards attention. The previous owners landscaped it carefully — a mature maple that predates the house anchors the front, with lilacs, witch hazel, red maple, spirea, evergreens, and succulents arranged along rough stone walkways and beds. The maple shades the side yard into a sitting area through the afternoon. The front of the property catches the sunset and could easily become a stone patio for evening entertaining. Sandstone front steps were refurbished recently with bluestone treads. The corner position means on-street parking is almost always available directly in front of the lot. Driveway parking for two. A detached garage on the lot is in rough condition and not advertised as parking — but the footprint offers a future buyer real optionality for an ADU or rebuild within FAR allowances on the 9,000 sq.ft. lot.

The 32 bus stops a block away with a direct line to Forest Hills MBTA. Brassica Kitchen sits in Forest Hills; JP Center and Roslindale Square are equally close by car or bike. The Flaherty Pool, free to Boston residents, is under a mile away.

Updates done well: kitchen and first-floor bath renovated just before Covid; second-floor bath renovated just after. Floors sanded and refinished throughout the main level, stairs, and second floor hall and bedrooms. Alpine wall-mounted gas-fired boiler (2015) with capacity for additional zones. Back half of the asphalt roof replaced in 2025. Mostly original double-hung windows pair with working storm windows and screens — efficient in winter, breezy in summer.