Make New York Post a Preferred Source Julia Child’s former home of four decades — a late-19th-century residence just blocks from Harvard Yard — is on the market for $6.47 million.
Child’s world-famous home kitchen was preserved and now stands in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. But this updated home still has her stamp — including her plantings in the irrigated, landscaped garden and Floribunda roses, Coldwell Banker’s Ed Feijo, who shares the listing with Coldwell’s Gail Roberts, told Gimme Shelter.
Child wasn’t just a national culinary treasure known for introducing the American home chefs to the delights of cooking butter-and-cream-rich, delicious French cuisine. She was also an American intelligence official working directly for General William J. Donovan, the head of the OSS — the precursor to the CIA — in places including China and Sri Lanka during World War II.
Her work included creating a synthetic chemical shark repellent to save sailors from shark attacks after ships and planes went down and to keep sharks from setting off underwater explosives intended to detonate German U-boats.
The OSS is also where Julia McWilliams, born in California in 1912, met her husband, Paul Cushing Child. In 1948, the couple moved to Paris, where Paul was posted with the State Department’s Information Service; that’s where she first discovered and studied French cooking.
The couple returned to the US in 1961 after other foreign stints and bought this Cambridge residence.
Built in 1889, it’s where Child filmed her TV shows, including “In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs” and “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home,” helping Americans learn to make the perfect omelet, quiche Lorraine and roast chicken, among other dishes.
The sellers, who have declined to be named, bought the dwelling for $3.7 million in 2009, according to property records.
Child lived in the home from 1961 to 2001, when she moved into a California retirement home. She died in 2004 in Montecito at the age of 91.
She donated the house to her alma mater Smith College in Western Massachusetts, while donating the kitchen, separately, to the Smithsonian, according to History Cambridge.
The six-bedroom residence, at 103 Irving St., is known as a “garden-style” home.
“The home was built in the center of the lot so all the rooms look out onto the gardens, bringing the outside in,” Feijo told Gimme Shelter.
Behind a white fence and a brick walkway, front steps lead to the entrance.
At 6,321 square feet, the renovated spread includes a new chef’s kitchen with a pantry in a space where Paul once prepared martinis for Child and their guests.
Because Child was a striking 6-foot-2, Paul designed the original kitchen to accommodate her so she could easily reach for higher shelves in a way that would not be awkward for her tall frame.
The residence opens to a grand entry that leads to a large living and dining area. Along with the chef’s kitchen, there’s a family room with French doors and a bay window that comes with a built-in seat. There are also four gas fireplaces, including one with an original stone mantel, Feijo said.
Upstairs, the main bedroom suite features a fireplace, an ensuite bath and a balcony on the second floor. Additional bedrooms are on this floor and the third floor, which also boasts a home office. The basement holds a gym, a laundry room and a wine room.
The property also comes with solar panels, as well as charming covered porches, a patio and a stone wall.
