Today we’d like to introduce you to David Elliott and Daryl Bichel.
David, Daryl – please share your story with us.
We purchased a grand Italianate Victorian in much need of repair in 1995 which was being used as a 5-unit apartment house. The moldings were totally removed on the first floor and 11-foot ceilings had been reduced to 8-foot sometime in the 1970s. As we proceeded to gut the first and second floor to add 3 bathrooms, we ran out of our $75,000 from a condo sale within 3 months. No walls, no heat except where we moved to on the third floor. Since we had just purchased a new home, we both received many offers from credit card companies offering 0% interest from anywhere from a year to 18 months. We applied to them ALL at the same time and proceeded to put $200,000 on credit cards to complete stage-1 of the renovations to be able to open the summer of 1996. Daryl was an administrator at Harvard School of Public Health and Dave was a technical trainer at Bank of Boston. We purchased a book by Jan Stankus (Somerville resident) called “How to own and operate a bed and breakfast” and each highlighted areas of concern.
The main area was zoning. We applied for a conditional use permit with the city of Boston and got 20 letters from neighbors and Burroughs St residents supporting us. When we showed up for the hearing in May of 1996, one neighbor, retired Judge Morrissey showed up with a few other neighbors in opposition to a B&B on the street. Dapper O’Neil expressed a “Pandora’s Box” being opened up in JP where he could bring his honey for breakfast in bed. He also made a derogatory comment on our sexual orientation which was hissed out on a taped transcript I requested from the city. “Here THEY go again. They just got domestic partnerships and are sucking the state’s health care system and now they want to do this.” The board was split 3 to 3 to approve us. Even though, we had the letters of support, they said no one showed up except one neighbor to speak. They said to come back in August for a second hearing and bring supporters. Fortunately there was a reporter from the JP Gazette at the hearing and reported on it in the next issue. The paper was flooded with letters to the editor saying JP needed a B&B since there was nowhere to stay for visiting relatives. A neighbor one street over suggested getting a local lawyer involved, Jim Green from Rubin and Rudman, and he set up an Open House for everyone to see what we were doing. By the second hearing, we had SIXTY people show up, 25 of whom wanted to speak, and they asked for just 4. I chose our immediate neighbors who all spoke highly of the improvements to the property and problems of when it was a 5-family residence with noise and parking. The zoning board unanimously approved us and the Boston Globe even ran an article on it and the JP Gazette put us on the front page. So we actually got a tremendous amount of advertisement from the whole zoning ordeal.
Now in business over 20 years most of our clientele are repeat and grandparents of the many new babies in the neighborhood. I have seen some from birth to entering college. We also get business people tired of hotels and many tourists from around the world–52 countries to be exact and all 50 states.
We proceeded year after year on renovations, refinancing to pay off the credit cards and then using the cards to start the next project. There have been 3 big financial challenges over these 20 years. The first being 9-11 when all the planes took off from Boston in the heart of our busiest season. Conferences were cancelled, people were afraid to travel and some B&Bs did not recover from that big downturn in Boston’s busiest hotel months of the year, Sept and October. Then there was the Boston Bombing and many people cancelled for the months following. And finally that little start-up AIRBNB created over 200 alternatives in Jamaica Plain alone and thousands in the Boston area so we had a challenge to change our marketing strategy and seek to get more online bookings, but at a big percentage going to sites like booking.com and expedia.com.
In 2007 Daryl got the idea to hold House Concerts and other neighbors, Vivienne Frachtenburg and Arlene Snyder, volunteered to curate different artists to be displayed for 2 months at a time, so it is called Music and Art at Taylor House. Taylor, by the way, was chosen as our name since George Taylor is the one who built the house as a summer home in 1853 for his family who lived on Beacon Hill. He was an international merchant.
We do approximately 20 concerts a year on Friday nights with either Jazz or Classical performers from the many musicians in the area. Once our first floor was completed in 2002, we also begin hosting weddings, business meetings, rehearsal dinners and baby/wedding showers up to 60 people.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Taylor House Bed and Breakfast – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Taylor House is the only bed and breakfast in Jamaica Plain even though we now have many AirBnBs nearby. Our loyal customers have stayed with us for the most part and the main thing that sets us apart is the variety of breakfast options that we offer, off-street parking, and staff that are available to answer questions on local restaurants, shops and public transportation.
It took over 5 years to completely restore this 6000 foot structure, and then the landscaping began. 50% of B&Bs make it to 5 years and only 50% of those make it to 10 years. So Taylor House has more than beaten the odds as reported on Chronicle, the Channel 5 News Magazine who ran a segment on Urban B&Bs. We have our segment from 2010 available on our homepage to see at TaylorHouse.com.
So we are proud to be in business this long and also restore a great piece of architecture in Jamaica Plain which we feel also contributed to the turnaround of the neighborhood in this century. Our guests frequent the many restaurants and shops now on Centre Street and many find it easy enough to get around that they don’t need a car.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Every 5 to 10 years we face many needs for repairs, painting, redoing rooms and upgrading the beds and furniture. Where Daryl and Dave used to do “everything” from laundry to cleaning to greeting guests and keeping up with the reservations, we now have 3 additional staff (one who is full time) to assist with these duties. This will allow us to continue a little while longer before looking forward to retirement.
Pricing:
- Summer rates range from $179 to $299
- Winter rates from $125 to $249
Contact Info:
- Address: 50 Burroughs St, Jamaica Plain MA 02130
- Website: www.TaylorHouse.com
- Phone: 617-983-9334
- Email: TaylorHouseBB@Gmail.com
- Instagram: @taylorhousebb
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taylorhousebandb
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