Hearth Housing

Elsie Frank House
(formerly the Bishop Street House)

Our first residence, opened in 1992, is a congregate living community in a charming Victorian house. Located on a peaceful residential street in Jamaica Plain, the Elsie Frank House is home to nine formerly homeless elderly women, some of who have lived there since it first opened. With each woman occupying a single bedroom, community is created through the sharing of a kitchen, living room, baths, porch, garden and social activities.

Recently the home was dedicated and renamed the "Elsie Frank House" in honor of one of our founders, Elsie Frank.

For its work at Bishop Street House, Hearth was honored to receive the 1994 Fannie Mae Foundation Maxwell Award of Excellence for Innovative Housing.
 

In 2005, Channel 5 chose The Elsie Frank House to receive an Extreme Makeover: Boston Edition, allowing us to complete needed renovations. The kitchen and dining area was expanding, and a beautiful sun-filled great room and new wheelchair ramp was added to the back of the house.