$1M Beacon St. Price-Chop; $700K Off on Marlborough

It's time again for Curbed Cuts: all the latest neighborhood news from our sister site Curbed Boston...

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BEACON HILL - When last we stared agog at the Benjamin Mansion on Beacon Street, we were noting the heated rooftop lap pool during the last heatwave. Now we come to tell of the biggest price-chop in the Hub this year (a year chock-a-block with big price-chops). The 8,450-square-foot house dating from the John Quincy Adams administration was asking $14,950,000 until late last week. Now it's asking a full $1M less.

BACK BAY - The 6,038-square-foot townhouse at 231 Marlborough Street has both achingly elegant touches throughout (fireplaces, a dedicated library empaneled with mahogany shelves, and bay windows) as well as a funky feng shui, complete with a flat-screen TV ensconced in the gray-stone wall, an easily accessible roof deck worthy of a wine-cooler commercial, and double-ovens in the kitchen should two different tastes show for dinner. The 5-BR townhouse, once listed for as much as $5,950,000, has now sold for $4,800,000. Such is the way of things now, though, in the luxury market.

BACK BAY/FINANCIAL DISTRICT - Boston's on a bender... for skyscrapers. There hasn't been a new skyscraper in Boston taller than 600 feet since Don Chiofaro finished One International Place in 1987 (and he'd like to finish another tall one on the waterfront, though the city has other plans for now). Now there's at least three either planned or under construction, including the Millennium Tower and Copley Place.

CAMBRIDGE - This capacious condo just northwest of Harvard carries an ace up its marketing sleeve: it promises a "truly SF feel." At 3,864 square feet, it may just deliver. In that are three bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, 9-foot windows in the living room, high ceilings throughout and a private garden out back. It hit the market on Friday for $1,950,000, making it easily Cambridge's priciest new listing.