Otis House

From Mansion to Medical Clinic

Frontispiece of book, The Ladies Medical Oracle, 1834.

 

In 1822, the Otis House was divided into a two-family home, and sometime thereafter, single story shops were built into the front terrace. By 1834, Elizabeth Mott and her husband, Dr. Richard Mott had rented half the house to use both as their home and place of business. From the Otis House, Mrs. Mott offered free medical advice, sold over the counter remedies, such as Josephine’s dentifrice for whitening teeth, and treated patients with a “cure”, advertised as “Mott’s Patent Medicated Champoo Baths”.