Mary Byrne
As a young boy, Richard “Dick” Chandler used to marvel at the antique furniture in the old homes on Brattle Street in Cambridge.
“When I’d trick-or-treat, they’d invite us inside, and I’d see all these antiques,” he recalled. “Some of the guys would say, ‘What are you staring at, Dick? And I’d say ‘furniture.’”
Years later, while working as a police officer, Chandler frequented the former antique store Spivacks, where he grew to learn everything he needed to know about antiques – from the different makers of furniture to how to spot a replica over an original – from the three brothers who operated the shop.
“[My interest in antique furniture] started when I was a kid. My mother and father, when they could afford it, bought nice pieces,” said Chandler, 88. “They didn’t buy a lot of stuff at once; they bought when they could afford. … In fact, when they first bought stuff [in Boston], it was delivered by horse and wagon. They’d bring over two winged chairs or a sofa on a horse and wagon.”
So when a former boss reached out to him in 1980, offering to sell the Cambridge gas station he worked at as a kid, his interest was piqued.
“I’d pump gas for two hours, from 3 to 5 p.m. after school,” Chandler said. “I said [to the owner], this is a dynamite location. When I was waiting for cars to come in and get gassed up, I’d count them. Some days I counted 70, then I’d come back at 5 and I’d count close to 65.”
Asked by the owner what he would do with the building, Chandler, who now owns the antique shop Dick’s Place at 360 Trapelo Rd., saw an opportunity to make a living out of a hobby.
“Eleven years to the time I bought that place, I burned the mortgage. I paid it off,” he said. “I stayed open seven days per week. …I didn’t have much luck with advertising; it was the traffic.”
Chandler had a bit of help growing his business from the generosity of others, he said, recalling those who reached out to him with offers to gift him their items, and a mover, Henry Owens, who gave him access to a warehouse of furniture from owners who opted not to move their items long distances.
He shared a story about a woman who offered thousands of dollars worth of goods, all for free – an offer she saw as “payback.”
“My husband’s people, in the 1800s, owned slaves,” Chandler remembered her telling him. “Maybe this is payback.”
Chandler said his great-great grandmother was born a slave in 1863 in Danville, Virginia.
“I didn’t have any animosity,” he said. “I said, ‘What’s the point in disliking or hating somebody for something that happened over a hundred years ago?’”
Chandler said his attitude toward people — treating each one who walks in the door with the respect he would hope to receive — is part of what made his venture so successful.
“It was just amazing the people that wanted to help me,” he said.
In 1998, 18 years after first opening in Cambridge, Chandler was approached by a realtor who had a buyer for the property — an offer he couldn’t refuse. He moved his inventory to Belmont, where he has rented space on Trapelo Road ever since.
Located at the corner of Trapelo Road and Beech Street, Chandler’s shop is chock-full of items, some dating back as far as the 1800s, such as an antique butter churn, with the majority of items from the early 1940s and 1950s. Customers can find antique chairs and dressers, makeup vanities, paintings, and other knick-knacks. Chandler said he loves mahogany and golden oak furniture, and — though he can’t afford to buy them new — oriental rugs.
“I try to select things that other shops don’t have,” he said. “I cultivated this with the help of growing up in an environment [of appreciation for antiques], and the Spivack brothers taught me what to look for and what to examine before I buy it.”
But after more than 40 years in the trade, 26 of which have been in Belmont, Chandler is ready to retire. By May, he hopes to have as much inventory sold as possible. Anything left will go into storage and eventually be donated.
Having grown up in Cambridge, where his family owned a pair of two-family homes, Chandler now lives in Belmont, not far from his two daughters and his grandchildren, and walking distance from his antique store.
“It’s a hobby, not a business,” he said. “The truth is, I will miss it.”
Dick’s Place is open Tuesday to Saturday noon to 5 p.m.
