The patrons Frederick and Ellen Barrows Banning Ayer were also undoubtedly involved in the decision to hire Louis Comfort Tiffany. Frederick (1822 – 1918) had amassed a fortune over a long and varied career as a businessman and investor in patent medicine, dry goods, textiles, railroads, canals and real estate. Mr. Ayer had settled in Lowell since mid century. Soon after her married his second wife, Ellen, who was nearly 30 years his junior, the couple and four children took an extended trip to Europe, North Africa and the Near East. A 1903 inventory suggests that Ayers collected exotic furnishings and decorative arts during this trip between 1896 and 1898.
The Ayers purchased three lots on Commonwealth Avenue in April 1899, so soon after their return. The decision to relocate from Lowell to Boston may have been made while abroad. By December 1899 they selected Manning as the architect and filed a building permit for 395 Commonwealth Avenue. In planning their new Boston home, the Ayers may well have desired an appropriate setting for their new, exotic purchases. Tiffany, who was well known for his orientalizing interior designs, would have been the logical choice to create such a setting.
According to his reminiscences, Mr. Ayer personally "devoted much time to the planning of all details (of the mansion). As a result, the construction and equipment of the house was practically perfect, though the architectural results were a disappointment to him." One senses that his second wife Ellen Ayer, who was described as "theatrical and fond of travel" and was still a young woman in her early 40s, was also quite influential in the decision making. She may well have advocated for the trip abroad, relocating to Boston, and for the orientalizing and theatrical setting of the entrance hall at 395 Commonwealth Avenue.
The Ayer Mansion has served numerous owners and uses since the death of Frederick Ayer in 1918. In the 1940s, 16 spaces within the building were leased as offices. The Ayer Mansion and adjacent building at 397/399 Commonwealth Avenue were bought by an insurance company in 1958. The Hearthstone Insurance Company sold the buildings in 1964 to the present owner, the Trimount Foundation and Bayridge Residence and Cultural Center.