Boston West End

Lovejoy Wharf // 2017

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Photo courtesy of RAMSA

New buildings in Boston rarely are contextual and so often take no cues from their surroundings, but Lovejoy Wharf, one of my favorite 21st century buildings in the city breaks that mold. Completed in 2017, the contemporary building is clearly modern, but takes important cues in the design and materials to relate it to the surrounding industrial context surrounding the site. The Lovejoy Wharf condominium building was designed by the great Robert A.M. Stern Architects and incorporates red brick facades, stacked bay windows, and a glass curtain wall, which effortlessly blend old with new. A glass tower breaks free from the masonry mass at its corner, which leads into the denser, more modern West End buildings while the eastern side closely follows the old Schraft’s Candy Factory (now Converse Headquarters building) brick industrial style. Additionally, the developer, Related Beal, took a gamble by not including parking in the facility, hoping the unit owners would instead use local public transportation (or walk), it seems to have been a success and promotes healthy urbanism. What do you all think of this contemporary building?

Austin Biscuit Company Building // 1906

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Originally constructed in 1906 for the Austin Biscuit Company, this building on Causeway Street serves as both a gateway into Boston from the north and as an excellent example of adaptive reuse with thoughtful additions. The massive structure, which was originally two separate but connected buildings are a significant example of the panel brick construction with Romanesque detailing. Part-owner of the site, Edmund Dwight Codman hired  his brother, architect Stephen Russell Hurd Codman (1867-1944) and business partner Constant-Desire Despradelle (1862-1912) to design the building which was immediately rented out to the Austin Biscuit Company and the American Glue Company. When opened, the Boston Daily Globe wrote that it was “…a large new building of a thousand windows, a building which on fine days is flooded with sunshine and good air”. By the late 1900s, the building was altered and suffering from deferred maintenance, with an unknown fate. Luckily by 2001, the local architectural firm of Finegold Alexander, was hired to re-envision the building. They converted the two connected buildings into a unified mixed-use residential condominium and retail/office complex. The adaptive reuse of this building provided for 108 dwelling units in the top six floors (in the addition), offices on floors two through six, retail space on the first floor and garage parking in the basement. This is one of my favorite success stories in Boston architecture and historic preservation!

Dr. Jenks Apothecary Shop // c.1860

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Who doesn’t love a good flatiron building?! This charming three-story with Mansard roof building is located in the Bulfinch Triangle district of Boston. The triangular-shaped building was built around 1860 as an apothecary shop for Dr. Thomas Leighton Jenks (1829-1899), a doctor who was born in Conway, New Hampshire, but left for Boston while still a teenager. When the Mexican-American War broke out in 1846 he enlisted in the Navy, where he served for three years in the hospital ward of the frigate U.S.S. United States. Upon returning from the war, Jenks attended Harvard Medical School, and wrote his thesis on Syphilis. Dr. Jenks apprenticed in a building on this site under Dr. Samuel Trull. He likely redeveloped or modernized the 1850s building, adding the mansard roof by the 1860s. During the Civil War, Dr. Jenks served as a front line surgeon. After returning home, he grew tired of the medical profession, and got involved with local politics. He was elected as an alderman, Massachusetts state representative, and in later years he earned appointments as Chairman of the Boston Board of Police, and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Public Institutions. He tragically collapsed and died in 1899 at a Boston courthouse. As a tribute to his birthplace, Dr. Jenks made a provision in his will for the funds necessary to build a public library in Conway, New Hampshire, which is still in use today. Somehow, the old Dr. Jenks Apothecary Shop has survived all this time as the city grows and changes all around it. The building saw life later as a restaurant and offices.

Tarbell Building // 1896

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Similar to the Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Co. Building on Portland Street in the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District, the equally stunning building here was also designed by the same architect in a matching style. The building was constructed in 1896 by owner Catherine E. Tarbell , and the Boston branch of the National Casket Company moved in as tenants soon after its completion as part of its national expansion. The company would become the largest manufacturer and supplier of caskets in New England by 1906. The Tarbell building was designed by Stephen Codman in the Beaux-Arts style and is notable for its use of oxeye windows, rounded corners, and engaged pilastered facades. The company held its regional headquarters and sales offices from this building, which benefited from rail access for shipping caskets all over the region. The building is one of the finest examples of the Beaux Arts and Classical Revival styles in Boston.

Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Co. Building // 1897

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Nearly a decade after the heirs of Peter Bent Brigham and his wealthy estate erected the Peter B. Brigham building in the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District of Boston, they would again develop more of the block the trust owned, building this stately commercial building. Much of the Peter Bent Brigham Building was rented to the Heywood Brothers & Company and Wakefield Company, both furniture makers. Heywood Brothers was established in 1826, Wakefield Company in 1855, with both firms producing wicker and rattan furniture. The companies merged in 1897 and moved into this building constructed by the Brigham estate that same year. The building was designed in a unique version of the Beaux Arts and Classical Revival styles by relatively unknown architect Stephen Russell Hurd Codman (1867-1944), a first cousin of more famous architect and interior designer, Ogden Codman. Stephen Codman opened a firm with the French-born architect, Constant Desire Despradelle, designing some landmark buildings in Boston together. The Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Company Building on Portland Street is a distinctive granite-faced building standing six-stories tall with engaged box columns spanning four floors and dividing the bays of the facade.

William L. Lockhart Company Building // 1887

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This six-story brick and sandstone building at Causeway and Staniford streets near North Station in Boston was built in 1887 as the headquarters and sales center for William L. Lockhart & Co., manufacturers and wholesale dealers of coffins, caskets, and undertakers’ supplies, which at the time was considered the largest establishment of its kind in New England. The company had its factory in East Cambridge and built this structure as offices and sales rooms. The building is an excellent example of the Romanesque Revival style, which is typified by the use of round arched windows at the top floor and the use of inlaid carved stone panels. Frederick Nason Footman a relatively unknown architect is said to have designed the building for the Lockhart Company, with the building serving as an important piece of the company’s portfolio. Shop space was created on the street level, with the company’s offices, salesrooms and casket hardware department occupying the second floor, show rooms on the third floor, shipping department on the fourth floor and storage on the fifth and sixth floors. While the adjacent parcels have been razed and are still vacant, this building serves as an important visual gateway into what was once the West End, a neighborhood that was almost entirely demolished during urban renewal.

The Last Tenement // c.1870s

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Originally built in the 1870s, and largely remodeled in the early 1900s, this charming building has been known locally as “The Last Tenement” of the old West End of Boston. Once part of an unbroken a row of 30 brick tenements along the east side of Lowell Street, this building typified much of the West End of Boston, a vibrant and dynamic immigrant neighborhood. Dwarfed by larger, modern apartment towers and highway off-ramps, this stand-alone building is a survivor, and should really be preserved! Here is a little history on The Last Tenement that I found. The building was originally built as a three-story residence just after the Civil War by furniture dealer, George M. Rogers. The building was rented to four families in the 1880 census, showing the diversity of the region with 20 people residing in the building of Irish, English, and German-Jewish backgrounds. At the turn of the century, an elevated rail line was laid out down Lowell Street. After WWII, the neighborhood would see a terrible demise, that has been widely told. City leaders effectively considered the vibrant immigrant neighborhood a slum, and in an effort to redevelop it to bring back middle-class families (and their tax dollars) handed much of the neighborhood to developers to start over, with little more than lip service for the displaced. This building, now with an address of 42 Lomasney Way, was occupied for some time by “Skinny” Kazonis, a low-level Mafia associate of the Angiulo Brothers, which was a leading gang in the North End until the Winter Hill Gang decided to run rackets in the area. The property sold, and residential units have been rented and the building maintained, with the assistance of a billboard for additional income for the owner. The Last Tenement showcases the strength and resilience of the old West End and will hopefully remain as a reminder of the vibrant neighborhood that was razed and replaced with mediocrity.

North Station & Boston Garden // 1928-1998

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In the 1920s, plans began to build a contemporary train station that tied in both the Boston subway and regional train lines. The complex would replace the former North Union Station and help propel Boston as a more contemporary city. Seeing the opportunity, Boston real estate developer James Walsh realized the potential of adding a sporting stadium atop the station. Walsh had also contacted New York boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who built the third iteration of New York’s Madison Square Garden, and was eyeing boston as a location for a second Madison Square Garden. The duo hired the New York firm of Fellheimer and Wagner (designers of New York Grand Central Station) to design the exterior of the building in the Art Deco style. The building opened in November 1928 as the Boston Madison Square Garden, later shortened to the Boston Garden. The arena was built specifically with boxing in mind, with Rickard believing every seat should be close enough to see the “sweat on the boxers’ brows”. Due to this layout, fans for decades later were much closer to the players during Bruins and Celtics games than in most arenas, leading to a distinct hometown advantage. Storied franchises became dynasties and the grit and determination of Boston sports was fostered under this roof. The small size of the Boston Garden, paired with electrical issues and lack of air-conditioning, led to its demise. The present Boston Garden opened in 1995, behind the old Garden and was known as the Fleet Center, later renamed the TD Garden. The 1920s Garden sat vacant for three years before it was demolished in 1998. The site where the building once stood is currently a commercial development called The Hub on Causeway.

Boston City Hospital Relief Station, Haymarket // 1902-1960s

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Image courtesy of City of Boston Archives

In 1858, as Boston began to see a massive influx of immigration into the city and rapid industrialization, the City of Boston authorized the creation of a new hospital whose purpose was the “reception of those sick and injured: citizens of Boston who, from any cause, were unable to otherwise obtain care and treatment,” especially in cases of “acute illness and for the victims of accident or injury.” This was the Boston City Hospital, which was established in the South End, and is now known as the Boston Medical Center. The hospital was thought to be too far away for victims of injury of illness to get to promptly, so a relief station was built in Haymarket Square, replacing the recently demolished Boston & Maine Railroad Station. The new, standalone hospital building was constructed of brick and stood three stories tall and opened in 1902. On its first day of operation, doctors and staff saved the life of a man who had attempted suicide by ingesting carbolic acid. A Boston Globe reporter speculated that had the patient been  transported to the more distant Massachusetts General or City Hospitals, he would have surely died. The Colonial Revival style building was designed by the firm of Kendall, Taylor & Stevens, who specialized in medical facilities and other institutional building designs. The structure was demolished by the 1960s, when much of the Government Center/West End areas were razed for urban renewal.

Former Arlington House Hotel // 1870

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The Bulfinch Triangle area just south of the TD Garden in Boston is a cohesive and historically preserved district of similar commercial and industrial buildings of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Somehow, the area has been preserved largely intact besides some sites serving as surface parking lots and some incompatible infill developments. Historically, the area was a tidal flat, before the land here was filled beginning in 1807, with Causeway Street as the northern boundary. The area’s namesake, architect Charles Bulfinch, designed the street layout for the landowners, and the area was filled with material taken by lowering Beacon Hill and Copp’s Hill. Development was fairly slow until railroad companies built depots in the area around present-day North Station, many of which connected the area to cities north of Boston. These new train lines boosted the value of the surrounding land, with manufacturers and developers building factories and hotels in the area. This handsome structure on Causeway Street was built in 1870 by William G. Means, a manufacturer who also invested in real estate in Boston. He commissioned architect Samuel J. F. Thayer to furnish plans for the apartment hotel in the Second Empire style with a mansard roof and window lintels of diminishing detail as the floors increase. In later years, the Arlington House Hotel changed hands and names, later known as the Eastern Hotel and Hotel Haymarket. Stay tuned for more Boston history in this series highlighting the North Station and Bulfinch Triangle district!