North End Boston Housing

George Robert White Health Unit No. 2 // 1923

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Originally known as the George Robert White Health Unit Number 2, this Colonial Revival style building is located on North Margin Street in the North End of Boston, and is significant as an early health center providing health and education services for some of Boston’s most underserved residents. The building was constructed in 1923 as one of the neighborhood-based health centers built in Boston in the 1920s and early 1930s from funding by the George Robert White charitable trust. George Robert White (1847-1922), a longtime resident of Boston, worked in the office of the Potter Drug and Chemical Company as a boy, eventually becoming president and an owner of the corporation. He was an investor in real estate and reportedly was known for many years as the largest individual taxpayer in Boston. Upon his death, his will specified that his bequest to the city, about $5 million in 1922 (approximately $93 Million valued today), would be held in a permanent charitable fund “to be used for creating public utility and beauty and for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of Boston.” The North End Health Unit was the second built (the first was in the West End), and designed in the Colonial Revival style from plans by Coolidge and Shattuck, later known as Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott. Since the 1970s, the building was occupied by the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization, until 2020, when the building was renovated and converted into housing with 23 units for elderly residents.

Waitt and Bond Building // 1891

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One of several late 19th-century industrial buildings in the North End, the Waitt & Bond Building stands on Endicott Street, looking over the scar on the landscape that is I-93. This six-story building was constructed in 1891 and is the oldest extant building in Boston associated with cigar manufacturers Henry Waitt (1842-1902) and Charles H. Bond (1846-1908), who started business in 1870. The business relocated from Saugus to Boston in 1873 and moved into this building upon its completion. Waitt & Bond produced handmade cigars with each employee hand-rolling over 300-a-day. The architect, Ernest N. Boyden, designed the building in the Panel-Brick and Romanesque styles with decorative brick panels, cornice, and arched detailing. Rooftop billboard signage (blight) was first added to the building in 1956, with increased visibility via the elevated John Fitzgerald Expressway (the Central Artery). By the early 1960s, Joseph Castignetti moved his men’s clothing store, Castignetti Brothers, to this location. In 2001, the building was converted into 28 loft-style condos, an early sign of the gentrification to come to the North End.

William Slattery Tenements // c.1893

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It is not always the architect-designed, high-style buildings that give a place character. The North End is a neighborhood almost entirely built of working-class tenement housing, but its density, immigrant history, and vernacular, make it one of the most visited and unique in the city. Michael Slattery, an Irish-born teamster, and his son, William, a grocer, developed this handsome block of tenement housing on North Margin Street in the North End neighborhood of Boston. The row of apartments stands out for its elevated design elements, including the projecting metal oriels with decorative wreath and swag motifs, arched openings, and brick corbeling at the cornice. The apartments here were rented by the Slattery family until the mid-1920s when the buildings were sold to Italian-Americans who continued to rent the buildings to lower-income residents. There is something about the North End’s vernacular that is so charming.

Vermont Marble Building // 1904

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Located across the street from Regina Pizza in Boston’s North End, the Vermont Building stands as one of the most ornate and decorated buildings in the neighborhood. Designed by Boston architects Arthur H. Bowditch and Edward B. Stratton and constructed in 1904, the Vermont Building is a six-story brick commercial building with marble detailing. The building was erected as a personal investment by Redfield Proctor, U. S. Senator from Vermont and partner in his family’s marble company based in Proctor, VT, with the building used for light manufacturing, a warehouse, and storefronts. The building has since been converted to housing as lofts.

Boston Cooperative Building Company Tenements – Regina Pizzeria // 1886

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What is your favorite pizzeria in the Boston area? For many, it is likely to be Regina Pizzeria, but specifically this location in Boston’s North End. The building was originally constructed in 1886 for the Boston Cooperative Building Company, a charitable organization which built and rented tenement housing for low-income residents in the city. Many recently arrived immigrants would have lived in the building and paid a nominal rent, giving them the opportunity to work and grow their savings to move into better, more permanent housing. The Association was incorporated in 1871 and its original stockholders represented the financial elite of Boston. As a result of their financial backing, the association was able to hire the white-shoe architectural firm of Cabot & Chandler to design this tenement block in 1886. While not ornate, the building fits within the late 19th century vernacular of brick tenements of the North End. The building is now best known as the home to Regina Pizza, which was founded in 1926 by Luigi D’Auria, who was born in Campania, Italy, who purchased the building around that time. Regina Pizza (translated to “Queen Pizza” in Italian), was sold to the Polcari family in 1956, who have operated the restaurant since. The pizzeria with its prominent blade sign is one of the best landmarks in the North End.

Downe-Tremere House // c.1674-1896

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Image c.1896 courtesy of Boston Public Library.

One of the finest First Period Houses to have been built in New England was this brick mansion, formerly on North Street in Boston’s North End. On December 29, 1674, John Paine conveyed his property including a dwelling house to William Downe his new son-in-law. It is unclear when the house was built, but it was completed by the time of sale to William. Luckily, the house was constructed of brick, which likely saved it from the Fire of 1676. In later centuries, the building was converted to commercial use. After the Civil War, the property was owned by the Tremere Family, who rented out commercial space and held tenements in the floors above (the third floor was added, filling in the space between the two end chimneys which were added in the early-19th century. The property was razed in 1896 for the present tenement building on the site.

Lebowich Tenement House // 1895

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One of the most photographed buildings in North End is arguably this tenement block, built in 1895 at the corner of Prince and Salem Streets. As the North End continued to redevelop into a diverse immigrant community, tenement houses were constructed by those with the means, providing housing at low cost to those who arrived to Boston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Max and Etta “Ethel” Lebowich, Russian Jews, immigrated to Boston, settling in the Jewish quarter of the North End and opened up a dry goods store at the corner. The business did well, and the couple redeveloped their land and hired Swedish-born architect Charles A. Halstrom, to design the prominent apartment house. The Renaissance Revival building features massive pressed metal oriels and brick and stone construction. I am unsure if the oriels are truly copper, which would have been fairly expensive for a tenement building, or if they are pressed tin. Any insight would be much appreciated.

McLaughlin Tenements // c.1875

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After the American Civil War, the North End of Boston saw a massive phase of redevelopment, replacing the dilapidated wooden dwellings with larger brick tenements to house the neighborhood’s growing immigrant population. Nearly all of the North End was replaced with these dwellings, which has now added so much to the appeal of the neighborhood. One of the earliest and notable examples is this building on Endicott Street. Built around 1875, the tenements were owned by George T. McLauthlin (also spelled McLaughlin), who owned the engineering and machinery company on Fulton Street, housed in one of the last remaining cast-iron facades in Boston. The tenement house was later owned by George’s son Daniel, likely providing housing for the company’s employees and/or providing additional income for the family. The building also appears to have always had commercial use on the ground floor, allowing merchants to also rent the space. The late-Italianate panel brick block is modest in design, but contributes to the diverse population and worker’s housing in the North End.