Breaking ground in 1915, this early Modern church building must have turned heads when it was being built in Roxbury! In October, 1907, a fine lot of land with a house on it, at the corner of Elm Hill Avenue and Howland Street, was purchased for eighteen thousand dollars by a group of Christian Science followers. In October, 1911, a building committee of five was elected by the church, and by the summer of 1914 the building fund had made such satisfactory growth that ground was broken and work for the new structure begun in September. The congregation hired the illustrious architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge to design the edifice of classic and imposing design. Constructed of gray tapestry brick with limestone trimmings, the auditorium seated upwards of one thousand members, under the dome roof. Today, the building is occupied by Grace Church of All Nations.
Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, the William Lloyd Garrison School in Roxbury’s Washington Park neighborhood is among one of the more successful school building designs of the early 20th century. Built in four stages between 1910 and 1929 to service a growing neighborhood over time, the school is named for abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who formerly lived in a home relatively closeby. The school complex consists of several different sections organized around a central courtyard and joined by passageways, all designed by the extremely underrated architectural firm of Newhall & Blevins in the Tudor style. Following the period of Urban Renewal in the neighborhood, the school district built contemporary schools and deaccessioned older schools. Today, the former William Lloyd Garrison School houses apartments.
As populations boomed in the decades following the conclusion of WWII and suburbs drew wealthier residents to single-family neighborhoods, city governments were desperate to keep tax dollars in city limits. As a result, many cities instituted a policy called Urban Renewal, where neighborhoods (often with higher percentages of minority or immigrant populations) and historic housing were demolished as a form of “slum clearance” and modern housing centered around the automobile sprouted up in their place. The Washington Park section of Roxbury in Boston was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the 1960s as part of a series of neighborhood plans by the Boston Redevelopment Authority. This housing development, called Westminster Court, was developed on one of the new Urban Renewal parcels in Washington Park. Designed by famed modernist architect Carl Koch, the Mid-Century Modern buildings were constructed in modular units to cut costs and expedite construction time. The buildings utilize precast frames with contrasting exterior panels of brick, exposed aggregate concrete, and aluminum. While many dislike these buildings, it is important to understand the history behind them and how they are part of the complex history of many cities.
Henry Hubbard Fitch (1833-1888) was born in Cornish, New Hampshire, but made Roxbury, Massachusetts his home. He moved to Boston at an early age and later entered into business with Francis V. B. Kern under the firm Kern & Fitch, working as a conveyancer. By 1873, he was also a justice of the peace, notary public, and was Boston manager of the Equitable Mortgage Company. In about 1870, he and his wife, Eliza Anne, had this charming Second Empire style cottage built in the Washington Park neighborhood of Roxbury, a fashionable part of the “suburbs” at the time. They would later relocate, before Henry died in 1888 at the age of 55. The house is one of the best preserved in the neighborhood and a survivor from the wrecking ball that destroyed much of Washington Park.
In the second half of the 20th century, parts of Boston saw disinvestment by private property owners as well as local and state government. With people leaving Boston for the suburbs, the hemorrhaging of tax revenue led urban planners to go big and institute ‘Urban Renewal‘ policies and planning to demolish what they believed to be substandard housing and invest in Modern apartments and car-oriented developments. The triangular shaped new community was as comprehensive as any urban renewal district in the region; indeed of the ten General Neighborhood Renewal Plans created by the BRA in 1961, Washington Park was the most self contained Urban Renewal District in the city. It included new police and fire stations, a courthouse, two public libraries, a shopping mall, a health center, elementary school and five garden style housing developments totaling almost 2000 apartments or townhouses. At its completion in 1975, $70.4 million had been invested to build the new community of which $31. 3 million came from the federal government. Part of this massive undertaking was the construction of elderly housing, which resulted in this 20-story cylindrical tower at the southernmost edge of the Urban Renewal area. The tower was constructed between 1967 and 1970 and was designed by Boston-based architectural firm Richmond & Goldberg, led by Isidor Richmond and Carney Goldberg. Apartments were “integrated” with with 70% Black and 30% White residents, all with private balconies and an emergency pull-chain system in kitchens and bedrooms for the elderly residents. As far as mid-century apartment towers go, this one is pretty interesting and unique. The building was renovated a few years ago and renamed the Doris Bunte Apartments. In 1969, Buntè was nominated to the Boston Housing Authority board, making her the first female public housing tenant to serve. In 1972, she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, becoming the first woman of color to serve in the Massachusetts legislature, and the first female to serve in the House leadership in 68 years. While there, Buntè helped found the Black Legislative Caucus and the Caucus of Women Legislators.
Buildings of New England 