BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
1981 Survey & Planning Grant
PART I - SOUTH BOSTON
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS DEPARTMENT
RECEIVED
JUN - 1 138^
ubmitted September 15, 1982 to
iviassachusetts Historical Commission
Boston Landmarks Commission
Boston Rede\'elopment Authority
South Boston
B65L
1982
SOUTH BOSTON PRESERVATION STUDY
Prepared by
Rosalind Pollan
Carol Kennedy
Edward Cordon
for
The Boston Landmarks Commission
August 1982
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
Brief History of South Boston
Review of Architectural Styles
Notable Areas of Development and Sub Area Maps
II. Methodology
General Procedures
hvaluation - Recording
Research
III. Recommendations
A. Districts
National Register of Historic Places
Boston Landmarks Commission
Further Study Areas
B. Individual Properties
National Register Listing
Boston Landmarks Commission Designation
Further Study Areas
Appendix I - Sample Inventory Forms
Appendix II - Key to 100' Scale Inventory Maps
Appendix III - Inventory Coding System
Map I - South Boston Study Area
Map II - Sub Areas
Map ill - District Recommendations
Map IV - Individual Site Recommendations
Map V - Sites for Further Study
I. INTRODUCTION
The South Boston Preservation Study, conducted from November 1981 to August
1982, was administered by the Boston Landmarks Commission, with the assistance
of a matching grant-in-aid from the Department of the Interior, Heritage
Conservation and Recreation Service, through the Massachusetts Historical
Commission, Office of the Secretary of State, under the provisions of the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The local share of the project was
provided by the Boston Landmarks Commission and by in-kind contributions
of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The study was conducted by
Rosalind Pollan, Carol Kennedy, and Edward Gordon, architectural historians
and consultants to the Boston Landmarks Commission. Staff supervision was
provided by Judith McDonough.
The goal of the project was to undertake an in-depth architectural and histor-
ical survey of the South Boston study area and to make recommendations for
National Register and Boston City Landmarks designations. Specific goals
included preparation of individual information forms for certain selected
buildings of architectural or historic significance, as well as evaluating the
relative significance of each building for which a form was prepared.
The method of recording and evaluating buildings, as explained in the Methodology
section, follows the pattern established in the earlier Dorchester and Central
Business District Preservation Studies conducted by the Boston Landmarks
Commission in 1977 and 1980.
The boundaries of the 1981-2 South Boston Study Area are shown on Map 1.
Brief Topographical History of South Boston
Originally a peninsula of about 579 acres. South Boston separated Boston Harbor
and South Bay from Dorchester Bay and was connected to Dorchester (of
which it was a part) by a neck of land encompassing the area now known as
Andrew Square and the surrounding vicinity formerly called Washington
Village. Part of the Dorchester land grants and described as Dorchester
Neck, the South Boston peninsula was marked by several ponds, streams, and
swamps which have not survived and prominent hills of which only Dorchester
Heights (Thomas Park) and Brush Tree Hill (Independence Square) remain.
Filling operations have altered all of South Boston's original shoreline. The
flat industrial land northeast of First Street was largely the result of fill
undertaken during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and the east
end of the South Boston peninsula was linked to Castle Island by Marine
Park. By 1910, filled land had extended the size of South Boston to 1,333
acres, slightly more than two square miles, and the South Boston Bay was
reduced to the narrow Fort Point Channel.
During the 17th and 18th centuries. South Boston served Dorchester as pasturage
and remained rural. It is believed that the first house on the peninsula was
built in 1674 by James Foster with the Blake House at City Point following in
1680. Large farmsteads were created on Dorchester Neck from grazing land
by the late 17th century, and a handful of houses were scattered along or
near the primary early road which ran from Dorchester to City Point
approximately on the present route of Dorchester Street, Emerson Street, and
hast Fourth.
The annexation of South Boston resulted from a real estate speculation on the
part of Joseph Woodward, Harrison Gray Otis, and others. Having acquired
land at the Dorchester Neck, these speculators applied to the General Court
to annex the whole area to the Town of Boston. In 1804, after strenuous
opposition from Dorchester, the General Court acted favorably upon the request.
A year later, the South Boston Bridge Proprietors opened the peninsula's first
direct link with Boston - a 1,551-foot bridge located on the site of the present
Dover (East Berkeley) Street Bridge. In conjunction with the construction of
this bridge, the Dorchester Turnpike (today's Dorchester Avenue) was built
and extended between First Street in South Boston and Dorchester Lower Mills,
near Milton,
South Boston's present grid street pattern was largely determined by a stip-
ulation in the Act of Annexation which provided that land be set aside for
streets, a school, a meeting house, and burial ground. This requirement was
executed through the acceptance of Mather Withington's survey and street plan
of 1805. Withington's design established Broadway and L Streets as principal
axes, provided for the rectilinear and regular blocks of A through Q and First
through Eighth Streets, and promoted the later 19th century institutional use
of the present Independence Square area.
Despite this laying out of streets and the completion of the Dover Street
Bridge and the Turnpike, South Boston developed slowly in the first quarter
of the 19th century. In 1825, with its population of 1,986, it was a dis-
apointment to its developers. But South Boston grew rapidly between 1825
and the outbreak of the Civil War, and it is the nature of this period of
growth that determined much of the present character of South Boston's
urban fabric. During this period, the peninsula's industrial potential was
recognized. Consequently, land values in South Boston rose 450% between
1835 and 1845. The South Boston Iron Works were incorporated in 1827, the
Fulton Iron Works in 1835, the City Point Iron Works were established in
1847, and, most significantly for the area north of First Street, railroads
entered the peninsula in 1845.
In 1845, the Old Colony Railroad tracks were laid along the present Old Colony
Avenue, crossed Fort Point Channel near West Broadway and terminated at
the Kneeland Street Station. A decade later the Boston and New York Central
laid its tracks parallel to B Street and across the Fort Point Channel to South
Station. The Boston Wharf Company, served by the Boston and New York
Central on made land north of West First Street, built the Congress Street
Bridge which the city acquired in 1855 for $60,000. The acquisition of this
bridge and the opening of the northern portion of A Street which also occurred
in 1855 provided the first major public way linking industrial South Boston to
both Boston proper and to residential South Boston south of First Street.
This expenditure was fully justified in 1855 as South Boston, with a population
of 17,931, had become the third largest ward in the city. The growth rate of
its population during the decade of 1845-1855 was 65.87% (during the same
period the population of the city as a whole grew 42.20%, and in this decade
the number of registered voters in South Boston increased 41.16% (from 1,421
to 2,116) against an increase in the city as a whole of only 14.69% (with 23,342
registered voters out of a population of 162,748 in 1855).
During the 1850's, South Boston was industrially dominated by iron foundries
and machine shops. At this time, the South Boston Iron Vi/orks was the largest
foundry in the country, and the Bay State Iron Company at City Point was
the largest manufacturer of railroad track in New England. Ship yards in
South Boston shared the prominence of those in the East Boston, and
Harrison Loring's City Point works were in successful operation through the
1890's. The South Boston Gas Works began operation in 1852, and in 1861,
the first petroleum refinery in Boston was established as the Stephen Jenney
and Company.
With its population growing rapidly to service its expanding industrial complex
(which later received a major boost during the Civil War) by 1855, South
Boston included more dwellings (almost 2,000 units) than any other ward in
the city. Of these houses the great majority were wood frame structures put
up as 2i-story single-family dwellings with gabled ends set facing the street.
After 1860, brick and frame row housing, often Mansard roofed and developed
as rental units or for speculative sale, became an increasingly frequent
building type. During the '80's and '90's, two-family residential buildings
became increasingly prevalent, and by the turn-of-the-century , triple decker
housing began to predominate.
Also characterizing the last two decades of the 19th century in South Boston
is a considerable growth of public and private institutions necessitated by the
district's increasing residential population and which resulted in the expansion
of the Carney Hospital, the ground-breaking for the new Gate of Heaven Church,
the construction of the South Boston High School, and the completion of the
Strandway with the resulting recreational development of the southern and
eastern shore of the peninsula. Marine Park (begun in 1881), the Strandway
(begun in 1889), and the connection to Castle Island were all projected as
part of Frederick Law Olmsted's Boston Park System which included Columbia
Road and which was built as a parkway and as the link between South Boston's
landscaped shore, Franklin Park, and the Arnold Arboretum.
During the twentieth century. South Boston has experienced the development
of handsomely designed triple decker houses and single and two-family bungalow
style homes along Marine, Columbia, and Farragut Roads, the increasing use
of West Broadway and the lower blocks of East Broadway for commercial activity,
the construction of brick apartment complexes along and near Columbia Road
beginning in the 1930's with Old Harbor Village, - the first public housing
project in the United States, and the further improvement of storefront recre-
ational and beach facilities including the construction of the L Street Baths.
A Review of Architectural Styles
An outline review of South Boston's architecture reveals that the area includes
representative and distinguished examples of all of the major building styles
of the period between the time of annexation, 1804, and the 1940's. The earliest
development remaining in South Boston is Federal in style; these buildings
are, for the most part, frame, modestly scaled, plainly trimmed, gable roofed
houses. Architecturally notable examples of the Federal style however do
survive, the most significant of which is the substantial brick, 2^-story, low
hipped roof, 5-bay central entry, ca. 1805 John Hawes House at 568 East
Fifth Street, corner of K. The Hawes House is reportedly South Boston's
earliest extant building. Also of particular interest is the row of 4 brick
Federal style row houses with arched recessed entries at 318-324 E Street
(corner of West Broadway) and the double frame house at 92-94 B Street,
although in deteriorating condition, still maintaining its period sidelight and
transom entries.
Creek Revival construction begins to appear in South Boston during the 1830's
and, as in the earlier Federal style, surviving buildings are all residential
structures. Important examples of Creek Revival housing mostly dating from
the 1840's and early 1850's, are scattered throughout the study area with the
most impressive concentration remaining along and in the vicinity of West
Fourth Street between E and F. Other pockets of Creek Revival development
are located in the C Street, and East 4th, and East Broadway area, and along
2nd Street between I and K.
In South Boston, the Creek Revival house, most typically, is a frame, 2-story
plus attic, 3-bay, building with pedimented street-facing gable roof and wide
corner pilasters. Creek Revival houses of this type that are of special note
for their architectural quality are 401 and 411 West Fourth Street, 249 Emerson,
310 West 3rd, which displays the triangular attic window characteristic of South
Boston development and not often seen in other areas, and as a representative
of brick construction in this form, 117 West 3rd. Other Creek Revival resi-
dences of architectural interest include - the impressively scaled double house
at 512-514 East Broadway which unfortunately has been re-sided but remains
distinguished by its double-story pilasters and its entry hood supported by
massive foliate consoles, and the similar frame houses at 375 and 377 West
Fourth also with tall pilasters dividing the buildings' facades. Also locally
significant is the unusual double frame house at 110-112 Jenkins Street with
its paired recessed and pilaster trimmed entries, the frame row at 92-100
F Street, the narrowly proportioned 3-story brick house at 5821 East 8th,
and the small scale brick workers row at 591-597 East Second.
Dating from the 1850's are several handsome examples of a combined Greek
Revival/ italianate style which combines the temple front forms of the earlier
manner with decorative and often energetic bracketing. Two tine examples of
this style are the handsomely detailed houses at #52 and #82 G Street.
The Gothic Revival Style which is contemporary, in general, with the Greek
Revival enjoys a rather wide representation in South Boston. Often charac-
terized by steep gable roofs, pointed arched windows, and in housing by
"gingerbread" trim at the roofline, the style is exemplified in the study area
by St. Augustine's Chapel of 1819-33, an early example of brick Gothic Revival
church architecture, and two decades later, by the 1844/53 granite Roman
Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul on West Broadway between Dorchester
Avenue and A Street.
Residential examples of this style are usually seen in cottage scale houses.
In South Boston a unique run of these were built in the 1860's by local de-
veloper Benjamin James at 9-23 and 10-20 Linden Street. Of this group, only
a single house, 21, retains its elaborate and robust bargeboard trim. Now
the O'Brien Funeral Home, the Sears/Woods house at 146 Dorchester Street,
near Old Harbor, remains the most ambitious example of Gothic Revival resi-
dential development in South Boston.
Although extant row housing in South Boston dates back to the Federal period,
and several Greek Revival rows were built in the district, it is not until the
1860's that the form begins to predominate. The Italianate or Bracketed style
which appears in full force during the 1850's and survives as late as the '80's
coincides with the district's first extensive row house development. As in
indicating by its name, the style is associated with the use of bracketed
detail at rooflines, door hoods, porches and window cornices.
There are many handsome examples of Italianate housing in the district, and
the most repeated house type of this style is represented by earlier forms of
the 3-bay, 2-story plus attic, street facing gable roofed building, and by the
3-story, 3-bay, flat roofed, row house which is credited as the forerunner of
the triple decker. Gable roof houses of high design quality and built during
the mid-1850's and to the 1860's include 855 East 5th Street, 903 East 4th
Street, 313 Emerson, and 2-6 Leeds. Important examples of Italianate row
housing are the bow fronted row houses at 491-5 East Broadway and the flat
fronted brick row of 1856 up the street at 528-536. An unusual multi-family
bracketed style double residence with 4-story rectangular towers is located at
190-192 West 7th and was built by 1868.
Architecturally significant non-residential Italianate style buildings in South
Boston include the former Hook and Ladder Station #5 at 457 West 4th Street,
the 1863 Gate of Heaven Church, now the church Parish Hall and Sunday School,
and the 1874 granite faced church of St. Vincent de Paul. Both churches
were designed by prominent architect Patrick C. Keeley.
During the 1860's bracketed housing begin to display the then fashionable mansard
roof. Important groupings of Mansarded Italianate residences are the 1869-70
brick bow fronted row across from Independence Square at 797-827 East Broadway,
the double frame houses of the mid '60's at 746-8 and 750-4 East 5th, and
901-5 East Broadway, and the extensive row of modest frame houses at 261-283 West
5th.
Mansard houses were built in South Boston as early as 1858, e.g., 158-164
Dorchester Street, and became the most popular building form of the Civil
War and post-war eras. In South Boston, mansard housing encompassing a
full range of building type including the substantial house of wealthy local
entrepreneurs and industrialists, as for example, the brick mansions at
789 East Broadway, belonging to Harrison Loring and the Gray/Dana House
across the street at 788. Large scale frame mansard residences include the
Manning/Johnson House at 69 Thomas Park and the house with the unusually
deep set-back at 928 East Broadway. The Souther/Gavin House at 546 East
Broadway was designed by well known architect Gridley J.F. Bryant and is
similar in form and detail to contemporary high style houses in Boston's Back
Bay. Mansard row housing becomes an important building form in the developmen
of the vicinity around Telegraph Hill and the area east of G Street, and notable
examples range in scale from the block-long brick pavillion-plan row at 283-305 K
between East 5th and East 6th, to the diminutive one-story plus Mansard brick
block at 86-102 I Street.
The Mansard style is also used for institutional and public architecture, the
best surviving examples of which are Hose Company #9 at 116 B Street (1860), ■
the former District 12 Police Station (1874) at 675 East 4th Street, and the |
Capen School (1871), now St. Peter's School, corner of I and East 6th, designed
by the architectural firm of Cummings and Sears.
During the 1870's, the Mansard style occasionally is combined with other
Victorian modes. Of considerable note are the mansarded Stick Style Walbridge
and Gogin Houses, respectively at 56 and 61 Thomas Park. High Victorian
Gothic in combination with mansard housing is exemplified by the brick row
facing Independence Square at 47-53 M Street and these at 151-157 I Street,
505-11 East 6th, and 114-124 F Street.
As is usual for the style which utilized freely treated Gothic forms and a color-
istic use of materials. High Victorian Gothic appears for the most part, in
institutional and commercial architecture. In South Boston, High Victorian
Gothic is in full display in the Samuel J.F. Thayer designed Hawes Unitarian
Congregational Church (now the Albanian Cathedral of St. George), 1872^
St. Augustine's Church (1870-4), and the 1873 Monks Building at 412-414 West
Broadway and 142-146 F. Also built in this lively style, is the brick apart-
ment block with cornerstore at 828-834 East 5th.
Queen Anne, the architectural style that characterizes the development of many
districts in the city that were built-up during the last quarter of the 19th
century, makes its strongest appearance in South Boston in two-family and
10
triple decker construction. Notable examples of two-family dwellings designed
in the Queen Anne style are the group of houses at 10-12, 14-16, 18-20 and
26-28 Story Street.
Despite the formal constraints of the triple decker building type, the rich
handling of materials and imaginative use. of form and shape associated with
Queen Anne are apparent in the designs of the handsome three-family houses
at 936 East Fourth, 206-8 L Street, 665 East 8th, and 448-50 East Seventh.
Queen Anne also is represented, in the study area, by brick row housing, as
for example, at 57-60 Thomas Park, the apartment and row house complex at
92-108 L, and the brick row at 934-942 East Broadway which was designed by
Patrick VV. Ford, Other architecturally notable Queen Anne residential buildings
in South Boston include the double frame houses with ornate dormers at 84-86 0
Street, the Driscoll House, at 585 East Broadway, a frame, three-story, flat
roofed residence designed by John A. Hasty and built in 1892, and the 1887
Hotel Eaton at 309-11 Emerson. Queen Anne commercial buildings include
Bethesda Hall, the 1890 office and retail block designed by Winslow and
Wetherall, and 150-154 West Fourth, built in 1904.
Turn-of-the-century development in South Boston resulted, for the most part,
in the construction of apartment buildings and triple decker dwellings. Many
of South Boston's triple decker houses were designed in the Colonial Revival
Style, which is more formal and symetrically organized than the Queen Anne
and is dependent on classically derived detail. Colonial Revival triple deckers
of high architectural quality tend to be dispersed through the City Point area
with important examples located at 1650-1662, 1772-1776, and 1788-1794 Columbia
Road, 415 K Street, and 923-931 East 4th.
Although much of South Boston's Colonial Revival residential architecture is
connected with- triple decker construction, other impressive examples of the
style include the double two-family at 46-48 N, (facing Independence Square)
the substantial Falvey House of ca. 1905 at 948 East Broadway and, just opposite,
at 945, the Taylor House which was built in 1936 and imitates the form and
scale of an eighteenth century residence. The most conspicuous example of
11
Colonial Revival in the study area is the landmark Dorchester Heights Monument,
a steeple-like marble fronted tower built in 1900-2 after designs by architects
Peabody and Stearns.
Another late nineteenth century-early twentieth century style, the Renaissance
Revival is reserved, in South Boston, primarily for institutional architecture,
and is used for the 1901 Carney Hospital Infirmary Building (now part of Marion
Manor] at 4 Old Harbor Street and the South Boston Municipal Court at 535 East
Broadway (1913). Classical Revival, the companion style to the Renaissance
Revival, was often used for the design of apartment blocks. Several tine
apartment buildings, all distinguished by their use of copper sheathed bays
were built around the turn-of-the-century along West Broadway and include
479, corner of Dorchester Street, 373-5 and 313-319 E, and 82, corner of A.
Pleasant and well maintained single and two-family bungalows built during the
early decades of the twentieth century, characterize the City Point area around
Marine Road with occasional robust bungalow style triple deckers interspersed,
as for example at 177-179 M. Other Bungalow style buildings of interest in
the study area include the South Boston, Columbia, and Boston Yacht Clubs,
each constructed in 1899.
After World War I, architecturally significant, buildings put up in South Boston
encompass a mix of styles and include the 1931 Art Deco L Street Baths, and
along the north side of West Broadway between Dorchester and F, the 1919
Tapestry Brick Cinema and post office block, the 1935 Art Deco South Boston
Supermarket, and the 1947 Classical Revival South Boston Savings Bank.
From this complex and varied architectural legacy, the consultants have
identified areas deserving of recognition and as landmark, architectural con-
servation, and/or National Register districts, areas deserving further study,
outstanding individual landmarks as well as individual buildings worthy of
further study and recognition. These recommendations are detailed in
Section III.
12
Notable Sub-Areas of Development
South Boston West
The South Boston-West study area was a part of the land originally annexed
to Boston in 1804 from Dorchester, with the southerly boundary of the annexed
area running along what is now 9th Street. At that time, the land boundary
at the north was approximately along today's First Street, with an inlet about
at D Street, and the western boundary near present Dorchester Avenue. "Nook's
Hill" stood in the area now Third and B Streets. Considerable filling in of
low and marshy areas took place throughout the 19th Century, providing, along
the western boundary, sites for iron foundries and other industrial uses.
Settlement of the area had been sparse up until annexation in 1804, consisting
of a few large farming estates. Access to Boston and Dorchester was initially
via "Little Neck", where Andrew Square now is located. With the building of
the bridge which connected Dover Street in Boston with Fourth Street in South
Boston, land values increased and development accelerated somewhat. Commercial
and residential development was clustered primarily at the west end of the
area, along Fourth Street, Dorchester Turnpike (Avenue), and Broadway.
The old South Boston Hotel, at 99-101 W. 4th remains from this early develop-
ment period, as does the brick block at the southwest corner of E Street.
(#318-24) and West Broadway (#363-5), ca. 1820's. An iron foundry was located
south of the bridge, with a glass house around First and B Streets, at the
water's edge. Churches in the area were located at Broadway and C, at A,
Broadway between D and E, and, on Dorchester Street, St. Augustine's Chapel,
the only remaining from this early period. South of Fifth Street, no structures
were indicated on surveyor Hale's map of 1830.
Between 1830 and 1852, the area saw considerable development; a surviving
residence from early in this span is #92-94 B Street, a double wood frame
structure, dating from the early 1830's. Typical residential structures were
wood frame, in the Greek Revival mode (e.g., 361 and 411 W. 4th,). Industrial
and manufacturing interests expanded as well. The northern area, particularly
13
i^^ii^^ifc
along the water's edge, became a focus for manufacturing and shipbuilding.
Other industries by 1852 were machine shops, iron foundries, a tallow factory,
carriage manufactory, and rope walk.
Although the industrial development in South Boston West remains concentrated
in those areas where it had become focused by the mid-1 9th century, little
physical evidence remains of those early manufactories, which included exten-
sive iron works along the West side of Dorchester Bay. Manufacturing buildings
from later in the century which survive include those at 27-8 Damrell and
314-330 W. 2nd.
As the industrial element of South Boston gained increasing importance,
newly-developed regions took on a denser character, with row housing (e.g.,
346-52 West 3rd and 261-83 W. 5th) and later apartments becoming the norm.
Increasing numbers of Irish immigrants necessitated considerable expansion on
the part of the Catholic Church during the century. Ss. Peter and Paul was
completed in 1844, and rebuilt with larger capacity by 1853. New parishes
were established soon after, in the 1870's, those in the South Boston West
area being St. Augustine's and St. Vincent's.
Late in the century earlier buildings along Broadway began to be replaced
with more up to date, larger stores and office/apartment blocks (e.g.,
403-415 and 373-5 Vi/. Broadway). The single block between F Street and
Dorchester Street on Broadway shows the most examples of commercial
buildings from the 20th century in South Boston-West, with the U.S. Post
Office and Broadway Theater (1919), South Boston Market (1935), and South
Boston Savings Bank (1947). New construction in the 20th century is fairly
limited in the areas, probably a result of declining population in the area.
Today, one finds vacant lots and deteriorated buildings scattered throughout
the area, but particularly in the neighborhood of the D Street housing project
area. Commercial activity in this region of South Boston is now focused near
Broadway's intersection with Dorchester Street.
15
The strongest alterations in pinysicai cinaracter of tine Soutii Boston-West
section occurred in the areas now covered by tlie D Street Housing Project,
wiiicln previously contained much wood frame and some brick single- and double-
family housing and commercial development, as expansion had moved eastward
from the original bridge. St. Peter's Lithuanian Catholic Church on Flaherty
Way with its rectory behind provide reminders of a different physical setting
in earlier days. While a general economic decline of the area leaves many
structures in deteriorating condition, there has not been a large-scale razing
of older areas for new construction in recent years. Although numerous "gaps"
in the building fabric exist where individual buildings have been demolished
or destroyed by fire, the general height of two to four-story buildings is
consistent in the district. Of the non-residential portions, Dorchester
Avenue probably reflects to the least degree its 19th century appearance. At
least one building from the Norway Iron Works survives (383 Dorchester Avenue)
but with its facade completely altered and later additions almost obscuring the
early structure.
Addition of siding (asbestos, aluminum, vinyl) during this century is fre-
quently found on residential structures, with some obscuring and removal of
decorative elements such as brackets, ahd consoles. West Broadway retains
many 19th century early 20th century commercial buildings, but most have
experienced considerable storefront alteration.
As a whole. South Boston West is very densely developed, with only a few of
the early remaining houses having any amount of front yard; houses generally
abut one another or nearly so, and are situated with only a sidewalk between
the front wall of the structure and the street curb.
Andrew Square
The Andrew Square section of South Boston, originally part of Dorchester,
was called "Little Neck" until 1850 when the name was changed to Washington
Village. Until the construction of the first bridge between Boston and South
Boston, Little Neck provided the only road to the peninsula, via present
Dorchester Street. At the time of Boston's annexation of the territory, the
southwest boundary of South Boston was along present 9th Street.
16
Construction of the Dorchester and Milton turnpike (1805) (now Dorchester
Avenue), a toil road instituted by private developers, shortened the possible
travel distance into Boston from Andrew Square considerably. A toll gate was
located at the junction of Boston Street (now Dorchester Street), Preble Street
and the turnpike. It was here that commercial development focused and has
remained concentrated.
Citing their distance of 4 miles to Dorchester's town hall and over one mile to
any school, inhabitants of the Little Neck sought annexation to Boston
beginning in 1836 and accomplished in 1855, after considerable opposition by
much of Dorchester.
In 1848 a school was erected at the location of the present O'Reilly School
(Dorchester at Middle Streets). By 1852 Washington Village was still a small
settlement, but the Old Colony Railroad had been opened through the area
(along what is now Old Colony Avenue). Houses such as the Creek Revival
ones at 27-29 Dexter Street and 165-9 Dorchester Street were typical of this
period. Dexter Street itself reveals changing house types over the ensuing
years, with the Italianate #23 and two Mansards, #15 and #19) built by 1864.
A few houses on Middle Street and Lewis (now Jenkins) had been present in
1852, including #10-12 Jenkins. Cable-fronted Italianate houses such as those
at #2-6 Leeds had been built by 1863, with the more imposing #52 Woodward
soon after, by 1867.
The land of present Old Harbor Village housing project was originally low
marshy land and remained undeveloped by 1919. This project, begun in 1936,
was the first public housing in the United States. Two building types are
found here, row apartments with small individual front yards, and multi-
family apartment blocks with balconies, arranged with open space between.
Mature trees give an unusually shaded character to the streets through the
project, unlike much of South Boston which has no building setbacks at all.
Columbus Park, created with filled land near the turn of the century, exhibits
several Period Revival structures (ca. 1920-30's). The Park, combined with
Carson Beach, provides welcome open space on the edge of the Andrew Square
17
area. Streets such as Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester Street, and Old Colony
Boulevard, which cross the Andrew Square section of South Boston give par-
ticular emphasis today to vehicular traffic and its attendant modern commercial
development.
bouth Boston East
South Boston East includes all of the area east of Dorchester Street between
the north side of East 8th and the south side of East first and extends to
Castle Island and the shoreline beyond Day Boulevard. The area is basically
a densely developed residential district with most of its housing dating
between the late 1840's and the 1920's, and in form predcrrinantly 2-story
plus attic and 3-story, narrow, brick and frame single, double, 2-family, and
triple decker dwellings built up to the street line on very small lots.
Industrial uses in this sub-area are confined to East First treet an the
north side of East Second. With the exception of corner stores and occasional
retail blocks, most of the commercial development in the area is located on
East Broadway between Dorchester Street and L, and much of this commercial
activity is housed in first floor renovations of 19th century residential
buildings. Open space within the dense fabric of South Boston East includes
the landscaped sites on Telegraph and Brush Tree Hills, now Thomas Park
and Independence Square respectively, the Hawes and Union Cemeteries
mid-block between Emerson Street and East 5th, and the linear park and
beaches which stretch from Castle Island along the easterly and southerly
shoreline to Dorchester.
Within South Boston East, several smaller districts are apparent. These
include the area around Telegraph Hill (see separate description for area),
Mt. Washington Area, Bay View (vicinity of I through L, south of East Seventh)
Independence Square, and City Point, the easterly most residential area in
South Boston.
The earliest extant housing in South Boston East dates from ca. 1805 through
the 1830's and generally is scattered along South Boston's earliest road which
corresponds to today's Dorchester Street, Emerson Street, and East Fourth.
Examples of this construction remain at 411 R East 3rd, 480-482 East 4th,
172-204 Emerson, and, at the point, the Samuel Blake House at 927-931 R East
Broadway. The ca. 1805 John Hawes House, a substantial brick 5-bay, central
entry residence is located on the northwest corner of K and East 5th, and
when built was part of an 8-acre estate. Also dating from this period and
unfortunately destroyed by fire in the 1960's, was the 1833 Hawes Place Church,
late the South Boston School of Art, which was located on the triangular church-
green-like site at the intersection of Emerson, East Fourth, and K Street.
During the 1830's, the corner of East Broadway and I Streets was the location
of the Mt. Washington Hotel which, from 1839-1912 served as the Perkins School
for the Blind. This large, brick, Greek Revival style building was demolished
to make way for the 1913 South Boston Municipal Court.
By mid-century, residential development began to cluster around Dorchester
and East 4th Streets, G Streets and East Broadway, East Broadway and Emerson
(near K,) I Street near Second and at City Point. Houses from this period
included single and double dwellings as well as rows including, at 591-7 East
Second, the brick worker's row probably put up by Bay State Iron Works which
maintained a sizeable plant on the water side of East First Street, near I.
By 1859, Bay State Iron was New England's largest manufacturer of iron for
railroad tracks.
During the 1860's and 70's, stretches of East Broadway, part of the main east-
west street in South Boston were developed with brick and frame houses and
rows of high architectural quality, and fashionable residential areas began to
take form in the vicinity of Mt. Washington and Independence Square.
Mt. Washington, encompasses in its substantial and predominantly brick develop-
ment, notable examples of Italianate and Mansard row housing and includes at
564, the Back Bay style Second Empire Souther/Gavin House (1868). Souther,
a prominent local businessman was the owner of the Bay State Brewery, a Victorian
industrial building still remaining at the corner of H Street and East 2nd.
Contemporary with the development of Mt. V/ashington, the Bay View district
around the lower end of K Street, began to sub-divide for housing during
the 1850's as a neighborhood of gable-roofed frame Greek Revival, Greek
Revival-ltalianate, and Italianate houses. Around 1870, the character of
19
K Street began to undergo considerable change and quickly was transformed
into a densely built neighborhood of Mansard brick rows many of which were
put up by resident developers.
The industrial base of South Boston, particularly its machine shops, iron
foundries and iron mills experienced considerable growth during the Civil War
era, and by the 1860's development of the area east of Dorchester Street required
construction at 608 I Street, of South Boston's second Catholic Church which
was completed in 1863 and dedicated to Mary, Gate of Heaven. This church,
now the Parish Hall and Sunday School, was replaced at the end of the nineteenth
century, by the much larger cathedral form building on the opposite corner.
Population growth coupled with industrial and residential development during
the late 1860's and '70's resulted in the construction in the Broadway Hill and
Bay View vicinities of new institutional and church buildings including the
1872 Hawes Unitarian Congregational Church at 523 East Broadway, the 1871
Capen School, corner of I and East 6th, and the 1874 District 12 Police Station,
675 East 4th Street, now Gavin House.
The streets north and south of East Broadway in the Mt. Washington Vicinity,
intensively built up during the 1870's and '80's, are characterized by brick
and frame Mansard row housing as well as late nineteenth century brick and
frame multiple family housing, including Queen Anne and Colonial Revival Triple
deckers. South Boston's extensive complex of repeated triple deckers is located
in this area, between 423-455 East Seventh and 458-482 East 8th and was put
up 1903-7.
Early twentieth century development in the Mt. Washington and Bay View areas
was limited, for the most part, to triple decker and bungalow-style housing.
Unlike West Broadway, East Broadway experienced little apartment house con-
struction and early 20th century building was generally restricted to triple
decker and bungalow-style dwellings. Later twentieth century development
had limited impact on the area but does include the remarkable 1933 Art Deco
L Street Baths, the 1957 Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott South
Boston Branch Library^ and the rather sprawling new Tynan Elementary and
Community Public School on Emerson and East 4th. Privately developed modern
brick apartment complexes have been constructed along Columbia Road since
20
the late 1930's. The are generally 1-3-stories in height but more recent
development has produced some inappropriately scaled view-obstructing apartment
towers, the tallest of which, to date, is the 17-story building at 1410.
The development of Independence Square began in 1822 when the City of Boston
purchased a 60-acre tract in the vicinity formerly known as Brush Tree Hill.
Bounded by L Street, Boston Harbor, N Street, and East 4th Street, the
city lands contained several institutions including the House of Industry, the
House of Reformation, and a hospital for the insane. The presence of these
institutions at the eastern end of Dorchester Neck apparently discouraged
residental development in the area, and as late as 1850, only a few Greek
Revival and Italianate dwellings were located on Emerson Street {part of the
Old Road) and East 5th between K and N Streets. Of these houses, the most
notable are the well-maintained temple-form house at 249 Emerson and the frame
Creek Revival double house at 620-22 East 5th, both of which date from the
1840's.
By the late 1850's, the institutions had been dismantled, and the city lands
were gradually sold to private investors. South Boston's early 19th century
street grid was extended through the city lands, streets were paved and gas-lit,
and in 1855 Independence Square was laid out. Omnibus routes were converted
to horse drawn lines along Broadway and Dorchester Streets by 1858. These
improvements initially stimulated house construction around Lincoln Park, one
block to the south of Independence Square. By the mid-1 860's Lincoln Park
was bordered by frame Italinate dwellings (i.e., 313 Emerson Street), a brick
bow front row (746-754 East 4th) and a pair of substantial double Mansard
houses at 756-758 and 760-762 East 4th.
At the close of the 1860's, Independence Square and the stretch of East Broadway
between L and M Street began to assume appearance of a fashionable residential
quarter. During the mid-60's, several elaborate French Mansard mansions were
built for local well-to-do machinery manufacturers, important examples of these
include the brick residences at 789 East Broadway (Harrison Loring House)
and at 788 (Cray/Dana House), both of which were built on ample corner lots.
21
Speculator/builders like John M. Scott, Adoniram Burrell, and later Daniel W.
Beckler put up dignified row Inouses that faced onto Independence Square.
These include 797-827 East Broadway (1868-71), - a brick bow front row on
the south side, the High Victorian Gothic row at 47-53 M Street, and 58-62 N
Street, a well-crafted Queen Anne row developed in 1887. Particularly
noteworthy is the limestone and marble faced row at 766-774 East Broadway
(1874). During the 1880's, a Queen Anne style Apartment Hotel, The Hotel
Eaton, was built on one of the last large lots in the area at 311 Emerson.
Also of interest is the John A. Hasty - designed frame, double, two-family
house at 46-48 N Street which was built in 1895.
Notable non-residential buildings located in the vicinity of Independence
Square include the 1890 Queen Anne/ Romanesque Revival Pilgrim Hall building
at 732-34 East Broadway which housed various social and service organizations
as well as the office of prominent South Boston builder William T. Easton, and
St. Brigid's Church, a Modern Gothic building, constructed in 1933 and situated
on land occupied between 1864 and c. 1915, by an Episcopal orphanage.
City Point, the area east of 0 Street, has a long development history and was
from 1680 until the early 19th century, the exclusive domain of the Blake
family. The original Blake complex of main house, barn, out-buildings and
orchard was located near the site of the present Samuel Blake House which
was built in 1835 at 927-924R East Broadway (near P Street).
By the 1850's, the South Boston street grid had been extended to the City
Point area. The Blake family began to sell off its land holdings and by mid-
century, a cluster of Greek Revival and Italianate houses lined East 4th and
East 5th Street. Today, Greek Revival houses, e.g., 918-920 and 924 East
4th, rub shoulders with early 20th century triple deckers. Dating from the
1850's, is an outstanding Downingesque Italianate cottage located at 855 East
5th Street.
From ca. 1865 until 1873, commodious, well-crafted Mansard residences were
built virtually on every street east of P from East Broadway south to East 6th.
Notable examples include the double house at 901-903 East Broadway (ca. 1868)
22
and 928 East Broadway, built a year earlier for James Collins, a wholesale
liquor dealer and real estate speculator who was responsible for developing
much of the City Point area during the late 1860's to late '80's. Developed
by Collins in 1884 on lots adjacent to his residence, is the notable Queen
Anne brick row at 936-942 East Broadway which was designed by architect
Patricl< W. Ford.
Prior to the 1890's, landfill development of the Strandway, the waters of
Dorchester Bay touched the southern side of East 6th Street. During the
1870's and '80's, East 6th between 0 and Q Street (later Farragut Road) had
the appearance of a seaside resort and was the location of yacht clubs, piers,
hotels, and a skating rink. The substantial brick mansard house at 866-68 East
6th Street was known during the 1880's as the Atlantic House and apparently
was used as a hotel.
Construction of Marine Park (1883-1895) triggered a triple decker building
boom at "The Point" around the turn-of-the-century. Large lots that had been
carved from the Blake Estate were further subdivided, and handsome triple
deckers often with octagonal bays and classical cornices (e.g., 921-930 East
4th Street) added interest to the residential fabric of the Farragut Road,
East 4th, and East Broadway streetscape.
Telegraph Hill
Much of the district area around Telegraph Hill, was, during the 18th century,
included in the Bird Estate, a large tract of land that stretched from the Old
Road (Emerson Street) across the heights to the flats in the vicinity of today's
East 8th Street. The Bird homestead, almost in the center of the estate was
located near the present-day intersection of H and East 5th Streets. Originally
the twin peaks of Telegraph Hill and the now lowered Mt. Washington (Broadway
Hill), Dorchester Heights was in fact the highest ground in South Boston and
provided strategic locations for fortifications that were instrumental in
breaking the siege of Boston and forcing the evacuation of the British.
23
In 1849, a reservoir for South Boston's water supply was built on Telegraph
Hill soon afterwards, the hill's easterly side was levelled and around 1852,
developed into the landscaped park that remains characteristic of the site
today.
The vicinity of Telegraph Hill began to develop as a residential district by
the 1830's and remaining from this period is the John Hawes Bird House of
ca. 1830 which was built on the lower slope of the heights on East 4th near
Dorchester Street (now 480-482 East 4th). Although houses were scattered
along Dorchester Street, and Greek Revival dwellings and rows were put up
along East 4th and on G Street, near East 4th, at mid-century, the area
immediately surrounding the reservoir and the park remained undeveloped.
Several houses of high architectural quality, however, were constructed
during the 1850's in the Telegraph Hill vicinity - viz: the Greek Revival/-
Italianate residences at 52 and 82 G Street, the Gothic Revival Sears/Woods
House at 146 Dorchester Street, the Italianate Briggs/Hersey House, adjacent
at 142 Dorchester, and the staggered row of early Mansarded houses at
158-162 Dorchester.
During the 1860's and early '70's, a housing boom on Telegraph Hill resulted
in development of the blocks between the west side of Pacific and the east
side of G with Italianate, Gothic Revival, and Mansard houses and rows, many
of which were put up by local builder/developer Benjamin James who lived at
12 Thomas Park for almost 40 years. The south side of the hill with its
panoramic views of the bay, provided locations, during the '60's and '70's,
for substantial residences of rather individualistic design including the Second
Empire Manning House at 689 Thomas Park and the Mansard/Stick Style houses
at 56 and 61. Brick and frame Mansard houses in pairs or in rows account
for much of the development along the north side of Thomas Park, the adjoining
blocks of Mercer, Telegraph, Gates, National, Atlantic, and Pacific Streets.
Later, housing along the park frontage includes brick and frame Queen Anne
rows (e.g., 57-60 Thomas) as well as some nicely designed two-family bungalows.
Institutional and public uses of sites on or near Telegraph Hill include the
Carney Hospital complex, now part of Marion Manor, the South Boston High
School, completed in 1901 and built on the old resevoir site, and the
24
Dorchester Heights Monument, a marble-faced observation tower, put up on
the summit of the Hill in 1900-1902 and providing South Boston with its most
conspicuous architectural landmark.
25
II. METHODOLOGY
General Procedures
The South Boston Preservation Study essentially consisted of three procedures:
field survey, documentary research, and evaluation. The field survey of all
properties within the study area was conducted on foot. Approximately 5,000
structures were visually surveyed. In addition, the style, material, and type
of each building were recorded on a 100-scale, Figure 5 photogrammetiric base
map. The key to this map can be found in Appendix II. The second
procedure involved documentary research using Boston archives, libraries,
Suffolk County Deeds, and relevant respositories, to investigate primary and
secondary sources. The third procedure was evaluation of the entire survey
which resulted in recommendations for preservation activity.
Because of the considerable number of dwellings within the survey area, the
decision was made to record buildings or areas of particular historic and/or
architectural significance using the standard Boston Landmarks Commission
Building Information Form (Appendix I). 244 information forms were
completed. Buildings selected for inclusion in these forms were marked on a
100-scale South Boston map by black dots with accompanying notations of
inventory form numbers.
South Boston was divided into the following sub-areas which were primarily
determined by historic research and topographical divisions: Andrew Square,
South Boston West, South Boston East, Telegraph Hill, (Map II).
Evaluation and Recording
• individual Buildings - Building Information Forms were completed for 244
individual structures, using the following criteria in the selection
process:
26
1. Uniqueness in Soutin Boston, as for example, 57 Thomas Park, 98-100 H
Street, 582i East 3tli Street, 19 Thomas Park, 568 East Fifth Street,
Monks Building, South Boston Savings Bank Building, 9^5 East
Broadway, 484 East 4th Street,
2. Good examples of an architectural style and/or type, as for example,
249 Emerson Street, 52 G Street, 789 East Broadway, 855 East 5th,
788 East Broadway, 21 Linden Street, 545 East Broadway, 585 East
Broadway, 797-827 East Broadway, 375 and 377 West Fourth, L Street
Baths, 206-8 L Street, 1650-1662, 1772-1776, and 1788-1794 Columbia
Road.
3. Association with important national or local events or personalities, as
for example, St. Augustine's Chapel, Francis James House (495 East Broadway)
Dorchester Heights Monument, Briggs/Hersey House (142 Dorchester Street),
Samuel Spinney House (601 East 8th Street).
4. Prominent visual landmarks, as for example, Hawes Unitarian Congregational
Church, now the Albanian Cathedral. Gate of Heaven Church, Dorchester
Heights Monument, Fort Independence, Church of Saint Peter and
Saint Paul, South Boston Municipal Court, South Boston High School,
Marine Park and the Strandway.
27
The buildings selected were next evaluated as to relative architectural and
historical importance using the following six-category system:
I . Highest Significance:
Buildings in Catetory I are considered to have national significance.
* as buildings associated with Boston history , particularly the Colonial
and Revolutionary War periods
* as nationally-known examples of the work of Boston architects, or
* as examples of particular building styles or types which became
prototypes for similar buildings throughout the nation or which are
rare throughout the nation .
All buildings in this category merit designation as Boston Landmarks and
are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Buildings
which fall into Category I are coded on the survey forms with the number (]
II. Major Significance
Buildings in this category are considered to have the highest significance
to the City of Boston, the Commonwealth and the New England Region
* as the city's most outstanding examples of their style or building
type, distinquished for high-architectural quality and high degree
of intactness
* as early or rare examples of the use of a particular style or building
technology in Boston
* as buOdings outstanding in their setting, with particular urban
design value, or
* as buildings of the highest regional or local historical significance.
Although often less well known than buildings in Category I, these
buildings are also considered to meet the criteria for designation as Boston
Landmarks, as well as being potentially ehgible for individual listing in
the National Register of Historic Places. Buildings which fall into Category
are coded on the survey forms with the number (II).
III . Significant
Buildings in Catetory III are considered to be of significance to the City
of Boston
* as fine examples of the work of Boston architects
* as buildings which made an important contribution to the character
of a street or area
28
* as buildings with strong historical associations with major Boston
industries or events, or
* as fine examples of a particular style or building type.
All buildings in Category III falling outside the boundaries of suggested
National Register Districts are considered eligible for individual listing in
the National Register of Historic Places. In some cases, buOdings in
Category III may also meet the criteria for designation as Boston City
Landmarks. Buildings which fall into Category III are coded on the
survey forms with the number (III).
IV . Notable
Buildings in Category IV are considered important to the character of their
particular street, neighborhood, or area
* as an integral part of a visually cohesive streetscape or integral
element within a district
* as buildings with some individual architectural distinction, whether
because of their materials, craftsmanship or detailing
* as the best examples in their area of a particular style or building
type, or
* as buildings with some local historical significance.
Buildings in Category IV are not considered significant enough to be
designated as Boston City Landmarks or to be listed individually on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Buildings which fall into Category IV are coded on the survey forms
with the number (IV).
Minor
Buildings in Category V are of little architectural or historical in interest
but may be considered to make a minor contribution to the streetscape
* as buildings which are compatible with surrounding structures in
scale, style, materials or fenestration patterns, or
* as buildings with some architectural interest or integrity.
Buildings in this category are not considered eligible for designation as
Boston City Landmarks or for individual listing on the National Register
of Historic Places . Buildings which fall into Category V are coded on
the survey forms with the number (V).
VI . Non- Contributing
Buildings in Group VI are considered to be visual intrusions, incompatible
with the surrounding architectural fabric. Buildings in Category VI are
coded on the survey forms with the number (VI).
29
• Districts - Were evaluatea on tiie basis of the distirictiveness of indi-
vidual buildings and cohesiveness of tine streetscape, and in some instances,
the historical significance of the area. Whenever possible, buildings were
grouped into National Register districts rather than singled out for
individual listing (A/iap 111).
Research Procedure - Research was focused on determining date or date range,
architect and/or builder, original property owners and original appearance of
buildings recorded on individual forms, as well as sequence of neighborhood
development and street development pattern. The investigation procedure fol-
lowed these general stages:
1. Field observation and building description.
2. Examination of building permits.
3. Examination of maps, and atlases using the collections at the Boston Public
Library, Boston Athenaeum, and Massachusetts State Library.
4. Examination of Boston directories, as well as histories of South Boston
including Simonds' History of South Boston (1859), Gillespie's Illustrated
History of South Boston (1900), and Toomey and Rankin's History of South
Boston (1901).
5. Deed research at the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds.
6. Examination of local newspapers including the Boston Transcript,
Boston Globe, and the Boston Pilot.
7. Examination of photographs and views in the collections of the Boston
Public Library-Print Department, the Society for the Preservation of New
England Antiquities, and the Bostonian Society.
Photography - Photographs were taken for buildings described on individual
Building Information Forms. These photographs were taken by all three con-
sultants.
30
Information Organization - The 100-scaie map (Building Style/iViaterial /Type)
ano copies of all building information forms will be kept on file at the offices
of the Boston Landmarks Commission and will be available for consultation.
Building information forms are organized in a loose-leaf notebook are further
arranged alphabetically by street address. These Building Information Forms,
which are numbered using a system aaopted for all survey and inventory purposes
in Boston (Appendix III), are also available for study at the Boston Landmarks
Commission. Duplicate building information forms also will be kept on file at
the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Boston Public Library-Art Department,
the South Boston Branch Library, the Bostonian Society, the Boston Athenaeum,
the Library of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities,
and the Library of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
A file on architects, builders, and developers active in South Boston was
organized with information recorded on 3x5 index cards and subsequently
transferred to typed listing arranged alphabetically by name. This list will
be available for consultation at the Landmarks Commission and copies at the
agencies and institutions previously listed.
31
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
As outlined in the Methodology section, the survey results were evaluated for
architectural and historical significance. Based on this evaluation, recom-
mendations for preservation activity were made by the consultants. The recom-
mended activities consist of listings of individual buildings and districts in
the National Register of Historic Places and designation as Landmark or
Architectural Conservation Districts by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
The recommendations of properties and brief descriptions of their architec-
tural characteristics follow.
A. Recommendations for Districts
The recommendations are divided into four parts: those recommended for both
National Register and Landmark Districts, those recommended for both National
Register and Architectural Conservation Districts, those recommended for
National Register Districts, and those recommended for further study. Proposed
districts are shown on Map III.
National Register and Landmark Districts
1. Independence Square Landmark District - (Roughly circumscribed by the
Lee Playground, N Street from 2nd to Emerson Street, (including St. Brigid's
R.C. Church), Lincoln Square, the Hawes Cemetery, 92-108 L Street,
both sides of East Broadway from L to M Streets and M Street from East
Broadway to E 3rd.)
The district contains an unusually rich collection of late 1850's - 1880's
row houses and detached mansions grouped around two parks. Independence
Square is a 6^-acre park on top of Broadway Hill (formerly known as
Brush Tree Hill). Lincoln Park is a small triangular ornamental park
bounded by E 4th and Emerson Streets. The several substantial French
Second Empire Mansions and double houses are singular in type in Boston.
Most notable are the Harrison Loring House and stable (ca. 1864, 789 East
Broadway; a Boston Landmark, 1981) and the Solomon S. Cray estate
33
(1866, 788 E. Broadway). Among the architects represented are,
S.S. Woodcock
(High Victorian Gothic row at 47-53 N St., ca. 1873), William T. Eaton,
(Hotel Eaton, Queen Anne Apartment Hotel at 311 Emerson Street, 1887),
Daniel W, Beckler (Queen Anne brick row at 56-62N Street, 1887) and
John A. Hasty's double Colonial Revival 2-family at 46-48 N Street, 1896.
In addition, this district encompasses the Hawes Cemetery, South
Boston's oldest burial ground founded 1817).
National Register and Architectural Conservation Districts
2. West Fourth and F Streets District (362-396 and 361-403 W. 4th;
92-124 F Street)
Considered eligible as the most intact concentration of mid-1 9th century resi-
dences in the South Boston-West survey area. Because 4th Street provided
the connection to the first South Boston bridge, some of the earliest and most
distinguished residences were built along the street. Numerous good examples
of Greek Revival (e.g., 377, 401, 411), Mansard, (380) and Italianate residences
(392-4) are extant. J
#361, on a prominent site at the corner of E Street, was the home of Henry Homer
Municipal Court crier, and built in 1842 or 1843. #375 was the home by 1866
of Gilbert Wait, provisions dealer at Washington Market who later built "Wait's
Hall" and became a real estate broker. The Greek Revival house at 377 was
built by 1844 when Daniel Safford, blacksmith, sold the property to Charles C.
Conley, housewright. Thomas Blasland, apothecary, purchased the property
in 1865 and made his home here. Captain Jonathan Nickerson's residence was
380 W. 4th by the year 1843. Number 389 had become the residence by 1849
of Horace Smith, at that time in partnership with Richard Williamson selling
dry goods. Smith was employed by the city as an assessor by 1860. The
row at 114-124 F Street, fanciful examples of High Victorian Gothic fashion,
seems to have been built by Gifford and Goodwin, carpenters.
34
3. Mt. Washington District (508-564, 509-535 Broadway, 41-47 H Street,
1-3 H Street Place),
District considered eligible as a pocket of handsomely-designed houses in mix
of styles, located on rising ground along South Boston's Major East-West street,
and including notable and significant examples of Creek Revival, Italianate,
Second Empire and Mansard housing. Located within the Mt. Washington District
at 512-14 Broadway, is the double Greek Revival Monks/Hawes House (1845),
adjacent at 516-18, the brick double Mansard Kenney/Hersey House (1874),
the ca. 1856 flat-fronted Italianate row at 528-536, and the Second Empire
Souther/Gavin House at 546 built in 1868 after designs by Gridley J.F. Bryant.
Opposite, on the south side of Broadway, is the 1872 Samuel J.F. Thayer designed
Hawes Unitarian Congregational Church (now St. George Albanian Orthodox
Cathedral)* and the 1913 Renaissance Revival South Boston Municipal Building -
James E. McLaughlin, architect.
4. Telegraph Hill District (Circumscribed approximately by the north side of
East 4th, the east side of G, the north side of West 8th, the east side
of Gates, and the southerly side of Dorchester Street.)
Telegraph Hill, the most topographically prominent residential area in South
Boston is considered eligible for its inclusion of the Dorchester Heights
Monument** which is located within a landscaped oval plan park laid out in
the early 1850's, and for its surrounding high quality residential development.
Characteristic of the Telegraph Hill District are several of South Boston's most
distinguished examples of residential architecture which date from ca. 1833
through the 1880's and include the late Federal/Greek Revival John Hawes Bird
House at 480-82 East 4th (ca.1830). Greek Revival/ltalianate Harrison Briggs
* Separately recommended for Boston Landmark status.
** Part of Boston National Historical Park and listed in the National
Register.
35
House at 52 C (ca. 1852), the Gothic Revival houses at 21 Linden (ca. 1863)
and 146 Dorchester Street (1859), the substantial Mansarded Walbridge, Cogin,
and Manning residences respectively at 56, 61, and 69 Thomas Park and dating
from the late 1860's through mid-1870's, the 1870's Mansard row houses at
7-9, 13-14, 15-26 Thomas Park, and (ca. 1875) the High Victorian Gothic
Hutchins House at 46. Much of the residential fabric lining the north side of
Thomas Park between the east side of Atlantic Street and the west side of G
and along Atlantic Pacific, Linden and G were put up by influential South
Boston developer and businessman Benjamin James who lived at 12 Thomas Park
for almost 40 years.
Architecturally notable non-residential buildings in the district include the
early 1870's brick High Victorian Gothic female seminary at 484 East 4th, South
Boston High School (1899-1901), Herbert D. Hale, architect, and the 1901 Carney
Hospital Infirmary (now part of Marion Manor) at 4 Old Harbor Street, corner
of Dorchester-Magginnis, Walsh and Sullivan architects.
5. K Street District .
(258-406 and 267-415 K Street; and 675, 680, 681-3, 687 East 4th; 559-561,
562-566, 582, 583-597 East 5th; 2-16 and 1-15 Beckler Avenue; 569, 586-600,
589-599 East 6th; 569, 580-586 East 7th; 593, 595, 604, 606, 607 East 8th;
48-50, and 64 Marine; and 1592, 1596, 1614-20 Columbia Road).
District qualifies as an architecturally impressive and intact north-south
street which is the location of some of South Boston's most notable Mansard
brick rows — several of which were put up by local builder Daniel Beckler.
Examples of particular interest include the pavillion plan block at 283-305 K
which was constructed in 1870-1 and built by Beckler who lived in its central
entry corner house at East 6th; - the (ca. 1871) Mansarded stone-fronted Queen
Anne row at 298-308 which has been attributed to Beckler; - and the bow-fronted
brick Mansard row (ca. 1871) attributed to builder David A. Berry, who lived
down the street at 318 K.
36
Also of importance to the development history of the area are the gable-roofed
frame Creek Revival /Italianate and bracketed houses at the lower end of the
street which are survivor's from the mid-century establishment of the vicinity
as the neighborhood of Bay View. Examples of this earlier housing are 372 K
(1852) and the Samuel Spinney House (1853) at 601 East 8th, corner of K.
The K Street District is also of significance for its inclusion of the landmark
ca. 1805 John Hawes House*** at 569 East 5th, (and 279 K Street). The Hawes
House is a substantial and intact (with italianate alterations) 2i-story, low
hipped roof, central entry, brick. Federal style residence and is reportedly
South Boston's oldest extant building. Other buildings of note along and in
the K Street vicinity include at 675 East 4th, the former Police Station 12
(1874) and on the northeastern corner of East 4th, the Georgian Revival K Street
fire station, designed by Harrison Atwood and built in 1932.
6. City Point District
(Roughly bounded by Farragut Road, E. Third Street, P Street and the
northside of E. 6th)
District has historical associations with the Blakes - one of the first families
to settle on Old Dorchester Neck which became South Boston. Various Blakes
lived at City Point from 1680 to 1866. The Samuel Blake House, a Creek Revival
frame structure, is still extant behind a triple decker at 927-931 R East Broadway.
This tree shaded area adjacent to Marine Park is considered eligible for its
variety of well-preserved 19th and early 20th century structures. Particularly
noteworthy is the well detailed Italianate House of druggist Michael Cleason
(1856) at 855 East 5th Street) the French Second Empire James Collins Mansion
at 928 East Broadway (1867) and a handsome Queen Anne brick row at 934-942 East
Broadway designed in 1884 by Patrick VV. Ford. Also sell represented are
*** Recommended separately for Boston Landmarks and National Register
status.
37
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Classical Revival triple deckers, particularly 921-931 East 4th Street. South
Boston's only substantial Colonial Revival Mansion, built during the early 1900's
for the Falvey Department Store family is still extant at 948 East Broadway.
7. Columbia Park to Castle Island Waterfront District
Considered eligible as district having historical associations with late 19th
century Frederick Law Olmsted - designed municipal park system. Waterfront
district stretches approximately 2i miles from early 19th century Fort
Independence on Castle Island to early 1900's Columbia Park.
Lining the well-landscaped William J. Day Boulevard (constructed as The
Strandway (1893-1896) are four yacht clubs built in 1899 in shingle Colonial
Revival and Queen Anne and Bungalow styles (South Boston Yacht Club, Columbia
Yacht Club, Puritan Canoe Club and The Boston Harbor Yacht Club). In addition,
the Art Deco L Street Bath House built in 1931, has historical associations
with Mayor Michael J. Curley. Field House at Carson Beach, ca. 1910 is an
appealing example of a Tapestry Brick public building.
B. Recommendations for Individual Properties
The recommendations are divided into four parts: (1) those properties listed
in the National Register or designated as Boston Landmarks and recommended
for additional protection, (2) those recommended for both National Register
listing and Boston Landmarks designation, (3) those recommended only for
National Register listing, (4) those recommended for further study. See Map IV
for individual recommendations and Map V for further study recommendations.
National Register Properties or Boston Landmarks Recommended for Additional
Protection
1. Dorchester Heights, Thomas Park - (SB 900) Monument, 1900-2, Peabody
and Stearns, architect.
Part of the Boston National Historical Park and listed in the National Register.
Steeple-like marble monument/observation tower commemorates the evacuation
39
of Boston by the British on March 7, 1776 through the successful efforts of
the Continental Army, local militia, and volunteers in the fortification of the
Heights and the strategic use of cannon brought to South Boston from Fort
Ticonderoga. Qualifies for designation as a Boston Landmark.
2. Fort Independence, Castle island - (SB 907} 1801-9;. John Foncin, engineer.
With alterations of 1836-56 and 1870-1.
Listed in the National Register, and merits Boston Landmarks designation.
Fort Independence is the oldest continuously used military fortification in the
United States. Its antecedents go back to 1634 and the existing granite pen-
tagonal structure dates from 1801-9.
3. Harrison Loring House - 789 East Broadway, c. 1864, (SB 46) a Boston
Landmark and recommended for National Register listing.
Loring built this French-ltalianate brick with brownstone trim mansion house
with a view towards his shipyards down on M Street. The stable is intact,
and the large corner site is surrounded by an unusually robust cast iron fence
set in a brownstone curb.
Recommended for National Register and Boston Landmark Designation
4. St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery - Dorchester Street between West 6th
and Tudor Streets. Chapel built 1819/1833. (SB 509 and 800).
St. Augustine Chapel is considered eligible as an early Gothic Revival religious
building having important association with the development of the Catholic
religion in South Boston, now the dominant religious element. The cemetery,
the first set aside in Boston for Catholic burials, contains graves of numerous
Boston priests and many of the city's Irish immigrants of the 19th century.
Land for the cemetery was purchased by Father Jean-Louis Cheverus, first
Bishop of Boston. The building was constructed in 1819 as a mortuary chapel
for Father Matignon, who had organized the Catholic Church throughout New
40
England with Cheverus. Expanded in 1831, the St. Augustine's Chapel served
as the South Boston's only Catholic Church until 1844 when Ss. Peter and Paul
was built.
5. Church of Ss. Peter and Paul and Parochial Residence - (45 and 55-9 West
Broadway). 1845/1853. Cridley J.F. Bryant, architect. Residence,
1868/1890's. (SB 534 and 149].
Designed by prominent Boston architect Cridley J.F. Bryant, Ss. Peter and
Paul church qualifies as a distinguished example of Cothic Revival architecture.
Related to other buildings of Bryant's design in material, Quincy granite, it
was begun in 1842 and dedicated in 1845. A severe fire in 1848 left only the
exterior walls standing, but the edifice was rebuilt in similar manner and
dedicated again in 1853. It remains today a significant visual and social
landmark for South Boston. The extensive parish of the church included ail
of South Boston plus additional territory until 1863, when Gate of Heaven
Church was opened in the eastern area of the peninsula.
The parochial residence is a large 3-story red brick building with double swell-
bowed facade, sandstone trim, and a porch with a single arched entry. Queen
Anne in its present character. It has been connected with the church at least
since 1868, when it was smaller with only one projecting bay. The alteration
date was between 1891 and 1899.
6. John Hawes House** - 568 East 5th Street (and 279 K Street) Built ca. 1805.
(SB 70)
Qualifies as a substantial, brick, 5-bay, central-entry, 2i-story, low-hipped
roof Federal house remaining substantially intact and representing the most
important surviving example of early nineteenth century architecture in the
study area. In addition, the Hawes House appears to be the earliest extant
building in South Boston. John Hawes, the original owner and occupant of
the house was a major benefactor to the district and donated land to for the
** Also included in recommended NR/ACD districts.
41
location of a burial ground, and through his will of 1813, provided financial
support for South Boston public schools and funds for the maintenance of two
congregational church societies.
7. Hawes Unitarian Congregational Church** - (Now St. George Albanian
Orthodox Cathedral, 523 East Broadway. 1872, Samuel J.F. Thayer, architect
(SB 515)
Considered eligible as an architecturally distinguished Ruskinian Gothic church
which retains much of its original design and colorful detail. The Hawes
Unitarian Congregational Church (also called the Second Hawes Congregational
Church) is a major work of a prominent Boston architect, who lived, at the
time of its construction, nearby at 170 Dorchester Street.
Since 1949, the church has served as the Cathedral and mother church of the
Albanian Orthodox Church in America. The interior remains substantially intact
with alteration for its present use including the installation of iconic murals
and a carved alter screen completed in 1912 by South Boston Albanian artisan
Master Dimitri. Interior designation is also recommended.
Recommended for National Register Only
Residential: 1
^. 249 Emerson Street - 1844-5. (SB 90)
Qualifies as an intact and handsomely detailed Greek Revival residence built
by Milo Furbush, Boston trader. Owned by a succession of grocers during
the 19th century.
Churches:
9. St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church - 225 Dorchester Street, 1870-4,
Patrick C. Keeley, architect. (SB 512)
Qualified as a fine example of High Victorian Gothic religious architect and as
42
a design by a church architect of national reputation, St. Augustine dates
from the period of rapid growth in South Boston's Irish immigrant population
and is a monument of that period of the area's social history.
10. St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church - 212 West Third - 1874, Architect
Patrick C. Keeley. (SB 535)
Considered eligible as a notable Italianate church designed by prominent relig-
ious architect. This building is successor to St. Vincent's which was on
Purchase Street before Fort Hill's levelling in 1872. Both the parish and many
of that neighborhoods' Irish immigrants made South Boston their new home.
Granite block from the earlier church were used in constructing this edifice.
11. Gate of Heaven Church Complex - Gate of Heaven Church (now Parish
Hall and Sunday School) - 608 East nth Street (1862-3). Patrick C. Keeley,
architect; 127 I Street, St. Agnes Convent (1879). Patrick W. Ford,
architect; Gate of Heaven Church, 615 East 4th Street (1892-1912),
George Clough, architect. (SB 520, 530, 522).
Considered eligible as a complex of three handsome religious buildings designed
by locally and nationally prominent architects. The Gate of Heaven Complex
is also significant as a physical document of the growth of the Catholic com-
munity in South Boston during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Originally a mission of Saints Peter and Paul, Gate of Heaven became a separate
parish in 1866 and by the 1890's was the largest parish in the district.
Institutional
12. Capen School - (now St. Peter School) - 518 East 6th Street, corner of I
(1871) Cummings and Sears, architects. (SB 525)
Qualifies as an important and intact example of 1870's Mansard style institutional
architecture and as a public building designed by the well established firm of
Cummings and Sears. The school was named for Lemuel Capen, who was minister
43
of the Hawes Place Congregational Society (1823-36] and one of the early
residents of the nearby Bay View district.
13. Choate Burnham School - (now South Boston Heights Academy, 486 East 3rd
Street (1892-4). Edmund March Wheelwright, architect (SB 518)
Considered eligible as a fine example of the Mediterranean Style which is in-
frequently seen in Boston, as a good representative of small scale late 19th
century schoolhouse architecture, and as the work of a prominent and influ-
ential Boston architect. Designed while he was city architect, Choate Burnham
is only one of a handful of schools that Wheelwright executed in this style.
14. Bigelow School - 350 W. 4th Street. 1901, Charles J. Bateman, architect.
(SB 536)
Qualifies as a good example of a Classical Revival Style public school. Designer
of the structure, Charles J. Bateman was city architect. The same location
was the site of its predecessor, dedicated in 1850, and named for the Honorable
John P. Bigelow, then Mayor of Boston. The school was closed by 1976, and
remains unused in 1982.
15. Oliver Hazard Perry School - 1904. Clough and Wardner, architects.
770 East 8th Street. (SB 526)
Eligible as a notable Classical Revival primary school designed by an estab-
lished Boston architectural firm.
Commercial
16. South Boston Savings Bank Building - 368-372 West Broadway & 325-7 E
Street. (SB 405)
Considered eligible as a handsome example of a Neo Crec commercial building,
this brick block with granite facade on Broadway housed the South Boston
44
Savings Bank and branch of the Public Library by 1872. Alterations to the
structure were carried out in 1871 by the architectural firm of Peabody and
Stearns,
17. Monks Building (366 W. Broadway/328 E Street - 1873. Alexander R.
Estey, architect (SB 404)
Qualifies as an excellent example of High Victorian Gothic commercial design.
Constructed in 1873 to the design of Boston architect Alexander R. Estey, in
1875, it housed Monks & Co., flour and grain dealers, and become the home
of the Mattapan Deposit and Trust Company in 1892.
18. Pilgrim Hall - 732-34 East Broadway. 1890. William T. Eaton, builder.
(SB 401)
Eligible as mixed-use commercial space with meeting hall and as a fine example
of a Queen Anne/ Romanesque Revival Masonry building. Pilgrim Hall housed
social and service clubs, a school, and the office of South Boston builder
William T. Eaton.
19. Bethesda Hall - 403-15 W. Broadway. 1890, Winslow and Wetherell, architects.
(SB 409)
Qualifies as a notable example of Queen Anne commercial architecture. A hand-
some, large 3-story brick structure with terra cotta frieze, it was built for
retail and office space in 1890 for the heirs of Esther Baker. Designed by
the firm of Winslow and Wetherell, the building was constructed by builders
Clark and Lee. Before 1900, Falvey's store was housed here. At the turn of
the century. Murphy's Department Store moved to this location.
Industrial:
20. Boston Beer Company - 249 W. 2nd Street. (SB 700)
Considered eligible as an early surviving manufacturing building in the South
45
Boston area. In 1852, Cox & Co.,'s brewery was on this site, in a smaller
building. The brewery was expanded by 1874 and by 1882 had reached its
present large proportions, as the Boston Beer Brewery.
21. S.A. Woods Machine Company - 27-37, 38 Damrell Street. (SB 701)
Qualifies as a complex of Victorian industrial buildings once part of the
S.A. Woods Machine Company, prominent manufacturers of woodworking machinery.
The company had obtained over 50 patents for such machinery designs by 1900;
their first operations at this site were in 1866, though the extant structures
date from the late 19th century. Number 28 was the main building, which
houses machine shops, pattern shop, and woodworking. Its architectural style
is Panel Brick, while 27-37 is Queen Anne in design. The one-story portion
of 27-37 functioned as a stable and pattern store house, respectively, by 1886.
22. Hersey Manufacturing Company - 314-330 W. Second. (SB 708)
Qualifies as a remaining structure of the Hersey Manufacturing Company, one
of South Boston's important industries in the 19th century which had operations
here until 1960; their products were steam engines, general machinery, machines
for sugar processing, soap manufacture, water meters and pumps. Beginning
operations here with wood frame buildings in 1860, their later structures were
brick, such as this remaining 5-story Victorian industrial building at the cor-
ner of 2nd and E. Its addition on Dresser Street, a steel frame and brick
infill edifice, was built about 1910.
Further Study
The following sites may also be considered for their architectural contributions,
but should not be individually designated if part of a district unless research
indicates greater significance. In-depth research should include title searches
and investigation of private papers, newspaper accounts and other primary
sources. See Map V.
46
1 . Residential
92-94 B Street (SB 1)
A two-story frame Federal double house, one of the few surviving from that
period in South Boston. The property was conveyed from Jacob Pike, house-
wright, to Timothy Abbott, trader, in 1831, and a house was on the site by
1834.
99-101 West 4th (SB 411)
The South Boston Hotel was housed in this building for some years, and it is
one of only a few Federal structures remaining. Alterations over the years,
particularly the stuccoing of the exterior, have damaged the structure's
integrity.
363-5 W. Broadway; 318-324 E Street (SB 150)
Row of brick Federal houses with hipped roof which may date from earlier than
1824, when the property was sold by Bardiner Greene, Esq. to Elijah Harris,
brickmaker.
17 Dixfield Street - (SB 10)
Vernacular, central entry, side-facing gable roofed house on a large lot of
rising land facing Dorchester Bay. 17 Dixfield was owned in the late 1840's
by the estate of West India Goods Merchant David Nickerson. Possibly dated
from 1830's.
27-29 Dexter Street (SB 9)
This 2i-story Greek Revival frame double house was built prior to 1847. Owned
by 1852 by Dexter Wadleigh, builder, and William Sharp, lithographer, it is
the earliest building on the street.
48
10-12 Jenkins (SB 109)
Unusual, large double Creek Revival house which was built prior to 1852.
Owners of the structure by 1874 were Jerome B. Carpenter (a carpenter) and
Mrs. Cordelia B. Davis (wife of Lorenzo D. Davis, carpenter).
161-167 West 2nd - SB 153)
Built by 1852, this is unusual in South Boston as a surviving Greek Revival
row in brick.
368-370 E Street, and 305 W. 2nd (SB 20)
A two-story frame residence with gable and hipped roof, this building was
constructed prior to 1852. It may have originally had a central hall plan, with
a later addition on the north side.
5821 East 8th Street (SB 85)
Built by 1852, this unusual, narrowly proportioned, three-story plus attic,
street-facing, pedimented brick residence remains in a good state of preser-
vation.
495 East Broadway (SB 38)
Originally part of a 4-unit Italianate brick row built in 1860, 495 is the most
intact of the remaining three buildings. James, who apparently put up the
row with his neighbor Howard Clapp, was known at the time of this death as
the last surviving mason to have worked on the Bunker Hill Monument.
190-192 W. 7th Street by 1860 (SB 174)
Notable for its unusual Italianate form of 3-stories with two 4-story towers.
Unusually early multiple-family dwelling, possibly a prototype for the later
triple deckers.
49
866-868 E. Sixth Street ca. 1868 (SB 80)
Second Empire Mansion. Known as Atlantic House during the 1880's.
828-834 E. Fifth Street ca. 1880 (SB 72)
Large High Victorian Gothic commercial-multi-family brick building located on
corner site.
948 East Broadway ca. 1905 (SB 37)
Substantial Colonial derived residential built for Falvey Department Store
family.
65 Farragut Road ca. 1905 (SB 95)
Queen Anne/Colonial Revival triple decker at corner of East Broadway and
Farragut Road facing Marine Park. Has distinctive corner tower and good
detail.
2. Churches:
St. Peter's Lithuanian Church - Flaherty Way, near B Street. (SB 528)
Constructed c. 1900, this Romanesque Revival church, now surrounded by
the D Street housing project, is a rare surviving structure from the time
before the project's construction. By the turn of the century. South Boston
had become a principal area of settlement for the city's Lithuanian immigrants.
3. Institutional:
Benjamin Pope School - 1883, 709 E. Fifth (SB 524).
Vi/ell preserved Queen Anne/Chateausque primary school, architect is C.J. Bateman,
50
4. Industrial:
Storage Facility, V^faiworth Manufacturing Company - 881 East First Street,
c. 1904 (SB 705)
This storage facility was designed by Fehmer and Page for the Walworth Company,
a pipe tool concern established in South Boston in 1847.
603-609 E. First Street - 1915. (SB 706)
Light manufacturing brick structure designed by H.M. Haven and William W.
Crosby for M.F. Cahill's electrical protective device company.
Macallen Company 435-7 Dorchester Avenue, Foundry, and Creenbaum Streets.
(SB 702)
Large, six-story Georgian Revival brick manufacturing building which housed
the Macallen Company by 1910, manufacturers of electric railway materials.
51
BOSTON LANDMARKS COMMISSION Building Information Form Form No. '/oV Area South Boston
366 V. Broadway
ADDRESS 328 E St.
COR.
NAME
present
MAP No. 2 IN/ HE
Monks Building
original
_SUB AREA qnnrh Ro-,fnn-:jpqr
architecture arcnives
DATE 1873 Boston Public Library, Fine Arts De p t
ARCHITECT^
BUILDER
source
Alexander R. Estey
Public Librar-
source
source
OWNER in 1882: R.J. & E.H. Monks, Trs.
original
present
PHOTOGRAPHS SB 5 4/ *& 4/3^82
TYPE (residential") single double row 2-fain. 3-deck ten apt.
TillTl
(^ (non-residential) ) (lOVv\m.^CAcd
NO. OF STORIES (1st to cornice) 3
ROOF gable cup o 1 a
plus attic
dormers
MATERIALS (Frame) clapboards shingles stucco asphalt asbestos alum/vinyl
CLOther^fl)rick^ stone concrete iron/steel/alum.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elaborate 3_J./2 story High Victorian Gothic brick commercial,
building with steeply gabled roof of polychrome slate featuring cross
gables,. Light stone trims the dark brick with stringcourses. and hood
molds. The lancet-arched l/l sash windows feature jig-sawn decoration above
upper saah^ .A long narrow structure in plan, the long E Street facade
erfiibits elaborate dormers, chimneys, and turrets.
EXTERIOR ALTERATION (^"fiino^ moderate drastic sT^pre front now aluminum & glass
CONDITIOJTgoo^ fair poor
NOTEWORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS
LOT AREA
3346
sq. feet
commands prominent corner location
(Map)
SIGNIFICANCE (cont'd on reverse)
An excellent example of High Victorian Gothic
commercial design. Constructed In 1873 to the
design of Boston architect Alexandra R.. Estey,
in 1875 t'.-.s bulldla? housed llonl.s o. C:., fioui-
53
-jn:.
Moved; date if known
Themes (check as many as applicable)
Aboriginal
Agricultural
Architectural
The Arts
Commerce
Communication
Community/
development
Conservation
Education
Exploration/
settlement
Industry
Military
Political
Recreation
Religion
Science/
invention
Social/
humanitarian
Transportation
Significance (include explanation of themes checked above)
and 5rain dealers yfao nlso had Locations at ll'j Er^sc and Ji C^n^z^ss in
Boston. Tna building, on Congress uzs ceslgnec by E^tey as --rell.
In 1892 the Mattapan Deposit and Trust Company was fontiec and by 1900
had its offices in this distinguished building. Richard J. Monks was
a founder and in 1900 Presidaat of the Trust Company and was described
by Gillespie In his History of South Boston as "one of South Boston's
leading capitalists." Richard's father, John P. Monks, had been a
prominent lumber merchant In previous years with yards on First Street.
Caroline M. GUI had sold the property (but apparently not this building)
to R.J. 6e E.H. Monks Trs. In 1873.
Preservation Consideration (accessibility, re-use pc
for public use and enjoyment, protection, utilities,
recommended for National Register designation
Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's
records, early maps, etc.)
Gillespie, Charles B. Illustrated History of South Boston. 1900.
Boston Public Library, Fine Arts Department. Architectural archives.
Atlases: 1874, Hopkins; 1882, Hopkins.
Suffolk Deeds: 1156 303.
54
Color #
APPENDIX II
Colonial
(1-30-1775)
Federal
(1790-1830)
Greek Revival
(1830-1855)
Gothic Revival
(1840-1860)
Italianate
(1845-1885)
High Victorian
Gothic
(1860-1890)
Mansard
(1860-1890)
Stick Style
(1870-1880)
Queen Anne
(1870-1900)
Romanesque
Revival
(1875-1895
Shingle Style
(1880-1900)
Renaissance
Revi val
(1885-1930)
Victorian/ Industrial
Commercial Style
TT885-1905)
Residential
unmarked, single family
2F: two family
3D: triple decker
A: apartment
Gar: garage
Barn: stable or
carriage
Commercial
Rl : retail store
(1-2 stories)
■S*918
!#930
l#931
]#919
]#904
#906
#933
#911
#907
#909
l#913
l#914
#912
Chateauesque/
Norman
(1890-1905)
Beaux Arts
(1890-1915)
Georgian or
Colonial Revival
(1890-1930)
Federal Revival
(1900-1920)
Modern Gothic
(1890-1940)
Jacobethan
(1895-1930)
Classical
Revival
(1895-1930)
Mediterranean/
Mission
(1900-1930)
Bungalow
(1900-1930
Early 20th Century Commercial
Tapestry Brick
(1910-1940)
Art Deco/
Moderne
(1925-1940)
International
Style/ Modern
(1927-
Contemporary
Suburban
l#916
3 #927
#939
#935
f .t'l 'iisri
S#963
]#964
(1940-
Institutional
Ch:
church
Sc:
school
Mp:
municipal
(police.
f i re ,
library,
etc.)
H:
hospital
home
nursi
Cb:
club
Manufacturing
M: manufacturing
W: warehouse
55
Building Materials
IF) brick
(s) stone
(so) stucco
(m) metal
(co) concrete
(gl) glass
VAC: vacant
//// drastically
APPENDIX III
Historic Inventory Map Coding System - Boston
City is divided into the following districts, note abbreviations.
A capital letter or pair will always precede a number for coding.
EB
East Boston
SB
C
Charlestown
JP
N/W
North End/Waterfront
R
BB
Back Bay
D
BH
Beacon Hill
RD
SC
Bay Village/Chinatown
WR
FK
Fenway/Kenmore
HP
AB
Allston/Brighton
GC
MH
Mission Hill
WE
SE
South End
CBO
South Boston
Jamaica Plain
Roxbury
Dorchester
Rosiindaie
West Roxbury
Hyde Park
Government Center/North Station
West End
Central Business District
2. Numerical system is divided into the following use categories.
(MHC code is the underlying structure here with additional break-
downs to deal with the large number of structures in the City).
Buildings 1-799
Further broken down into:
Residential 1-399
(including all types of residential structures, apartments,
out buildings, such as carriage houses, barns, stables,
and garages)
Commercial 400-499
(including retail, office, bank, gas stations, fast food,
auto repair, super markets, shopping center, hotel, theatre,
combined commercial/residential)
Institutional 500-699
(including church, school, municipal, hospital, nursing
home, club, R.R. station, civic, stadium)
Manufacturing 700-799
including manufacturing, lofts, factory warehouse, mill
Cemetary 800-899
Structures, Parks, Monuments, Markers 900-999
(including bridge, canal, dam, tunnel, road/path, windmill,
fort, standpipe, marker/tablet, statue, fountain, milestone,
parks, benches, training fields, clocks)
Streetscapes 1000-X
3. Example of how to use system
D159 - reflects a residential structure in Dorchester
H900 - reflects a bridge in Hyde Park
H371 - reflects a commercial structure in Hyde Park 57
EB
58
CITY OF BOSTON
KEVIN H. WHITE, MAYOR
BOSTON LANDMARKS COMMISSION
MEMBERS
Pauline Chase Harrell,
Lawrence A. Bianchi
Libby Blank
Romas A. Brickus
Susan S. Davis
Thomas J. Hynes, Jr.
Martha L. Rothman
Henry A. Wood
Chairwoman
ALTERNATES
Roger P. Lang, Vice Chairman
Virginia Aldrich
Stanford O. Anderson
John F. Cooke
Joan E. Goody
Rosalind E. Gorin
Imre Halasz
Luix Overbea
Carl A. Zellner
Marcia Myers, Executive Director
Judith B. McDonough, Survey Director
Barbara E. Clancy, Administrative Assistant
Eugenie Beal, Director, Environment Department
BOSTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Robert L. Farrell, Chairman
Joseph J. Walsh, Vice Chairman
James K. Flaherty, Treasurer
Clarence J. Jones, Member
William A. McDermott, Jr., Member
Kane Simonian, Secretary
Robert J. Ryan, Director
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BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
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3 9999 06315 572 3
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