in this issue - Boston Preservation Alliance

Volume 28, Number 1
Spring 2012
Old City Hall
45 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
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Sarah D. Kelly
06Filene’s and Ferdinands:
Hope at Last
10Saying Goodbye to our
Throwaway Culture:
Green Preservation in the
Post-Recession Years
12Alliance Honored with
National Preservation Award
As we cautiously look for signs of recovery, the prospect of new construction is beginning to
give the city hope again. But what will this mean for Boston’s historic built environment? Did
the economic crisis inspire new and creative proposals that will more likely lead to the rehabilitation of existing buildings instead of throwing them away? Or is Boston now so hungry for new
development that projects will be pushed forward at all costs, even if that means the destruction
of significant historic fabric?
It is our belief at the Alliance that we have an important opportunity now to reflect on what
we have learned from the recession. Combined, the topics in this issue of the AllianceLetter
offer varied perspectives on Boston’s economic downturn, and provide food for thought as we
consider—and hope for—its recovery. ❧
02Perspectives on the
Recession and Recovery
When the national economy took a nosedive in late 2008, development in Boston
seemed to freeze overnight.
in this issue
Letter from the Executive Director
The Boston Preservation Alliance was one several recipients from Boston honored with
a Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mayor
Thomas M. Menino joined representatives from the Alliance and Boston’s historic preservation community, Emerson College, and Suffolk University in Buffalo, New York to
accept the esteemed award for the restoration of Boston’s Washington Street theaters.
The Boston Opera House, Paramount and Modern theaters were lavish palaces when
they first opened in the early 20th century, but by the 1970s they had fallen into disrepair. In 1995 the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the theaters on its list
of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places. Mayor Menino and city agencies developed a
network of public-private partnerships to help restore the buildings and revitalize the
neighborhood. Emerson College now operates the Paramount Theater while Suffolk
University has restored the Modern Theatre, and the Boston Opera House is one of the
busiest theaters in New England.
Co-recipients were the Boston Landmarks Commission, The Boston Opera House,
Boston Parks and Recreation, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Elkus-Manfredi
Architects, Emerson College, and Suffolk University. ❧
Boston Honored with
National Preservation Award
Mayor Menino and representatives from Boston receive a National Preservation Award
from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s President, Stephanie Meeks (far right)
Photo courtesy of Joe Cascio
Rendering of the proposed Dudley Municipal Building (under design)
Image courtesy of the City of Boston’s Public Facilities Department
Perspectives on the
AllianceLetter
Volume 28, Number 1
Spring 2012
2012 Board of Directors
Peter Roth, Chair
Susan Park, President
Drew Leff, Treasurer
Rita Walsh, Secretary
Kay Flynn, Vice Chair
Roger Tackeff, Vice Chair
Jean Abouhamad
W. Lewis Barlow, IV., FAIA
William G. Barry
Richard Bertman, FAIA
Frances Duffly
Minxie Fannin
Gill Fishman
Leigh Freudenheim
Alden Gifford
Peter Goedecke
Carl Jay
Susie Kim
Mimi Love
Dara Obbard
Tim Pattison
Diana Pisciotta
Jonathan Seward
Catharine Sullivan
Robert Thomas
Richard Wills, AIA
Andrew Zelermyer
Editor
Sarah D. Kelly, Executive Director
Assistant Editor
Caitlin Corkins
Copy Editor
Interviews with Jon Sargent
Since 2008, Boston has witnessed enormous changes in the construction
and development industry. Numerous projects have been forced to adapt —
in design, program, and funding — to survive the challenging economic
environment. I spoke with five experts, each with different expertise, to
gather their perspectives on how the recession has impacted this industry
and more specifically, historic preservation.
Jon Sargent works in marketing and business development for
Consigli Construction and is currently a member of the Alliance’s Young Advisors Board.
Formerly the Executive Director and Secretary of the Boston
Redevelopment Authority, Harry Collings has had a hand in
planning and development within the city of Boston for decades. Alongside Mayor Menino, Harry played a vital role in
driving several key historic preservation projects in the city.
Matthew Consigli currently serves as Vice President of Consigli
Construction, a Milford-based construction management
company with extensive historic restoration and adaptive
reuse experience. Matthew has over 25 years of industry experience and is a member of the Boston Preservation Alliance.
With over 40 years of experience in real estate planning and
development, Drew Leff has been a part of numerous adaptive
re-use projects involving historic properties in and around
Boston. Drew currently serves on Historic Boston Incorporated’s Board of Directors and on the Board of the Boston
Preservation Alliance as Treasurer.
Frances Duffly
Peter Roth has a wealth of experience in community developThis newsletter is published by the
Boston Preservation Alliance, Inc.
45 School Street
Boston, MA, 02108
617. 367.2458
www.bostonpreservation.org
The opinions expressed by the contributors
are not necessarily those of the Alliance. Those
interested in reprinting articles must obtain
written permission from the editor.
© Copyright, Boston Preservation Alliance.
Receipt of this newsletter is a privilege of
organizational, individual, and affiliate
membership in the Alliance.
ment, housing and adaptive re-use and is the President of
New Atlantic Development, a real estate company dedicated
to the creation and preservation of vibrant and diverse communities. He teaches in the Master’s degree program in Real
Estate Development at MIT and is the chair of the Boston
Preservation Alliance.
Chris Scoville has extensive experience with historic restora-
tion and adaptive re-use projects as the former Vice President
of Community Development Lending at Eastern Bank. He is
currently active with the Boston Preservation Alliance, serving as a member of the Young Advisors group.
Take history. The Scots just published a list
of 10,000 historic sites, dating back to the
Neolithic that may disappear as the oceans
rise. A one-foot rise in sea level, and the
Washington Mall could flood regularly.
But it goes deeper than that. Our sense
of the people who came before us derives
in part from the fact that we share the
same world. The historic buildings of New
England have steep roofs because they
needed to shed snow—in a world without
snow we’d never be able to feel the deep
connection to their world. We won’t be
able to farm in the places we used to farm,
or fish in the places we used to fish—even
if we survive, we’ll be moored on a new,
presumably artificial, island with no real
link to the past. (Mother Jones, Assignment 2020 Project)
According to McKibben, if our environment
is destroyed, our historic places lose their
meaning. If the fundamental natural features
of places that have shaped the built environment are no longer recognizable to us, we
will cease to be able to understand or appreciate reasons why they were built and the
inspiration for their design. His doomsday
prophesy about our natural environment is
compounded by the terrifying notion that
the physical spaces that embody our history
as human beings are equally at stake.
McKibben’s call to action resonates for
another reason. Implicit in his remarks are
a set of values that have been gaining significant traction since the economic recession took hold of the country just over three
years ago. They are the values of a society
that has learned the meaning of scarcity—
environmental and economic.
When the recession hit like a Mack truck
slamming into the construction sector,
developers were left just trying to hold on.
They needed to find creative ways to make
their projects work, and often that meant
cutting the costs associated with preservation and greening. Many buildings originally planned for retention were deemed
too expensive to hold on to. Modifications
to reduce the environmental impact of projects were also cut in order to save money.
In these ways, the recession threatened to
propel us back to a time where building new
with cheaper materials was the preferred
way to get projects done.
But as project managers were scrambling, something else was starting to
shift amongst the American public.
Toxic mortgages led to foreclosures at an
unprecedented scale, snatching the homes
from hundreds of thousands of people who
could no longer afford their payments. The
meltdown of Wall Street and the financial
service industry eroded not only the financing for development projects, but the general population’s trust in their ethics or the
government’s ability to regulate it fairly and
effectively. Skyrocketing unemployment
required many individuals and families
to cut back on their daily expenses and, in
many cases, sacrifice long-term financial
goals—contributions to the 401K or savings
for the kids’ college fund—in order to put
food on the table today.
As Americans have struggled to retain our
homes, regain trust in our financial institu-
of the late-2000s, the Generation X-ers and
Millennials are likely to follow suit.
But somehow, this time, with the recession hitting just as the severity of our
environmental problems have come into
full focus, it seems that the shift to a society
in which we see our buildings as long-term
resources may very well be permanent. This
time, even when banks and other institutions are willing to finance new development projects again, there may be a public
mandate for developers to re-use existing
buildings, repair whenever possible rather
than replace, and that, when new materials are used, they choose those that are the
most durable. This time, the public’s mental
shift to frugality may mean that the longstanding principles of historic preservation
will resonate more broadly and for longer.
A sustainable world values stewardship, repairability,
and durability because a sustainable world recognizes
that every new object has substantial but hidden
environmental costs.
tions, and acquire gainful employment, we
have grown more reserved in how we spend
money. We are increasingly likely to make do
with what we already have. By late 2011, four
out of five Americans said they were more
frugal than they were before the recession
hit. (“How Frugal Became the New Normal,”
Time, September 2011)
The recession has therefore made Americans feel the adverse impacts of the throwaway culture that Carroon identifies all the
more acutely. There is growing evidence
that the same attitudes that are inspiring
individuals to mend their shoes rather than
buy a new pair, or to trade in their SUV
for a compact hybrid car, are also going to
inspire them to think differently about the
value of sustainable preservation and re-use
of existing historic buildings.
In the past, recessions have often been
followed by the pendulum of preference
swinging back from frugality to greater materialism and consumerism. One needs only
to consider the post-World War II housing
boom to see how the generation that grew
up during the Great Depression later began
purchasing new homes in suburban areas at
a faster rate than ever before. We could predict that as we emerge from the recession
Donovan Rypkema has long championed
the notion that preservation and economic
sustainability go hand in hand. In 2007, as
the economy was beginning its downward
trend, Rypkema spoke at the Traditional
Building Exhibition and Conference in Boston, highlighting the role of preservation in
creating an economically and environmentally sustainable landscape:
What is the whole purpose of the concept
of sustainable development? It is to keep
that which is important, which is valuable,
which is significant. The very definition of
sustainable development is the “...ability
to meet our own needs without prejudicing
the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.” We need to use our cities,
our cultural resources, and our memories
in such a way that they are available for
future generations to use as well. Historic
preservation makes cities viable, makes cities livable, makes cities equitable.
The words have long rung true, but with
the coalescence of today’s economic and
environmental circumstances, they are
more likely than ever to reverberate and
to amplify. ❧
11
bottles. Current economic structure and
cultural attitudes support new over old
replacement of repair. A sustainable approach takes an entirely different tack.
A sustainable world values stewardship,
repairability, and durability because a
sustainable world recognizes that every
new object has substantial but hidden
environmental costs, including health
impacts, that may be irreversible.
The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse, which was renovated and “greened”
by Goody Clancy
Photo courtesy of Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.
Saying Goodbye to Our Throwaway Culture:
Green Preservation in the Post-Recession Years
By Sarah D. Kelly
Over the past decade, perhaps no idea has been more dominant in the
historic preservation movement than the notion that preservation and
sustainability go hand in hand. Jean Carroon’s must-read book for anyone
interested in this intersection, Sustainable Preservation: Greening Existing
Buildings lays out the underlying principles that have brought preservation
and sustainability together over the past decade.
Caroon argues:
No description of a sustainable world can avoid addressing the completely unsustainable
way in which “developed” countries carelessly use and dispose of materials. Throwaway
cultural norms apply as directly to buildings and their components as they do to plastic
10
Caroon’s thinking draws from similar ideas
that have grown and evolved over the past
decade. She points to William McDonough
and Michael Braungart’s book, Cradle to
Cradle, which in 2002 put forth “a manifesto calling for the transformation of human
industry through ecologically intelligent
design.” McDonough and Braungart sought
a less wasteful society in which welldesigned products, from sofas to houses,
are built to last. Their work has been widely
interpreted as an implicit endorsement
of a more preservation-oriented culture.
Complimenting this concept, in the past ten
years, smart growth principles have come to
dominate the most progressive thinking in
city planning and policy-making; existing,
dense, historic communities, with access to
public transit, have been consistently held
up as the ideal archetypal neighborhood.
Likewise, the assessment of buildings in
terms of their life cycle (the environmental
and cost impacts of materials over time),
and their carbon footprint (the extent to
which they produce carbon dioxide), has
further intertwined preservation and green.
As climate change science produces irrefutable evidence of the rapid pace at which
humans are destroying the fragile balance of
our natural environment, the urgency to link
environmental and preservation causes has
intensified. Bill McKibben, who in 1989 authored the seminal work The End of Nature,
the first book for the general public about
the threat of climate change, addressed the
audience at National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference as its keynote
speaker in 2009. Summarizing his comments
in an article, McKibben wrote:
We need to grasp that everything is threatened by climate change. Not just nature
preserves, not just ski areas, not just poor
people who depend on glaciers for their
water. But everything we take for granted
about the world.
Recession and Recovery
How would you characterize the impact of
the recession, both in terms of new development and historic preservation projects
across the city?
DL (Drew Leff) The impact of the recession
has been enormous. Many projects
that were moving forward with great
momentum have been affected. The
most dramatic example, and the poster
child for the recession, would be the
Filene’s project, which was temporarily
abandoned. Many other projects were
set aside, or slowed. I would say for
most projects, clients paused to assess
where they were, re-evaluated their
needs, and identified ways to accomplish their goals with fewer resources.
CS (Chris Scoville) A lot of the mega projects underway before the recession were
pretty ambitious and seemed to assume
a trajectory of economic growth that
was unsustainable. They were impacted
the most. Projects that solely involved
the restoration and reuse of historic
buildings fared far better and kept
moving forward. I don’t think that’s
surprising—with preservation projects
the scale tends to be smaller and the
goals are more achievable.
MC (Matthew Consigli) Many of the
educational institutions, in particular
those with historic facilities that require significant maintenance and upkeep, were impacted the most because
when dollars are tight, maintenance
tends to be one of the first things to
go. This is a major concern to these
institutions because if left unfunded
for too long, the financial impact at a
later date could be substantial
What are some specific examples of projects
where the recession altered or influenced
how the projects were handled?
PR (Peter Roth) In the case of the Atlantic
Wharf project, the recession inspired
new ways of thinking about how to attract lease tenants. Rather than just go
Atlantic Wharf
Photo courtesy of CBT Architects
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3
company continued to expand and by the
early 1970’s, the store included three additional buildings, an existing 1905 building
by Peters and Rice for the Jones, McDuffee
and Stratton Company, a large wholesaler
lenges, there is cause to believe that both
projects will prove to be among the most
successful development that Boston has
seen in decades. First of all, both are led by
entities that care about Boston. The City’s
Introducing
AllianceViews
When the economy collapsed in late 2008, the project’s
financing fell through, and construction suddenly stopped.
An empty hole where the 1951 and 1973 buildings once
stood remained a visible symbol of the downturn.
Rendering of Hostelling International’s new Boston Hostel
Image courtesy of Bergmeyer Associates, Architects
to the companies that were in B and C
quality space and try to convince them
to upgrade, a tough sell in a down market, the developers (Boston Properties)
went out to the suburbs and talked to
technology companies. It was a great
way of thinking outside the box to tenant the historic part of the project.
CS The rehabilitation and repositioning of a
former school building in Oak Square in
Brighton is a great example. This 30,000
sq. ft. building was vacant and languishing. A group of people in the neighborhood took action to find financing
for a new community health center
and daycare center within the structure. The original plan didn’t include
financing with historic tax credits, but
due to the local economic conditions,
they weren’t going to be able to secure
adequate financing. After connecting
them to Historic Boston Incorporated,
who helped them work on a historic tax
4
credit allocation, the group was able to
get several thousand dollars in equity
for the project. I’m convinced that
this building would still be empty if it
weren’t for tax credits.
MC Some of the difficult decisions that
facilities managers, owners, and clients
have had to make in the last few years
have revolved around choosing what
can be done within a limited budget.
Of course, we would like to do a 100%
restoration on each preservation
project, but in times like these, when
cost-cutting is essential, we’ve had to
help clients prioritize and make some
hard decisions.
What are some of the major changes you
saw in terms of how projects were funded?
HC (Harry Collings) Three theater restorations illustrate how the recession
has altered projects from a financing
perspective. When the Opera House
was restored, it was privately funded
and turned into a profit-making center.
That was before the recession. Now,
with the lack of capital, that type of
financing isn’t readily available for
projects like large-scale theater restorations. Still, Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre and Emerson’s Paramount
Theatre were restored during the recession. That is because the economy in
Boston is different than it is anywhere
else in the country. We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve had continual, albeit
slower, growth. We haven’t hit the deep
slumps experienced by many other
cities across America. Our institutions,
colleges, and universities have continued to grow and have maintained their
ability to raise money, making those
theater restorations possible.
DL Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
and new markets tax credits have
of ceramics and glass; a 1951 loading dock
and service addition; and a 1973 addition
designed by Sumner Schein.
In 2005, Macy’s absorbed Filene’s and the
Downtown Crossing store closed. Then in
2008, the Vornado Realty Trust of New York
purchased the buildings with the intention
of building a $700 million redevelopment
project. The ambitious plan included a
39-story tower with a hotel, restaurant, office
space, condos, retail space, and a park. The
1951 and 1973 additions were demolished,
while the Daniel Burnham building and the
façade of the 1905 Peters and Rice building
were retained and protected with Boston
Landmark designation.
When the economy collapsed in late
2008, the project’s financing fell through,
and construction suddenly stopped. An
empty hole where the 1951 and 1973 buildings once stood remained a visible symbol
of the downturn. Over the next several
years, debates raged over who was to blame
for the lack of progress. In February 2012 a
new hope emerged. Millennium Partners
announced that they will take over the
project and build a new, $500 million tower,
which will contain office, residential space,
shops, and restaurants.
Finding Common Cause for Hope
The anticipated redevelopment projects at
Dudley Square and Filene’s are separate and
distinct. One is highly visible in downtown
and the other is at the core of Roxbury. One
will be developed privately and the other
is a city government initiative. One will
literally reach to great heights and the other
will be constructed as a lower-scale, multifaceted complex.
But as plans evolve, it is not hard to find a
meaningful symmetry—and synergy—between the projects. In spite of many chal-
Dudley Square development will be a showpiece for good government and the current
administration’s priority on improving
education. Likewise, Millennium Partners,
developers of the Ritz-Carlton, Boston
Common and Hayward Place have a clear
stake in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood. Their previous projects proved
an ability to build sensitively in historic
contexts. They also give back. With the Ritz
development, they financed the restoration
of the Paramount Theatre’s marquee, and
made a financial commitment to support
maintenance of a notoriously problematic
corner of the Boston Common.
A second similarity between these
projects is how they have benefitted from
public input. They have been extensively
vetted, debated, and deliberated over various iterations through the years. This will
not be forgotten as the high profile nature
of both projects will encourage the City and
Millennium to integrate the public’s ideas,
from the need to commemorate the elevated
train that once ran through the project site
in Dudley Square, to the desire to use historically compatible materials in the Filene’s
building’s new tower.
Finally, in both cases, public expectations are high. In Dudley Square, the hope
of many in the Roxbury community, which
has suffered from disconnection from city
services for decades, rests on the future
of this site. Simultaneously the Filene’s
project, which has been the most covered
real estate story in the city, has spurred
countless conversations, and is a favorite
subject of academic design competitions,
has the potential for catalyzing change in
downtown. Thus both projects are symbols
of their communities and their success will
signify a long-anticipated return to vitality
and prosperity. ❧
The Alliance’s executive
director, Sarah D. Kelly,
has launched a new blog,
AllianceViews, which is
accessible from our website at
www.bostonpreservation.org.
The blog aims to reach
beyond the city’s traditional
historic preservation
community, especially to
connect to a younger and
more diverse audience. In
so doing, the Alliance hopes
to raise awareness about
its work on preservation
issues in the city, but also to
challenge assumptions about
historic preservation and
what it means for Boston.
Timely updates on the
Alliance’s current advocacy
and programs can also be
found in the AllianceFlash,
our monthly email newsletter.
Join as a member at
www.bostonpreservation.org
to subscribe!
9
played a big role. We’ve got one project,
Hostelling International on Stuart
Street, that has been able to go forward
because we were able to get a significant portion of our financing covered
by tax credits. The tax credits have
been an important tool that people
have used in this difficult financial
environment. We really have two problems: one is lack of tenants for certain
kinds of projects (such as office and
retail); the other is being able to get
financing with reasonable terms that
people can afford. While it’s harder
to qualify for loans, the good news is
that interest rates are down which has
helped make projects more feasible.
Are there things that could be seen as advantages that have come out of the recession?
Daniel Burnham’s Filene’s Store
Photo courtesy of the Boston Preservation Alliance
Filene’s: Past, Present, Future
The Filene’s Building was designed by Daniel H. Burnham, a world-renowned architect and planner in 1912 in the Beaux Arts
Style, with a highly decorative terra cottaclad façade facing Washington and Summer
streets. Long a prominent monument in the
bustling city center of downtown Boston, it
was vividly described in a September 1, 1912
Boston Globe article:
Rising 125 feet above the pave line …the
building has a peculiar effect of dignity
and orderly beauty. The motif is drawn
from the Italian Renaissance, and the application of architectural ideas taken from
a period of great commercial growth seems
8
singularly suited to the interpretation of
modern business ideals.
Designed to house the William Filene and
Sons’ Department Store, better known as
Filene’s, it served this function from 1912
until 2007.
The story behind this Boston business
is an interesting one. William Filene, a
Jewish immigrant from Germany, came to
the United States in 1848 and founded W.
Filene & Co., Tailors and Drapers, only a
few blocks away from the Filene’s building.
The business underwent several successful
expansions, specializing in ready-to-wear
apparel and accessories for women in an
era of custom-made clothing, and eventu-
ally expanding into men’s and children’s
clothes. In addition to retail innovations,
William Filene was a pioneer in employer/
employee relations. He consulted his employees on company matters and made sure
they had respectable working conditions
with ample space to rest and eat.
This tradition was carried on by his
sons Edward and Lincoln, who took over
the business in 1890. They established the
Filene Cooperative Association (FCA) in
1899, which initiated a healthcare plan
for Filene’s employees, further improved
working conditions, and allowed members
to become shareholders. In 1912, the Filene
sons moved their expanding store into their
own building, today’s Filene’s Building. The
MC Speaking as a construction manager,
it’s been a much more competitive
landscape for our business during the
course of the last couple of years. As a
result, we’ve had to approach things a
little differently, get a little more creative, and be a little more strategic. For
example, we’ve provided alternative
payment terms for clients, and assisted
in their fundraising initiatives. We’ve
partnered with subcontractors and
vendors in unique ways to ensure we
get through this rough time together.
And we’ve aggressively pursued specific project opportunities that would result in keeping our employees working.
Although it’s been a difficult economic
climate, hopefully all stakeholders have
been able to extract something positive
out of this recession.
PR The rate of construction activity
slowed during the recession, which
meant less activity, making it easier
to stay on top of what was happening
from a historic preservation standpoint. There are fewer projects to
monitor and worry about. Another
positive is that with the decreased
availability of financing, people are
figuring out how to be creative and
use resources that are associated
with higher quality preservation
work. With fewer banks in the game,
people are motivated to get creative,
and one way to do this is to advocate
for listing buildings on the National
Register of Historic Places so that you
have access to tax credits for certified
historic rehabs.
CS There were a lot of ambitious proposals
before the recession, which would have
changed the character of Boston—
some for the better, some not for the
better. The recession gave us breathing
room to look at the projects that were
less beneficial to historic buildings that
were not happening and see if they
could be approached differently.
Any additional thoughts?
HC I think that Boston has been very fortunate in that the medical, academic,
tourism and financial institutions that
exist here have kept the city strong.
Boston has a tremendous resource in
its well-educated and talented work
force. The other thing that’s so important is Boston’s attitude towards its
heritage. People love this city because
of the history and we are fortunate
to have organizations that strive to
continue that goal of preservation.
CS For developers, what I’ve always sensed
about Boston is that if you’re going to
do business in the city, you’re going to
be held to a higher standard than other
places. You can get away with things
elsewhere that you just can’t get away
with here. That is because preservation is in our blood and preserving our
cultural heritage is largely expressed
architecturally. We value our buildings
and our streetscapes and the unique
sense of place they provide. You know
you are in Boston when you are downtown. It’s like no other city. And that
determination to preserve it is never
going to go away, regardless of how
good or bad the economy is.
PR In the current economy there’s tremendous pressure on public agencies to get
projects moving forward. However,
we must not lower our standards out
of desperation for economic activity.
This city is a tourist destination and a
place for companies to start and grow,
largely because of the quality of the
built environment here. And it’s why
Boston has higher property values than
a city like Las Vegas, which does not
have the historic fabric that we have.
We have to recognize that people like
to be in a place where there is a rich
physical culture, which is derived from
historic buildings and landscapes. ❧
Our Lady of the Presentation School in Brighton’s Oak Square
Photo courtesy of Historic Boston Incorporated
5
Filene’s and Ferdinands: Hope at Last
By Sonja Vitow, with research assistance from James Kupfer
A rich history of success and abundance marred by later years of neglect:
that is the story of two historic buildings in Boston, one in the heart of
bustling Downtown Crossing and the other at the core of Roxbury’s Dudley Square neighborhood. In 2012, both sites will undergo redevelopment
aimed at restoring them to prospering urban centers.
In Roxbury, the historic Ferdinand Building
will be integrated into the Dudley Municipal Building, a 152,000 sq. ft. complex that
will house Boston’s School Department as
well as ground floor retail space. Daniel
Burnham’s iconic Filene’s building in
Downtown Crossing will also soon be revived, as Millennium Partners constructs a
skyscraper on par with the tallest buildings
in the city. As these projects move forward,
they offer important lessons about disinvestment, hard times, and Boston’s capacity
for reinvention.
The Ferdinand Blue Store:
Past, Present, Future
During the early twentieth century, Dudley
Square was the commercial hub of Roxbury
and at its center was the Ferdinand Blue
Store. Designed by John Lyman Faxon in
1895, the five-story Baroque Revival structure is composed of limestone, terra cotta,
decorative brick, and granite. A popular
department store specializing in furniture,
carpets, stoves, bedding, and house wares,
Ferdinand’s was once advertised as the
“Largest Home Furnishing Establishment
in the US,” and attracted a vast clientele.
Situated at the prominent intersection of
Washington and Warren streets, it is still
the gateway to the neighborhood.
Ferdinand’s thrived for decades before
closing and falling into a state of decline.
Successive efforts to redevelop the site
were aborted, as financing proved elusive.
In 2004, when yet another redevelopment
effort fell through, Mayor Menino stepped
direction. Unfortunately it was only a few
months later that the economy began to
falter, and the project stalled.
A hopeful sign for the city’s economy,
in early March 2012 Boston celebrated a
groundbreaking for the first phase of the
Mecanoo Architecten, a firm based in the Netherlands,
will work with local architects Sasaki Associates Inc. of
Watertown to design the project, a redevelopment that
promises to re-knit and rejuvenate the neighborhood.
in and the City of Boston purchased the
property for $6.5 million.
The following year the City demolished
the Guscott Building, an 8-story structure
connected to the Ferdinand Building. In
June 2008 the Mayor reiterated his promise
of a development project that would be “a
catalyst for Dudley redevelopment.” He
hoped to bring the City’s School Department to Dudley Square, and to build a
state-of-the art facility to house its many activities. Menino formed the Dudley Vision
Advisory Task Force, a group of prominent
Roxbury business owners, local leaders,
and residents, to help decide the project’s
revived project. A $115 million facility is
planned that includes a new building and
renovation of the Ferdinand Building. (The
façades of two other historic buildings, the
Curtis Block and Waterman Building, will
also be incorporated.) Mecanoo Architecten, a firm based in the Netherlands, will
work with local architects Sasaki Associates
Inc. of Watertown to design the project, a
redevelopment that promises to re-knit and
rejuvenate the neighborhood, housing 500
staff members and new retail space, and
integrating public areas for art exhibits and
historic interpretation.
Opposite Page: The site of the planned Dudley Municipal Building
Photo courtesy of the Boston Preservation Alliance
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