Back Streets, Oh Boy

From Dave Brigham:

Boston's South End is a hot market right now, with developers working on or proposing large new projects all across the neighborhood, as I alluded to in a recent post (see February 23, 2019, "Exchanging Flowers for Life Science"). While some of these projects involve rehabbing existing warehouse and factory buildings, others call for demolition and replacement with taller structures.

City officials have been surprised by some of this action. “We didn’t think we would see so much development here,” said Marie Mercurio of the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) in this 2018 article from the Boston Sun. She was referring to the Harrison-Albany Corridor, which "is bounded by the Massachusetts Turnpike to the east, Albany Street/Southeast Expressway/Massachusetts Avenue Connector to the south; generally Massachusetts Avenue to the west; and generally Washington Street/Harrison Avenue to the north," per the BPDA's Harrison-Albany Corridor web site.

From 2009 to 2012 the BPDA worked with various groups in the South End -- property owners, business owners, residents, institutions -- to develop a strategic plan for the corridor. Four sub-areas were created, along with draft vision statements for each, per the BPDA web site. Then the group developed an open space plan, analyzed existing and future land uses, studied transportation and infrastructure, envisioned potential development scenarios, identified economic development potential, and developed an implementation plan that included recommendations for new zoning text and map amendments. The plan was adopted and spurred various developments and future projects.

I have to say I was shocked at how much development was going on in the Back Streets area of the South End. I'd never stepped foot in this section of Boston before, and I immediately wished I had done so much, much sooner in my nearly three decades of living in Greater Boston. My only previous ventures into the South End had been minimal: Drinks at Clery's on Dartmouth Street a few times when my wife was in law school in the mid-'90s; dropping in at kids' clothing and toy store Tadpole to see if they would consider selling my children's book (they never got back to me); a family jaunt to the SoWa Market; a photo-snapping trek for this very blog that you're reading (see April 8, 2018, "Tom Cruise Slept Here...Well, Maybe").

None of those explorations touched on the Back Streets district, which is bounded by Albany, Malden and East Brookline streets, and Harrison Avenue. This area is filled with beautiful old warehouses and factory buildings that once housed furniture and piano-making companies. The South End has long been known as a diverse community, home to white and African-American middle class residents, particularly immigrants during the 20th century. During the middle part of last century, the South End was a jazz Mecca. Sadly only Wally's is left from that heyday. The neighborhood began to attract a population of gay residents in the 1940's, per Wikipedia. In the 1970s and '80s, the South End saw many artists move into the warehouse and factory spaces. This population is still going strong in the South End, but it has dwindled in recent years as younger, more affluent residents move in to new and rehabbed developments.

Just off the Southeast Expressway, the Back Streets is undergoing major changes, just like so many other areas of Boston. I spent some time in this area late last year. Here's what I found. Note: things have obviously changed in some of these locations since I was there....

I parked on Wareham Street, across from a nice row of old warehouse/loft buildings that now house, among other businesses, two fashion companies, a massage school, an antique lighting outfit and an interior design firm. With so many new developments popping up around here, and the former Flower Exchange project on tap (see linked article in first paragraph), buildings like this that mix small businesses with artist lofts may go the way of the dodo.

On the opposite side of Wareham Street, near its intersection with Albany Street, is the condo building known as 88 Wareham. With 27 high-end condos and an automated, underground parking system, this place caters to, you guessed it, rich young people. When I took the shot above several months ago, the building (on the left) wasn't completed; I believe it is now. I don't know what 88 Wareham replaced. On the right of the photo is the back of 90 Wareham/519 Albany Street, also home to condos, in addition to M. Miller Furs, something called Ecologic Entomology and Visiting Angels, among other businesses. That building was once a piano factory, one of many that filled this area with the sounds of, well, whatever tools and machines were once used to build pianos.

On the opposite corner from 90 Wareham/519 Albany is 535-543 Albany, home to Marc Hall Design, Hunter Gallery Design, Hidden Kitchen restaurant and advertising agency Proverb, among other businesses. I'm guessing this place was once home to a piano factory or warehouse or related business. The Boston Globe profiled the building and its many small, creative businesses several years ago, and indicated the building dates to 1896. There are several artists working here. I hope they are able to remain here as rents rise in the Back Streets neighborhood.

The biggest project going on in this area right now was known initially as the Harrison Albany Block; the development is now called The Smith. It is fronted by 575 Albany Street (below), and when it's completed, will feature two new apartment buildings that will include retail, restaurant and cultural space, according to the project's official web site.

Here's a view of the side of 575 Albany (below), with heavy equipment rising behind on the massive project.

"The Smith, which is named for the artisan history in the area south of Washington Street, is a 650,000 SF mixed use development that will bring residential housing, including an onsite affordable component and artist live/work units, to Boston’s South End," according to the web site for developer Leggat McCall. "In addition, there will be retail and cultural space on the ground floors of the building and surface parking will be replaced with an underground 650-car parking garage."

I'm glad that the developer is at least paying lip service to the current reality of this area, by offering artist live/work units. I'm curious to see how that works out.

Above is a photo of the rear of 575 Albany Street from East Canton Street. This view is surely much different now. Below, a shot taken further up East Canton, heading toward Harrison Avenue. This area was previously comprised of small buildings and parking lots owned by Boston Medical Center.

Next door to 575 Albany is Boston Wholesale Flowers, in the middle of the photo below.

I love this combination of buildings, and wish that none of them would ever change in any way. But that's not realistic, is it? I'm not sure whether Boston Flower Market, at the left edge of the picture, is part of the same company. Squeezed in between these two floral businesses is Panagea Soumela, also known as the Pontian Society, a Greek cultural organization.

Continuing southwest to the corner of Albany and East Canton Street, I found the Baha'i Center.

The Baha'i faith puts an "emphasis on the unity of all people, openly rejecting notions of racism and nationalism," per Wikipedia. "At the heart of Bahá'í teachings is the goal of a unified world order that ensures the prosperity of all nations, races, creeds, and classes."

I have serious doubts about the ability of the flower shops, the Greek club and the Baha'i gathering spot to continue here in the face of development pressure.

I pivoted at the corner of Albany and East Brookline streets, but not before snapping a photo of this amazing sign.

The Naval Blood Research Laboratory is part of Boston University and Boston Medical Center. That is all.

The beauty in the photo above is The Groton, one of four former Lawrence Model Lodging Houses dating to 1874 on East Canton Street. These places have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, per Wikipedia. They were built with funds from industrialist and financier Abbott Lawrence, the founder of Lawrence, Mass., who left a $50,000 bequest to provide housing for the poor, Wikipedia says.

On the other side of The Smith development, I found this ghost sign along East Dedham Street.

I believe this place at 72-74 East Dedham, also seen below, was once a police station. There is a newer police facility along nearby Harrison Avenue. This building, which sits right across from the new mega-development, is now home to Wediko Children's Services.

There wasn't a heck of a lot more to see along East Dedham, but I really liked the look of Plympton Street. Below is what I believe is the former location of landscape architecture firm Foliaire, which is now situated in South Boston. Or perhaps it's a storage facility for the company. I haven't been able to find out the history of this little building, but I assume it was a warehouse for a piano or furniture company back in the day.

Next is 34 Plympton, below. In the background we see the backs of the buildings on Wareham Street that started our tour. Again, I don't know what this building was at birth; it's now condos.

One more building away is 40 Plympton, home to Boston Sign. While the company appears to be hanging on here, its days could be numbered. In an article in My South End nearly five years ago, the company owners are quoted: "If you guys decide to make Back Streets a residential neighborhood it will force us out of the City. Our light industrial use is not compatible with residents...we make signs here."

I don't know what this used to be, but I'm guessing storage or machine shop for a factory.

Below is the backside of 71-73 Wareham, home to....I have no idea.

Below is 52 Plympton, which looks like it was once a garage. Maybe a fire or police station? Or perhaps related to a factory, with worker housing above? Now it appears to be condos/apartments.

The last building along Plympton, below, is actually the back of 541 Albany Street, home to Proverb, and profiled above.

Finally, a little something different.

This plaque on Special Unit, Engine Co. 3 on the corner of Wareham Street and Harrison Avenue, recognizes the completion in 1940 of this fire house. In the top left corner you can see (I hope) a relief of a firefighter helmet, axes and a hose. The Back Streets district of the South End was a much different place 79 years ago when this first responder building went up. Unlike the artists, small businesses and lower-income folks who've needed to find new neighborhoods in recent years of gentrification in the South End, at least the fire station is sure to remain for decades to come.

Wool-d You Like to Join Me For a Walk?

From Dave Brigham:

(Plaque at the corner of Summer and Melcher streets recognizing the century from 1900 to 2000 as the time when Boston was the wool capital of the United States.)

I never tire of walking around Boston. I can always find new and interesting photo subjects, even in places that I've walked by and driven past before. Recently I strolled along the section of Boston's Summer Street once known as the center of the nation's wool trade. From the summary of a 2008 Boston Landmarks Commission report covering the Fort Point Channel Landmark District: "Boston became the nation’s most important wool marketplace, and the center of the wool trade was Summer Street." These buildings were used as warehouses by other industries over the years as well.

Located just slightly southeast of the South Station train terminal, across the Fort Point Channel, this area of Summer Street is notable for the uniformity of the beautiful old warehouses and manufacturing buildings erected by the Boston Wharf Company, which developed the Fort Point Channel neighborhood between 1836 and 1882, per Wikipedia. You'll know you've arrived when you see the Boston Wharf Company sign (see photo below), which has lit up this South Boston neighborhood for more than 100 years, I believe. For a nice history of this area, check out this Boston.com article.

"The Boston Wharf Company parceled out all of the lots and laid out all of the streets from scratch, naming the streets after officers in the company and principal tenants in the buildings: Binford, Farnsworth, Melcher, Midway, Sleeper and Stillings streets, Necco Court, Thomson Place," per Wikipedia. "The Boston Wharf Company constructed most of the buildings for the manufacture and storage of a wide variety of goods, beginning with sugar and molasses and branching out into the wool trade by the end of the 19th century. Concurrently, the company enlarged its operations to become a chief developer of warehouse and industrial facilities for local railroads and shipping companies. This district made Boston the main production and marketing center for wool for clothing and fabrics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After the wool trade declined, the district's buildings were abandoned. Artists gradually moved into the large, well-lit warehouse loft spaces, thus creating New England's largest enclave of artists, the Fort Point Arts Community."

Fort Point is still home to more than 300 artists, per the arts community web site, including painters, photographers, sculptors, designers, ceramicists, performance artists, jewelers, book artists and digital media artists. The neighborhood, like so many others in Boston, has seen development encroach in recent years, what with the massive projects that have taken over the adjacent Seaport District.

But this small stretch of historic buildings, part of the Fort Point Channel Landmark District, and others in the vicinity, remind residents and visitors alike of times gone by, and will most likely stay pretty much intact for the foreseeable future. Let's see what's there, starting with the south side of the street.

In the photo above we're looking at the same buildings in the previous photo, from the other side. This is 263 Summer (left) and 253 Summer (right). 253 was built in 1902 as part of the New England Confectionary Company factory. For more on Necco's buildings in this area, see April 22, 2018, "Fort Point Channel -- It's Electric!"; for more on the company history, see January 5, 2019, "There Was No Way-fer to Necco To Carry On." Tenants at this building include Amazon.com.

As for 263, I haven't found anything about its history, or list of current tenants.

Built in 1910 of yellow brick, 273 Summer, above, is home to a showroom for Knoll, Inc., a furniture and interior design company. The company lists its address as 281 Summer, so I'm not sure if it has moved since I took this photo, or if the preferred address is 281, since the buildings are adjacent, and perhaps connected internally. Below is 281 Summer:

Businesses at 281, which dates to 1904, include TIBCO Software, publisher McGraw-Hill and architecture firm Dimella Shaffer.

Walking along this side of Summer Street, amid all the beautifully restored and maintained warehouse and factory buildings, I was pleasantly surprised to get this view.

This is the side of 326 A Street, which passes below Summer at this point. I wasn't able to determine what this word salad of old painted ads said, but somebody else was: Terkelsen Building and Terkelsen Machine Co., which, according to a Flickr user I found, manufactured "spiral washing machines."

Next is 311 Summer, built in 1904 by Morton Safford, who designed and constructed many buildings in this district, for the Dwinell-Wright Coffee Company.

This building was sold last year to a Qatar-based investor for $38.5 million. It is home to Stantec, an architecture and interior design firm.

Next is 321 Summer Street, built in 1911 for the Howes Brothers Leather Company.

The leather company went out of business in 1994, I believe. There was a For Lease sign on the building when I snapped the picture. Not sure what might have moved in since then.

Next is 327-333 Summer Street, below.

This one was built in 1911 by the Boston Wharf Company and was at one point occupied by Joseph Middleby Jr., Inc., a bakery supply company. I'm not sure what, if anything, is currently located here. The building suffered from a major fire in December 2013.

This is the extent of these wonderful buildings on the south side. Let's check out the north side of Summer Street.

The first one on the north side is #320, below, built in 1888 by Morton Safford for J.S. Williams Stores. The space is now home to software company LogMeIn.

Right next next door is 312 Summer, below, which was built in 1904 as a wool warehouse.

I'm not sure what's in here now.

The next building on our tour is a little more grand than the others: 300 Summer Street, aka The Artist Building.

Built in 1898, this beauty is so special it even has its own web site. According to the site, "The southern sides of the lower levels of the building feature an exposed seawall from the early days of filling the 'South Boston Flats.' The steel-reinforced concrete beams include iron fasteners from which once hung bales of wool. The modest arching stairwell tiles are by architect and builder Rafael Guastavino.

The Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) acquired the building in 1992 and converted it to 48 primary residence live/work studios and seven arts-related commercial condominiums, per the web site. I featured this building in a previous post about Somerville and Charlestown, as 300 Summer was once home to Acme Bookbinding (see March 16, 2019, "Where Am I? Somertown? Charlesville?").

Our penultimate stop is 280 Summer Street.

Built in 1898 by Boston Wharf, this place is now home to workout supplements company Force Factor, among others.

Finally, we reach 274-278 Summer. I'll admit, there are a few more buildings on the north side of the street; I don't recall why I didn't snap their pictures.

This is another Boston Wharf building designed by Morton Safford and built in 1898. Current tenants include Vanderweil Engineers.

To read more -- a LOT more -- about this historic district, check out the Boston Landmarks Commission's study report on the Fort Point Channel Landmark District.

For more about the spoils (and losses) of the local wool trade, see December 18, 2018, "Checking Out America's First Condo Complex," about Beaconsfield Terraces in Brookline, Mass., which was developed by wool importer Eugene Knapp.

Readin', Writin' and Wreckin'

From Dave Brigham:

This is the former North Branch Library in Waltham, Mass., about which I know one thing, and about which I have one guess: the city has been trying to lease it out for the past seven years, and, most likely, some of the very kids who once borrowed books from this fine little institution have trashed the inside of this place.

Located next to the complex on Lexington Street where both a middle school and high school are located, the old library was most recently a teen center, and sits adjacent to the Chester Brook Corridor, which "consists of a sequence of properties under the ownership and control of various public and private entities," per the Waltham Land Trust. "Taken together, these properties form a continuous, though sometimes narrow, green space connecting the former Middlesex County Hospital lands with the Storer Conservation Lands surrounding [the Robert Treat Paine Estate]."

For more about this area of Waltham (and other parts), see March 20, 2017, "Brigham in Waltham, Part III."

The City of Waltham indicates that allowable uses for the property include a rooming house, a family day care, medical offices and a church, among others.

Stairs Exchanging Places

From Dave Brigham:

Does something look amiss? What's an old, red-carpeted, marble staircase with fancy balusters doing in a sleek, modern building in Boston's Financial District?

This is 53 State Street, also known as Exchange Place. Built between 1981 and 1985, this 40-floor skyscraper incorporates part of the facade of its predecessor, the Boston Stock Exchange, which was completed in 1891. As part of an agreement with preservationists, the developers eventually agreed to also include the stock exchange's former staircase in the main lobby.

For more about this building and the staircase, see this Atlas Obscura article. For more about using old facades on new buildings -- the practice is called façadism -- see April 6, 2019, "UPDATE: Cashing Out (And Learning About Facadism)."

The Sun Has Set On This Grill & Tap

From Dave Brigham:

No more palm trees and sailboats....sounds like the beginning of a Weezer song. Anyway, for those who pay attention to such things (which evidently doesn't include me), the much-beloved Sunset Grill & Tap closed down. In December 2017.

The restaurant's parent company, Sunset Partners, Inc., filed for bankruptcy in June 2017, reporting $5.67 million in debt and assets of $1.06 million, according to a report in the Boston Herald. Sunset Grill opened in 1988, and in the early- to mid-'90s I spent many a night there eating Mexican food and drinking from their expansive beer menu. It was a good place to go before seeing bands at local rock clubs, or just for the sake of meeting friends and hanging out.

I haven't been able to find out who painted this great mural, and what may become of it. No idea what might go into this space.

Sunset Partners' Patron's pool hall, which was located above the grill and tap, also closed.

The company's Sunset Cantina is still open.

UPDATE: Strolling Among the L7's in Kendall Square

From Dave Brigham:

UPDATE: Although I just published this post a few days ago, I have a brief update. Many of the photos below are several months old, as is some of the information. I was in Kendall Square briefly today and was shocked to see how much construction has taken place right around the subway stop in the half year since my initial visit. So I just wanted to let you know that I realize my information and pictures aren't as up to date as I'd like, but otherwise I think I've given a pretty good idea of what changes have come to the neighborhood, and are still on their way. Thanks! -- DB

First, your headline explainer: Urban Dictionary: L7.

You can't swing a slide rule in Kendall Square without hitting a biotech nerd, start-up incubator boss, Facebook algorithm specialist or an expert in turning turnips into a luscious foam that costs as much as an Uber ride from Cambridge to Silicon Valley. Still, there are reasons for lovers of the backside of America to stroll through this bustling and quickly changing neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass.

I spent some time last year spread across two trips checking out Kendall Square, as well as a bit of the area west of the square (because it was such a nice day). Be prepared to spend some quality time on this post; there are LOADS of pictures and information, which is why it's taken me several months to finish this post. As I hope you've noticed, I've been digging deep on a lot of projects lately, from the neighborhood around the soon-to-open Encore Boston Harbor casino (see May 4, 2019, "Roll the Dice: Encore!"), to the old shoe manufacturing town of Marlborough (see May 19, 2019, "Marlborough Melange") and the rail trail and environs in Weston (see March 24, 2019, "Weston By Musket and Sextant").

First, a little history about the square, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Originally a salt marsh on the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, Kendall Square has been an important transportation hub since the construction of the West Boston Bridge in 1793, which provided the first direct wagon route between the two settlements. By 1810, the Broad Canal had been dug, which would connect with a system of smaller canals in this East Cambridge seaport area." For a look at what little remains of this canal system, see November 5, 2012, "Where's the Gondolier?"

More from Wikipedia: "The area became a major industrial center in the 19th century, and by the beginning of the 20th century was home to distilleries, electric power plants, soap and hosiery factories."

By 1965, NASA was eyeing Kendall Square as a major hub of operations.

"When President John F. Kennedy made his bold claim that the United States would be the first nation on the Moon, he maneuvered to have several of the area's older industrial manufacturing and other dirty businesses removed by eminent domain. Kennedy's idea was to make Kendall Square the headquarters for the NASA mission control center." After JFK died, President Lyndon B. Johnson moved the NASA project to Houston.

Eventually, former Massachusetts Governor John A. Volpe, "succeeded in getting the former NASA buildings rededicated to a new DOT research center, which was later named the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in his memory. For the next twenty years, other large parcels of Kendall Square, which had also been cleared in anticipation of a much larger NASA complex, were an unoccupied post-industrial wasteland."

That's not to say that there wasn't redevelopment going on in the square. In 1980, construction began on the Cambridge Center complex, which grew to include several buildings, some of which house a Marriott hotel, a Legal Seafoods restaurant and companies of all sorts, sizes and shapes. New buildings and rents continue to rise across the square, as old structures are torn down and the neighborhood transforms into a leader of the 21st century technology industry.

Alright, strap yourselves in and let's see what's what in Kendall Square.

"So," you're saying to yourself, "Dave writes this long, involved lead-in about high-tech and rising rents and hipsters, and he starts off with a church?" True, this isn't my typical subject, but I love churches and also am fascinated by the Mormons. That's due to the whole "I found gold plates buried in the ground that I translated into the Book of Mormon, then I gave the plates back to Moroni, an angel, and nobody else has ever seen them" thing espoused by founder Joseph Smith. Here's their house of worship on Binney Street. Built in 2009.

Alright, let's get to the true backside stuff.

This is 161 First Street, home to biotech firm Finch Therapeutics Group. Erected in 1907, the building was formerly home to Lotus Development, a software company founded in 1982. Originally this building was home to the Ashton Valve Company, which merged with Boston-based Crosby Steam & Gage, whose building I featured in "Where Am I? Somertown? Charlesville?" from March 16, 2019. The First Street property is being redeveloped by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which has its fingers in many Kendall Square pies.

(They done tore the back part of 161 First Street clean off!)

This is 41 Linskey Way, another Alexandria R.E. project. Like 161 First Street profiled above, 41 Linskey began its long, illustrious career as a building in 1907. The site started life as home to the New England Maple Syrup Company. In 1917, the property was purchased by Crew Levick Company, which used the property as an oil and grease storage facility, according to this 2015 U.S. Department of Environmental Protection document. In the ensuing years, the property was owned by a refining corporation. It was turned into offices in the early '80s.

(A closer look at 41 Linskey Way. Want to see what it will look like after it gets redeveloped? No, I don't think you do.)

This is the building that sparked my interest in documenting the backside of Kendall Square, when I drove by it coming home from the nearby CambridgeSide Mall. Kendall Boiler and Tank Co. is a going concern, which is awesome. The company isn't located at this site anymore; it's in Chelmsford, Mass. The complex of buildings was restored and converted into office space by PRA Architects.

(Close-up of the former Kendall Boiler building.)

The building in the above photo was renovated as part of the construction of the corporate headquarters of Biogen, Inc., which develops and manufactures drugs for those living with serious neurological, autoimmune and rare diseases, per the company web site. You can see the new building rising behind this old one.

I'm not sure what this building was in its original incarnation. To get a look at it before it was restored, check out this link.

Around the corner from Biogen, on Bent Street, is the back of the Foundry Building. If, like me, you aren't sure exactly what a foundry is, here's our answer: "A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings," per Wikipedia. "Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools."

Built in 1890, the foundry once "processed up to 50 tons of iron per day," according to the web site of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, which owns the building and is redeveloping it into a center for art, entrepreneurship, technology and workforce education. The foundry "was originally part of a larger industrial complex for the Blake & Knowles Steam Pump Company. The complex, including the Foundry, was once a nationally recognized manufacturing facility and supplied 90% of pump supplies to the U.S. Navy in the 1930s. In the 1960s and 1970s, the building was used as a taxi barn," according to the CRA web site.

Just up the street from the foundry I spied this house and garage.

I really like the look of each of these buildings, for different reasons. The house looks like it could have been a library at one point; the garage looks like it could have a time machine inside, built by some eccentric M.I.T. professor who disappeared without a trace many years ago, perhaps to return as a post-Trump savior. With all the development in this area, I wonder whether either of these structures will be here in five years.

And now for some buildings that are modern and boring and ugly, but just as mysterious as the garage above.

Located along Bent Street, this is where AT&T stores the Internet. Or maybe this is the graveyard for all of the world's old rotary phones. Or perhaps this hulking monolith is stuffed with Russian spies tapping into your each and every phone call and computer keyboard click.

And right across the street is where Verizon spies on AT&T.

At its western end, Bent Street intersects with Fulkerson Street. That's where I found the old Metropolitan Pipe & Supply Co. complex.

Metropolitan was at this location along Fulkerson and Binney streets for 50 years before moving to a new location in neighboring Somerville. The aforementioned Alexandria Real Estate Equities bought part of this property in March 2017 for $80.25 million, and plans to develop new office or laboratory space here. The other portion of this property was acquired by Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, which plans to develop a residential building at that location along Fulkerson.

I continued a little further west, to Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, named for the former Archbishop of Boston. Where that roadway intersects with Hampshire Street sits One Kendall Square (photo below), an eight-acre complex that includes office, lab, restaurant and cinema space. It is owned by -- you guessed it -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which acquired the property in July 2016 in a blockbuster $725 million deal, one of the largest transactions ever in the Boston office building market.

Formerly the base of operations for the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, the set of buildings is now home to Cambridge Brewing Company, the Friendly Toast, the Smoke Shop and other popular eateries and businesses.

One restaurant that has moved on was formerly located cater-cornered (or catty-corner or kitty-cornered; I'm using the original, because I just learned it) from One Kendall. Emma's Pizza (below) was at this spot on Hampshire Street for 16 years; the pizzeria was in business at other locations in Greater Boston for 54 years before shuttering in 2016. The restaurant has a take-out spot in Boston, I believe.

I haven't been able to determine what the fate of this property is, but I can almost guarantee that the former Emma's and the small building and parking lot next to it will get redeveloped.

Across Portland Street from the former Emma's, and directly across from One Kendall I found some cool stuff.

On the back wall of Advance Tire Company there is this amazing mural. I'm not sure whether the company, which has been family owned and operated since 1914, has always been at this spot. Known as The Port Story, the mural was created by David Fichter, who has painted other massive and beautiful works all around the Boston area. This mural showcases figures from this neighborhood, known as The Port (formerly Area 4), including women's rights advocate Margaret Fuller, civil rights activist Clement Morgan, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine. The mural also features everyday citizens, as well as shout-outs to the nut maker Squirrel Brand Co., cracker manufacturer Thurston, Hall & Co., soap maker Curtis Davis & Co., and the Kimball and Davenport Omnibus, among other historic local businesses.

Next door to the tire store, in the triangle formed by Hampshire and Portland streets and Broadway Avenue, is a Cambridge Electric Light substation.

I'm guessing the other building on the site (below) was also once an electric light structure.

Just up Broadway, heading east, is a fantastic vintage clothing store, the legendary Garment District.

Above is my artsy picture of the "alternative department store."

I also strolled down Davis Street and took a few more of the side and back of the building, which was built in 1893. "Until World War II, the building housed soap manufacturer Lysander Kemp & Sons," per the Garment District web site. "In the postwar years, the building was occupied by several businesses, including the Cambridge Printing Co, a bronze foundry, and Harbor Textile Waste Co." It was this last business that birthed the funky clothing retailer. "The Garment District opened in 1986 as an off-shoot of [the] textile company....which manufactured and sold wiping cloths and gloves to a variety of industries."

At this point I ventured beyond the boundaries of Kendall Square, further into The Port, formerly known as Area 4. This zone is bounded roughly by Central and Inman squares, as well as M.I.T. Starting from the western edge of my journey, I'll work my way back toward Kendall Square.

I know, my photo of this building makes it look like it belongs on the old TV series "Batman," which regularly featured crooked shots of crooks. Located on Massachusetts Avenue between Central Square and M.I.T., this is the global headquarters of drug maker Novartis. It is located in a former factory of the New England Confectionary Company (Necco), one-time maker of Necco Wafers, Sky Bars, Mary Janes, Sweethearts and other candies (see January 5, 2019, "There Was No Way-fer Necco to Carry On").

Directly across from the Novartis building is 211 Massachusetts Avenue, which is owned by M.I.T. but was included in a major project by the drug company to add lab and communal space.

Built in 1904, this building just looks important and I wish I'd taken a better photo of it. I'm not sure what its original purpose was, but at some point it was a laundry building for the university, according to one source online. More important to world interest, though, is this building's history as the one-time home for Whirlwind, the world's first general-purpose digital computer.

"During World War II, the U.S. Navy approached MIT about the possibility of creating a computer to drive a flight simulator for training bomber crews," per Wikipedia. "The Servomechanisms Lab in MIT building 32 conducted a short survey that concluded such a system was possible."

From this unusual building with a fascinating history, I scooted down Village Street, heading toward State Street, when I saw these cool murals on the side and back of the Naco Taco building.

Along State Street, just as I spied the side of this monochromatic building....

....I got a faint whiff of candy, and I remembered that I was standing next to the local branch of Cambridge Brands.

Cambridge Brands is a subsidiary of Tootsie Roll Industries, a candy maker that dates to 1896. This building was once the home to the James O. Welch Company, creator of Sugar Babies, Sugar Daddies, Sugar Mamas and Junior Mints, among others. That company was once one of dozens of candy manufacturers in the city; Cambridge Brands is the last sugar-coated soldier standing.

This place isn't much to look at on the outside, and while just about anyone who learns that this nondescript building is home to a candy manufacturer imagines Willy Wonka's factory, the truth turns out to be disappointing. "[I]t was just a bland factory run by a small team of Central American women in hair nets," according to a person quoted in this 2018 Boston Globe article. "The Cambridge Brands facility is the world’s only source of Junior Mints, Sugar Babies, and Charleston Chews — but it doesn’t make Tootsie Rolls or Tootsie Pops," per the Globe article.

Next door to the candy factory is 750 Main Street (below, the backside), which is owned by M.I.T. Built in 1910, the place is listed as being in "poor" condition by the City of Cambridge on its online property database. I'm not sure what, if anything, goes on in here. I'm guessing it will be redeveloped before too long.

Continuing east along Main Street, across Osborne Street from the random M.I.T. building above, I found a couple of cool plaques memorializing two technology industry titans.

"From his workplace in this building, Edwin H. Land (1909-1991) led the Polaroid Corporation in its development of the first instant photography system," this plaque begins. Polaroid still exists today, even though it no longer dominates the instant photography market like it once did.

Mere feet away from the Edwin Land plaque is this one recognizing the immeasurable impact that Alexander Graham Bell had on the world. "From this site on October 9, 1876, the first two-way long distance conversation was carried on for three hours. From here in Cambridgeport, Thomas G. Watson spoke over a telegraph wire to Alexander Graham Bell at the office of the Walworth Mfg. Co., 69 Kilby Street, Boston, Mass."

It's pretty cool that two iconic inventions were hatched in the same building, decades apart. Prior to serving as the birthplace to telephones and instant cameras, this site was home to the Kimball & Davenport company, which produced train cars (see above photo of the mural on the back of Advance Tire to get an idea of their product).

"So what sorts of tech innovations are going on in this building today?" I'm happy you asked. This building is now home to LabCentral, which calls itself a biotech innovation hub. "It offers fully permitted laboratory and office space for as many as 60 startups comprising approximately 200 scientists and entrepreneurs," per its web site. "A private, nonprofit institution, LabCentral was funded in part by two $5 million grants from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, with support from its real-estate partner, MIT."

Isn't it beautiful? I love when old buildings are rehabbed and improved upon, rather than simply being torn down.

In addition to technological wonders, this building was, at some point, home to a furniture company, as you can see on these ghost signs.

Continuing my trek eastward, I spied this funny place.

Look closely: that's a faux exterior at 620 Main St., a warehouse dating to 1908 owned by M.I.T. Why did the tech institute hire someone to create a fake front for this building? Perhaps the place looked really crappy and the school wanted to dress it up while deciding what sort of gigantic gleaming-glass behemoth to build in its place. I don't know. Maybe it was one of those famous M.I.T. hacks. Anyway, I found one source online that indicates this was a Polaroid building at one point. I also found a listing online from the Cambridge Historical Commission that indicates that prior to Polaroid, the building's owner was Squirrel Brands, a nut maker founded in Boston that moved to Cambridge and now exists in Elgin, Ill.

I can't quite make out what the ghost sign on the side of the old nut company building is for. Next to this building is an even larger warehouse (below) that is part of the same storage complex.

A short walk east heading back toward the heart of Kendall Square I got this cool view.

This is the M.I.T. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, with train tracks running underneath. The tracks split off the railbed for east-west Amtrak/MBTA commuter train service near the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston's Allston neighborhood, and run through Cambridge and all the way under Route 28 in Somerville, where they connect to north-south Amtrak/commuter lines that run out of Boston's North Station. The tracks are known as the Grand Junction Railroad, and date to 1847. The right-of-way is used primarily to transfer equipment between lines. At one time, the Barnum & Bailey Circus used these tracks to park cars when the show was in Boston.

Further along, near the Kendall Square subway station, is this beautiful building.

This is the Kendall Hotel, the front lobby of which is located in the former Engine 7 firehouse.

With all the construction going on amid so many shiny, new buildings, I was shocked to see a vacant lot that didn't appear to have anything going for it. This site for years was owned by the Constellation Charitable Foundation, which had hoped to build a performing arts venue on this site. Last August, however, the foundation sold the property to BioMed Realty for more than $50 million. BioMed owns several properties in Kendall Square and elsewhere in Cambridge, Watertown and Boston. The company also operates in high-tech hot spots including Seattle, San Francisco, New York and San Diego. I haven't been able to find any information about what the developer plans to put up here, but I'm guessing it will be large and shiny.

Directly across the street from this site is a nice park that in the winter is used for community ice skating. I'm guessing this little garage is used to store supplies and snacks for those events and others.

Whew! We're almost done. The penultimate stop on this tour is another hole in the ground.

OK, so this is a shot of a few buildings, but if you were to swan dive off that lovely clock tower, you'd land in a big construction pit. Well, you would have back in October when I took this shot. This is the backside, natch, of the Kendall Building, located at the corner of Hayward and Main streets, just past an entrance to the Kendall MBTA station, as you approach the Charles River and the Longfellow Bridge. Built in 1905, the Kendall Building currently houses a post office, a bakery, a flower shop, a bank and other businesses. Amid the construction going on around it and directly behind it, the Kendall Building will remain largely as it is now.

"The Kendall Building is a five-story brick building containing 69,219 GSF of office space that will be retained in the proposed project in addition to 12,781 GSF of retail that will be repositioned," according to the special permit application submitted by M.I.T. in 2015. "Building 3 will be an addition to the rear of the Kendall Building totaling approximately 280,000 GSF of research, laboratory and technical office space (R&D) use and approximately 27,000 GSF of new and repositioned retail and active uses," the application continues.

Last, but certainly not least, is 139 Main Street, which was built in 1874, and most recently housed the Massachusetts branch of the Red Cross.

You won't be shocked to learn that M.I.T. owns this property, which was known at its construction as the Luke Building, as it was home to E.H. Luke & Sons, dealers in grain, meal, hay, straw, according to this web site (scroll down for a nice old picture of the building) from the architecture and design firm, Arrowstreet. The adaptive re-use project included "re-enforcing the building’s foundations and reconstructing the southeast corner facades due to serious settlement imperiling the foundations and brick walls," per Arrowstreet. "The team meticulously restored the masonry, original fenestration, stone trim details, and the historic carriageway (originally for hay wagons) that provided a connection through to the canal behind."

Man, I really wish every project in and around Boston could be like this one. OK, well maybe not each and every one. But I would love to see more classic old buildings renovated in their entirety, not just the facade (see April 6, 2019, "UPDATE: Cashing Out (And Learning About Facadism").

OK, that's a wrap. I wish I'd explored Kendall Square years ago, before there were so many glass-walled high rises. The good news is that even amid all the changes occurring in and around Boston, I can still find pockets of the backside.