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.

A Little Further Into the North End

From Dave "David" Brigham:

I've lived in and around Boston for more than half of my 53 years, and feel bad about not spending more time in the city's North End. I've only eaten at a handful of the dozens upon dozens of Italian restaurants. I've only attended one of the numerous annual Italian feasts. And I've only walked around the neighborhood a few times to shoot photos for this blog (see June 14, 2018, "A Prince of a Building" and July 11, 2018, "North End Stroll").

But, like Middle-Aged Man says about his gut, I'm working on it.

While today the North End is considered the Little Italy of Boston, the neighborhood has been home to immigrants from England, Ireland, Portugal, Africa and Europe since the 1600s. And I'm sure Native Americans knew a little something about this area, too. For a quick, but informative history of the North End, read this.

One of the things that draws so many tourists (and locals) to the North End is the old-world feel of the place: narrow streets; locally owned cheese shops, bakeries, restaurants, barber shops, convenience stores, etc.; buildings that crowd the sidewalks without blocking the sun. And while the one-square-mile waterfront neighborhood isn't as Italian as it was a generation ago (more below about gentrification), the place still has an overwhelming feel of the country of the boot.

When I took the two photos above I had no idea who I was shooting, just that the two banners obviously commemorated the same event. A quick bit of research (I may or may not have searched online for "religious guy holding baby") led to the discovery that Saint Anthony of Padua is second only to Mary depicted in artwork holding baby Jesus.

Among the many feasts in the North End each year is the St. Anthony's Feast, considered the largest Italian religious festival in New England. It is held in late August.

While this photo depicts another North End doorway, unlike the other two, this one doesn't have a St. Anthony & Jesus banner. This is the home of the Knights of Columbus, Ausonia Council #1513. The council announced earlier this year a plan to redevelop the building and its site, adding affordable apartments for the elderly, a community room and a new headquarters for the council.

You'll notice, perhaps, that over the doorway it says "GEORGE ROBERT WHITE FUND." Who was George Robert White, you ask? The head of Potter Drug and Chemical Company who made a fortune and who was an active philanthropist. The fund was established in 1922 in his will, in which he bequeathed $5 million to the City of Boston as a permanent charitable fund.

I apologize for the bad angle on this photo. This is the McLaughlin Building, which is the oldest cast-iron building in New England, according to this web site. Formerly home to the McLaughlin Elevator Company, the 1875 building is now condominiums. Which leads me to....

Gentrification. As I said earlier, the North End maintains Italian influences, but they're not as heavy as they once were. Sure, there are still tons of Italian restaurants and bakeries. But the population of the neighborhood is no longer so heavily Italian, a shift that has taken place gradually over the last four decades. Just as in other traditionally working class areas such as South Boston and Kendall Square in Cambridge, young professionals have moved in to the North End as the local economy has boomed with tech jobs (keep your eyes peeled for posts about each of those neighborhoods in the near future). For a look at the beginning of this trend, as well as a shot of the McLaughlin Building before its conversion to housing and offices, read this article.

The final two buildings in this brief feature are, in my mind, quite incredible.

The Segel Building was built in 1896. Just look at that facade! Built with Jewish financing, the building must have been stunning in its heyday, and likely included retail or office space on the ground floor, with apartments above. The Segel was erected during the prime years of Jewish immigration to the North End, which was heaviest between 1870 and the early 1900's and which resulted in the Jewish population growing to about one-third of the North End, according to this article.

Finally, the Vermont Building.

Built in 1904, the brick-and-marble building was funded by Redfield Proctor, U.S. Senator from Vermont, and one of the owners of the Vermont Marble Company, per Wikipedia. Formerly a warehouse, office and retail space, the building has been condos for a while.

That's it for now. I promise to visit the North End again and post more history.

Portlandia

From Dave Brigham:

Beth and I took the kids to Portland, Maine, recently via Amtrak's Downeaster train. It's a trip we'd been talking about for quite some time, and while we were only there overnight, we had a lot of fun. We didn't have a car, so we walked quite a bit around the Old Port, a great part of town filled with restaurants, bars, shops and cool buildings.

Here are some rotting pier pilings near the ferry terminal:

This is the former headquarters of the Grand Trunk Railroad (yes, I'll post a video below from Grand Funk Railroad). According to the web site for the Maine Irish Heritage Trail, this building was also once used by companies including H & A Allan Line Steamers, White Star-Dominion Line Steamers, International Mercantile Marine Co. and the Cunard Line.

I love this building, the former Workingmen's Club. According to the Maine Irish Heritage Trail web site, a club "was needed where the longshoremen and railroad workers (the vast majority were Irish) could gather to stay out of the cold and out of the saloons when not working. The Workingmen's Club's nature, it was said, was of temperance and total abstinence. It was built for the 'men of brawn, muscle and industry' who numbered a thousand in 1905, men employed by the Grand Trunk Railroad, the English steamers, and New York & Boston steamship lines."

I think it's great that this sign was kept when this building was rehabbed in 2000. According to Waymarking.com, the sign "was painted sometime after 1924, since a photo from that year shows a different style sign. (During the renovation) a request was made to the Historic Preservation Committee to create new window openings on this wall. The request was granted and the windows were placed to avoid a major impact to the sign."

Here's some Grand Funk Railroad: