A Nice Walk in Natick Center, Part II

From Dave Brigham:

In my first post about Natick Center, I covered many cool historic buildings in the downtown area, along with a historic burial ground, some ghost signs, a fantastic diner and much more (see August 7, 2022, "A Nice Walk in Natick Center, Part I").

In this installment of my two-part series, I'll bounce between a neat ice cream shop; a closed-off bridge; a historic church and its soon-to-be-demolished former school; some awesome murals; a converted armory; and much more.

I'm going to start with Johnny Tailgater and his van.

Parked in the lot for Birchler's Automotive on South Avenue, this amazing testament to one man's love of the New England Patriots is worthy of several gigantic Gronk spikes. It appears to be a converted "short bus," to use the politically incorrect term for the smaller vehicles that often drive special education students or those with disabilities to and from school. I didn't check the inside, but since it's got "Johnny Tailgater" on the side, I'm hoping there are comfortable seats, a mini fridge and a grilling set-up of some sort in there, to maximize the pre-game in the Gillette Stadium parking lot.

I don't know whether this amazing fan-van is at Birchler's for some work, or whether it's for sale. And just who is Johnny Tailgater? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Frankly, I was expecting to find a lot more about JT on the InterWebs, what with the success of the team in the last 20 years. Seems his real name is John Person, which seems like not a real name at all. If you're at Gillette this upcoming season, keep your eyes peeled for Mr. Tailgater.

I'm making the executive decision (since I'm the only executive at this blog) to move on to the former home of The Neighborhood Wrench on East Central Street, based simply on a color scheme that matches Johnny Tailgater's bus.

I''m not sure how long ago this auto services shop shut down; it opened in 2003. I like the ghostly remnants of the sign. There is a sister location open in Medway.

Next door to the shuttered station is Pizza by Rocco.

I love this little building, which dates to 1900, according to the Natick assessor's office. That's often a default date, so I'm guessing it could be older. I suspect there have been restaurants here prior to the pizza place, as well as maybe small stores or barber shops.

A little further east on East Central Street is Castle Condominiums.

Can you guess what the older, brick building used to be? If you said the Natick Army National Guard Armory, you're correct!

Built in 1911 in the English Revival style common to many of the armories built in New England, this place was built for the town's Company L of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, many of whom had been called to service in the Spanish-American War in 1898, per MACRIS. While I've seen plenty of old armories in Greater Boston, and written about a few of them (scroll down in this post about Marlborough, Mass.; scroll down in this post about Boston's Charlestown neighborhood; and check out this post about Waltham's long-neglected armory, I learned just recently, thanks to a follower of mine on Instagram, that these heavily fortified buildings were erected in response to community fears about domestic terrorism in the last half of the 19th century, and first half of the 20th. Read this Hartford Courant article for more information on the subject.

The armory was redeveloped into condos many years ago.

A few blocks west of the armory, closer to the center of town, is St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.

Built in 1892, this High Victorian Gothic house of worship was designed by James Murphy, an ecclesiastical architect based in Providence, Rhode Island, according to MACRIS. "His commissions...include the Saint Louis Church (1885) at 440 Bradford Street, Fall River [Mass.]; Gothic Revival Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church (1871) at 133 Main Street, Greenfield [Mass.]; and the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church (1888) at 387 Chestnut Street, Springfield [Mass.]."

The church merged with St. Linus to form what is called the Natick Catholic Community. With Catholic churches shuttering all around Greater Boston in the last 20 years, it's no surprise that the former St. Patrick's School, located across East Central Street from the church, closed down.

In June of this year, the Natick Zoning Board of Appeals approved a mixed-use redevelopment project planned by Stonegate Group. The project will include 54 housing units, 14 of them classified as affordable, as well as restaurant and retail space, according to a Metrowest Daily News article.

Along East Central Street, across from the fire department headquarters, is St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which was looking grand when I walked by.

Built in 1920, this Neo Gothic Revival church was designed by Charles Coveney of the architecture firm Brigham, Coveney and Bisbee, whose firm also designed the Christian Science Church in Boston's Back Bay among many other buildings.

At each entrance/exit to a parking lot at the corner of Washington and Court streets, I spied landscape design features the likes of which I've never seen.

I assume there are lights inside each of these glass-enclosed mini-towers. I hope they still work.

Steps away, along Adams Street, is what I've dubbed an artsy alley.

The Studios @ 3 Adams is the location with the large butterfly painted on the front. I'm not sure whether the studios are currently open. Next door is Uni-T, a gift shop that sells unique, eco-friendly t-shirts. I bought some online!

At the left of this photo, the work featuring the rainbow of colors is the "We the People" mosaic, created by Carol Krentzman. To find out more about the artist and this specific work, check out this video. Krentzman also created the series of smaller mosaics all the way to the left of her larger work, as well as the "History of Natick" work (with dark blue at the top) and the "Smiling Faces" one closest to the corner of the building.

As for the studio/Uni-T building, it is known historically as the William D. Parlin Storehouse, according to MACRIS. Built circa 1882, it was used by Parlin to store merchandise (hardware, plumbing supplies, stoves) for his store on Main Street.

Located in the middle of the block, 13 Adams Street was also a storage facility, known historically as the John M. Fiske Warehouse, per MACRIS. Built around 1889, it was also used for hardware merchandise storage.

While going through these photos, and looking at Google Maps Street View, I realized that I'd completely missed a small ghost sign in this alley. So I made another trip to Natick, just to shoot that sign.

(I believe it says HARNESS MAKER.)

I'm going to feature a few random things, before getting back into more artsy stuff.

The Spring Street bridge spans the commuter train tracks, but appears to have been closed for quite some time.

Over on Pond Street is Bruno's Barber Shop ("Probably the best barber shop in Natick"), which was established in 1959 by "Bruno DeMasi after honing his craft in the Italian Military," according to the shop's web site.

This is one of the cutest ice cream shops I've seen. I thought, given the small tower, that this was a former church. But it wasn't. According to MACRIS, both this building and the house next door were built between 1899 and 1904 on the same property. Previous tenants include a florist and a cobbler shop. The tenant for the last 42 years is Park Street Ice Cream.

OK, back to artsy stuff. Below is The Center for Arts in Natick, which goes by TCAN.

Complete on Summer Street in 1875, a year after a catastrophic fire destroyed much of downtown, the former Central Fire Station was converted to an arts center in 2003. So what goes on here? Quite a bit. Concerts (upcoming acts include The Blind Boys of Alabama and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention), movies (the latest "Elvis" movie, for instance) and comedy shows.

Below is the former entrance to Calliope Paperie, a gift/stationery/card store that moved to Main Street in Natick in 2021.

This inviting doorway -- check out the little old mailbox! -- is located in a cluster of buildings that I've dubbed the Architecture Riot, at the intersection of North Avenue and Main Street.

What the hell is going on here?! I'll get to the red building in the background in a moment, along with the building at the right edge of the photo. First, let's talk about the Greek Revival building in the middle of this conflagration.

As you can see, Robert's Barber Shop appears to occupy the space between the stately old yellow home and the one-story building next door. But the Modern Beauty Salon (or is it the North Ave. Salon? Or nothing at all anymore?) seems to take up part of the first floor of the old home. There appear to be apartments or offices here, as well.

Known historically as the Nathan Brooks Goodnow House, this place was built in 1865. Goodnow was a banker, a hospital trustee, a director of Natick Gas Light and proprietor of the Natick Grand Opera House, per MACRIS. The storefront to the left of the front door (with the yellow and white paint job), is the former Calliope location. I just don't understand why someone - anyone - would desecrate such a wonderful old home with these additions.

The building to the right of the Goodnow house, with the Spanish tile roof, is something different than what I figured.

I assumed it was an old market, but it turns out that the great little building, which is currently home to the Hanna Hearing Aid Center, was once a service station (!). "[T]he current style and detailing cues of the building suggests that the structure dates from the 1920s and was likely used as a service station," per MACRIS. "In the 1930s the property is associated with the Shell Eastern Petroleum Corporation."

Who woulda thunk?!

OK, back to the red building.

Known historically as Belger's Block, this building dates to 1873. "Tax records indicate that Patrick Belger paid tax on 1873 for the Belger House (new house) and 1/8 acre of land," according to MACRIS. "The 1889 Directory lists a Patrick Belger in charge of the Cochituate Street Crossing, B & A R.R. residing at Belger’s Block on North Main Street." Interesting to think that there was a time when someone's job was to oversee a street crossing for railroads, doing their best to keep folks from getting nailed by trains.

(Former entrance for Meridian Massage Therapy.)

Next door is an old house that is currently home to Bake It Yours.

I'm going to finish up just across North Avenue from the Riot.

This impressive mural, called "Next Stop Natick 2000," is located along the commuter train tracks in the center of town. Painted by artist David Fichter and students from Natick High School and the Wilson and Kennedy middle schools, who also designed it, the mural emphasizes Natick's "connection with the railroad," according to Fichter's web site. "Highlights of the mural include a cutaway of an Amtrak commuter train with historical figures including Vice President Henry Wilson, football legend Doug Flutie, African American Civil War veterans, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Other scenes feature Natick Native Americans, the Underground Railway in Natick, and the Boston Marathon."

I have featured Fichter's work before, here and here.

Below are some details of the artwork.

Like many commuter train stops in Massachusetts, Natick doesn't have a proper station. Oh, but it used to.

"The imposing...1897 station was built by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, Boston architects who installed most of the stations of that period on the Boston and Albany line," according to the Natick Historical Society web site. "Constructed of granite and brownstone, the station stood at track side with a sloped pathway that led down from South Avenue. The rear of the station was accessible to horse-drawn wagons and carriages, and later, to motorized vehicles."

Many Shelpley, Rutan & Coolidge stations have been torn down. The Natick one has just...disappeared.

"The old 1897 station is now the basement of the [Dion's] liquor store, where a bay window in the north wall that may have served as a passenger ticket window is still visible. The original canopy on the inbound track platform is still in use." Check out this link for more information and some nice photos.

There are so many cool old buildings in Natick Center. It's too bad that residents and visitors can no longer see the old train station among them. Hope you enjoyed this exploration of yet another great old industrial Massachusetts town.