I Seek Newton, Part XII: West Newton (Section 1: The Barn Redevelopment)

From Dave Brigham:

First, I want to let you know that The Barn (or The Bahn, as locals call it) lives on, in a new location not far from its longtime home just outside West Newton Square. In the final section of my long-in-the-works Newton series, I will talk about the new development in Newtonville where the shoe and clothing retailer moved. In this first post about the village of West Newton, however, I will feature photos of the retailer's old location, and discuss the project that will replace the sprawling complex where The Barn and other businesses once stood.

For all of the prior posts in my I Seek Newton series, see the bottom of this post.

The Barn began its life in 1948 when founder Russell Wennberg began selling overstock sneakers from the trunk of his car in the parking lot of Kempton Place, the location where he eventually opened a brick-and-mortar store, according to the retailer's web site. The business, which sells high-end shoes and accessories, has been family owned and operated ever since.

(Front facade and main entrance to The Barn's adult shoe department.)

The store operated a second building across the driveway, where kids' shoes and accessories were sold.

(The Kids Barn.)

Just to be clear: all of the buildings in these photos have been bulldozed in recent months. Photos of the current state of the site are below.

(Rear of The Barn.)

There were other buildings near The Barn, and frankly I don't know what was in them.

In addition to The Barn and the unknown buildings, here is what else was torn down: the R.L. Tennant Building, which was home to Eastern Insurance and other small businesses; J.N. Phillips Auto Glass (it may have been a Safelite outlet most recently, I'm not sure); Jack's Auto Service; a former private home that contained offices; a professional building and some industrial/garage buildings.

There is one more building that merits special mention, because it has a great history and I have a personal connection to it, albeit a tenuous one. The C. G. Howes Dry Cleaning—Carley Real Estate building was sandwiched between the service station and the former private home. "The single story buff brick building was constructed in 1928, to a design by Boston architect William Drummey, to house the dry cleaning and fur storage business of C. G. Howes," per this Roadtrippers web page. "In 1937 the building was purchased by Doris Carley, founder of the Carley Realty Company, the first female-owned realty business in the city. Ms. Carley was also one of the founders of the regional multiple listing service, and was active in the real estate business for fifty years. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990."

Pretty cool, right? I knew this place as the Vault, so named because of the fur storage area in the basement. I visited there a handful of times many years ago, when I began working with a local artist on my first children's book. She had a studio in the Vault, and I was quite entranced by her subterranean space, filled with completed projects, half-finished ones, quirky things hanging on the walls and spooky things littered across several surfaces, music playing in the background. Margie is a great artist, but we realized after a while that her vision for my book didn't match up with mine, so we parted amicably. The book, A Wicked Good Trip! is available for purchase here.

Do I care that these buildings have been torn down? With one exception, no, I don't. Am I hopeful that the new residential/retail buildings that rise on the grave of the old Barn will bring new life to the neighborhood, and that maybe I'll get at least one decent restaurant out of the deal? Yes, I am.

Before I talk about what will rise on this large site, I want to share a few photos of what the properties looked like as of early July.

(Construction equipment where the Tennant and Safelite buildings once stood.)

(The view from Sullivan Tire.)

(Looking east from Dunstan Street.)

(Remnant -- sprinkler post indicator (thanks to a Facebook reader!) -- at the corner of Washington and Dunstan streets.)

So let's take a look at what Mark Development is planning here. The developer is somewhat of a polarizing party in Newton, as many residents are opposed to the urbanization of the city. I'm not going to get into any of that here. I'm also not going to discuss the pros and cons of large developments like this.

The new development, dubbed Dunstan East, after the name of an abutting street, will feature three mixed-use buildings ranging from three to six stories on two blocks, per the development's web site. There will be 292 housing units, ranging from studios to three bedrooms. Seventy-three of these will be affordable, with 10 of them permanently set aside for households earning 50% of the area median income, or less. There will be approximately 8,000 square feet of retail space.

(Cheesecake Brook, which runs through the rear of the property.)

Check out this video, which features a boardwalk running parallel to the brook, a body of water that today isn't much to look at.

Mark Development has numerous other projects in the pipeline or on its dream list in Newtonville and West Newton, in addition to the Riverside MBTA complex in Auburndale.

Make sure to check back for two more posts about the backside of West Newton.

Here are the previous posts in the series:

"I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 3)"

"I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 2)"

"I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 1)"

April 10, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 3)"

April 3, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 2)"

March 27, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 1)"

November 15, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 3)"

October 29, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 2)"

September 24, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 1)"

March 14, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 3)"

March 8, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 2)"

March 1, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 1)"

March 7, 2017, "I Seek Newton, Part VII: Thompsonville"

December 5, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part VI: Chestnut Hill"

September 26, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part V: Oak Hill"

June 3, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part IV: Waban"

March 23, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part III: Newton Highlands"

September 20, 2015, "I Seek Newton, Part II: Auburndale"

May 21, 2015, "I Seek Newton, Part I: Lower Falls"