Floating Through Fall River, Part III*

From Dave Brigham:

* No actual floating was undertaken in pursuit of this and other posts about Fall River.

Rather than The Backside of America, I could easily have called this blog Ghosts of Times Past or Relics of Places Located Largely in the Eastern Third of Massachusetts (and Sometimes Elsewhere). I am drawn to the old mill towns of New England, and sometimes feel as though I spend too much time hunting down the old, the forgotten, the rusty, the broken-down.

But I find beauty everywhere I explore, in the patina, the hidden history, the faded glory, the hope, the rebirth. I try to find places that people overlook, buildings with stories to tell, sites that contrast original, anachronistic uses with new ways of thinking about the world. I admire the craftsmanship of the buildings, the boldness of chiseling a company or a person's name into the facade. I think of the talent that went into creating a painted advertisement on the side of a building, that 100 years later is still speaking, albeit in fading whispers, to passersby.

I love diners, old movie theaters and kitsch-filled bowling alleys, and I often research these types of places before exploring a given town or city. They make for great photography subjects, and they make me nostalgic for the times I spent in similar places when I was growing up in Connecticut in the 1970s and '80s.

Wow...what a long introduction to the third and final installment in my series about Fall River, Mass. (for the first two, check out this link and this one, too). This one spans some geographic distance, and featues several great old buildings in Fall River's downtown, among other sites.

Let's start at 1144 Pleasant Street, the former American Bakery Company building.

Built in 1934, this building appeared during my visit in February of this year to have been recently fixed up, with new windows at the very least. I believe the place was empty, although a contractor named True Brother, Inc., is listed at that address currently. As for American Bakery, I think it was a Missouri-based conglomerate that formed around the turn of last century.

Heading south-southeast along Pleasant Street, I felt obligated to chronicle another storefront church.

Iglesia Pentecostal Luz en Medio de Tinieblas (Pentecostal Church Light in the Midst of Darkness) is located in the Greany Building, which dates to 1891. Situated in the heart of the neighborhood known to old-timers as The Flint, the Greany Building has always contained a mix of ground-floor retail/business and upper-floor apartments.

At my furthest southeast point of this tour, I reached a diner that looks pretty good on the outside - with a rooftop display that will have sign enthusiasts hooting with pleasure - but one that unfortunately has been closed for some time.

Located on a triangular lot where Pleasant Street crosses Eastern Avenue, C.C.'s Nite Owl Diner is a circa-1956 DeRaffele Manufacturing model that replaced the truck-mounted Worcester Lunch Car No. 786, according to this Fall River Reporter article.

The Fall River landmark has been closed for years, but it may get reheated and brought back to life. "Antone Dias, representing owner Joseph Nasrallah, went in front of the Historical Commission Tuesday stating that Nasrallah is looking to sell or renovate the former Nite Owl Restaurant and get it on the Fall River Register as a significant and historic place before hopefully getting on the National Register," according to a March 20, 2024, Fall River Reporter article.

Fingers crossed.

Now we're heading back toward downtown. At the corner of Bedford and High streets is a former police station, the likes of which I haven't seen in this condition on my backside adventures.

Vacated in 1997, the building was acquired for $1.28 million in 2008, according to this Wicked Local article. The station was built in 1915; I'm assuming at some point it will be demolished and something shiny as a police badge will rise in its place.

Just before Bedford Street hits South Main Street, I spied a lovely old bank building.

Built in 1929, the Fall River Cooperative Bank rose the year after a devastating fire destroyed many buildings in the downtown area. MACRIS calls this building a "good example of the newly emerging Art Deco style," with "characteristic flat wall surfaces and low relief ornamentation." As you can see, this beauty is currently occupied by United Way of Greater Fall River.

On the corner of Bedford and North Main streets is the Classical Revival Burke Building.

Built in 1928, the building is currently home to two restaurants: breakfast joint Sheri's Place, and Dunny's BBQ.

A few doors down, heading north on North Main Street, is The Globe Building.

Dating to 1906, this Classical Revival building was originally home to Fall River Daily Globe Publishing Company. Subsequently, it housed Fall River Herald News Publishing. Currently, the site is occupied by a variety of small businesses.

Next is a much older building, the Italianate Old Red Bank, aka Fall River Savings Bank Building.

Built in 1869, the bank has a "boldly detailed facade with round-arched windows, cornice lintels, and name panel within the pediment" and "is typical of the best institutional building of its period," per MACRIS. The current tenant is a branch of Santander Bank.

Immediately to the north of Old Red Bank is the former Fall River Gas Works Company building.

Built in 1911, this Renaissance Revival building "has perhaps the best-articulated and best-preserved classical revival facade," in the downtown area, according to MACRIS. It is currently occupied by RDA Insurance, which traces its roots to 1908.

Across a parking lot is 177 North Main Street, aka the Peirce Building.

I haven't found out much about this place, other than it was built around 1925 and is currently owned by the Fall River Community Housing Resource Board.

Continuing on the east side of North Main Street, I was happy to see a beautiful church break up the row of commercial buildings.

Completed in 1954 after years of planning and fundraising, the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church was built in the Byzantine basilica style, per MACRIS.

Across North Main Street is the Quequechan Club.

Quequechan -- named for the nearby river -- was chartered in 1894 as a gentlemen's club, and members renovated an existing home for their playhouse. The twenty-five "prominent residents who formed the club represented the city's business and professional elite and included six chief executives of mills, six men otherwise engaged in the textile industry, three investment brokers, two lawyers, one physician and other community leaders," per MACRIS. The club didn't welcome unescorted women into the dining room until the 1970s, per Wikipedia.

The club, as you can imagine, was one of Fall River's most prestigious social clubs for more than 100 years. The club closed in 2012, but according to Wikipedia, the "club remains private and allows members to smoke inside the pub. The club has been reported to be haunted, and mediums and ghost hunters have visited the premises."

Zoinks!

Turning south along the west side of North Main (got that?), I had to make a photo of the Masonic Temple.

The Classical Revival building dates to 1922. A short walk south is the Durfee Block, which dates to 1887.

I like the suspended roof over the entryway, which I'm guessing used to be fancier. "The building was erected in 1887 for the B.M.C..Durfee Trust Co. (originally the B.M.C. Durfee & Co.), chartered in 1870," according to MACRIS. "This firm was organized by John S. Brayton and his sister, Mary Brayton Young, the remarried widow of Fall River Iron Works founder Major Bradford Durfee. The bank was named for their son, B.M.C. Durfee, who was never involved in its operations. Historically, the bank was closely allied to the textile industry in financing the importation of cotton for thriving mills."

I was quite charmed by the ivy-covered building at 44-46 North Main Street.

This small Neoclassical building dates to 1915. I haven't found out much about its history, but MACRIS provides some architectural detail: "whiite glazed brick, cast stone trim...ground floor front is nearly original. There are slender corner columns with spiral neckbanding and Art Nouveau-inspired caps. Metal lintel, opaque glass transom." A separate MACRIS file dates this building to 1928. You choose....

Along South Main Street I got caught up in a conversation with a very nice but extremely talkative woman about what I was doing. I missed a few cool buildings as I tried to get ahead of her, but I didn't miss the Waldorf Building.

Built in 1922, it is "in harmony with the post-1916-fire character of the South Main Street shopping district," according to MACRIS. While the building was known at some point as the Nobby Building, it was built specifically for something called the Waldorf System, Inc.

So what is this system that echoes, but has no relation to, the Waldorf-Astoria? "Waldorf System, Inc., is a somewhat different chain of restaurants. Its 83 cafeterias, drive-ins and pancake houses in eight states lean heavily on self-service eateries in poor locations, offer such dishes as hash and an egg for 65¢," according to this May 21, 1965 Time magazine article. The company merged with a competitor named Restaurant Associates. That company still exists, and functions as an "on-site dining management company."

That's all pretty cool. I've never come across a former self-service cafeteria before.

My final stop in Fall River was Rock-n-Roll Avenue.

Located on Rodman Street, PearTree Studios is obviously operated by a Beatles fan, as evidenced by the tribute to the band's Abbey Road album cover seen below.

(Likenesses of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr outside the studio. George and John are also featured, of course.)

Whereas the Fab Four had/have Apple Corps. as their corporate entity, the folks behind this studio went with a different fruit. Artists that have recorded at PearTree include The Buggies, Sionide and The Craft.

I hope to return to Fall River soon to check out other parts of the city.

End to End In Boston's South End

From Dave Brigham:

OK, strap yourselves in and get ready for a whirlwind tour of Boston's South End....

This is a detail from a fantastic mural at the Harriet Tubman House on the corner of Massachusetts and Columbus avenues. I believe this detail features Cab Calloway. Not sure who the other cats are. The mural, created by Jameel Parker, wraps around two walls of the building, which is where the Cotton Club once stood, per the artist (although other online sources pinpoint the Club at 888 Tremont Street at some point, perhaps in a second incarnation?).

Operated by the United South End Settlements (USES), the Tubman House (named for the former slave and well-known abolitionist) offers early childhood education, job training, an after school program, a summer camp and more. USES announced earlier this year a plan to sell the Tubman House and use the proceeds to renovate its other properties and better serve the families in its programs. New Boston Ventures plans to build a residential complex with 17% affordability, and plans to save or reproduce the artwork, which covers two exterior walls.

Opponents of the deal, which include tenants of the building, say the sale should be nixed, pointing to deed restrictions.

OK, let's stick with the mural theme, and then move on to other public art.

Located on the side of the McKinley South End Academy at the corner of Dartmouth Street and Warren Avenue, this mural of Boston legend Mel King is just fantastic, isn't it? Created by students and faculty of the school, the artwork memorializes the nearly 91-year-old King, a community organizer, politician and currently director of the South End Technology Center, which he founded.

The next photo isn't a mural or art, but rather a plaque honoring a "master visual artist, painter, printmaker, author, lecturer, historian and good neighbor."

Allan Rohan Crite was born in 1910 in New Jersey, but he moved to Boston as a child. He enrolled in the Children's Art Centre run by the above-referenced USES and graduated from high school in 1929. He went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, was employed by the Federal Arts Project and painted under two primary themes, per Wikipedia: religious themes and general African-American experiences. He died in 2007. I love this plaque.

Not far from the Tubman House along Columbus Avenue is Harriet Tubman Park.

This statue is called Emancipation, and was created by Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller in 1913 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, per Wikipedia. In 1999 the statue was cast in bronze and placed in Tubman Park.

What is Boston's connection to Tubman, who was born into slavery in Maryland, escaped via the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia and died in Auburn, New York? Tubman, who may some day appear on the U.S. $20 bill, "had strong links to the Boston abolitionist movement and played a large role in uplifting black Union soldiers," per this Boston Globe article. She traveled with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. That regiment was comprised entirely of Africa-American soldiers. Tubman cooked for the soldiers, treated their wounds and buried the dead during the battle at Fort Wagner, according to the Globe.

The statue in the above photo is known as the Harriet Tubman Memorial, or Step On Board. It was. sculpted by Fern Cunningham.

Below is a plaque embedded in the park's walkway dedicated to some of the "station masters" on the Underground Railroad.

The final public art piece on my tour is this plaque in honor of Childe Hassam.

"Who?" you ask. I'm embarrassed for you that you don't know this impressionist painter who was born and educated in Boston. OK, so I'd never heard his name before spying this plaque, but it seems he was a prominent painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born Frederick Childe Hassam in Dorchester, he "was noted for his urban and coastal scenes," per this web site. To see his complete works, click this link.

OK, now on to another form of art, albeit of the commercial variety.

Located at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Rutland Square, these ghost signs advertise Coca-Cola and Southern Fried Chicken (top) and Pepsi-Cola (bottom). I haven't found out what restaurant or store these signs were hawking for.

Now is a good time to plug a Boston Globe article about ghost signs that I was featured in recently. I was contacted by a reporter who found this blog, and we spent about an hour walking through Boston's Fort Point Channel neighborhood looking for and talking about ghost signs. I was extremely flattered to be a major part of the article, which you can check out here.

Now for something artsy that isn't art.

This is on Berkeley Street, between Appleton and Chandler streets. The colors remind me of package of candy.

How about we move along to former houses of worship....

The former Concord Baptist Church, at the corner of Warren Ave. and West Brookline St., was converted to condos several years ago. The congregation moved to Milton, taking over the former Temple Shalom. "The boutique building features 9 residential units and 21 below-grade parking spaces. Residences are graced with preserved Church details, including arched windows and cathedral ceilings; complemented with modern finishes and high-grade appliances," per the Bushari web site that features some nice photos.

Over at 66 Berkeley Street I found this impressive building.

Built as the First United Presbyterian Church, since 1924 this place has been home to the Ellis Memorial & Eldredge House (known as Ellis). Founded in 1885 by Ida Eldredge as an afternoon club for boys, Ellis has grown over the years to offer early education and services to children and their families.

Practically across the street is the former Parker Memorial Building, constructed as a Unitarian church.

Built in 1872, this place was named after preacher and writer Theodore Parker. The building was transferred in 1889 to the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches to become the "cathedral of Boston Unitarianism," per this link. The Star of David must have been added after the fact; I've been unable to find any information about this building's use as a synagogue.

I did, however, find out from a fellow lover of the hidden history of Boston about some of the Parker's secular past.

"....[I]n the late 60s, there was a lot of local rock n' roll history there too, Dave," a great guy named Phil Hailer told me via Instagram. "The 2nd floor was the site of the original Boston Tea Party rock club (and I believe the start of WBCN as a rock FM station in a back room somewhere). The Tea Party moved to Landsdowne Street a couple of years later, but there were some legendary shows at this venue. I remember seeing the Jeff Beck Group there with Ron Wood on guitar and an unknown lead singer named Rod Stewart. Long ago....and far, far away."

Over the past 30 years of living in and around Boston I'd heard of the Boston Tea Party. But I never had any idea where it was. I enjoy searching online for the history of the places I shoot, but it's just so much cooler to get information first-hand from people who have real experience with these places.

Here's a great history of the old club.

I'm gonna shift gears a bit now. The Cyclorama has a origin story that just sounds so unreal today.

"Built in 1884 to house a 360-degree painting of the Battle of Gettysburg, the Cyclorama is on the National Register of Historic Landmarks." Oh, cool, it's on the National Reg....wait. What?! The Cyclorama was built for the sole purpose of housing a circular painting depicting the most well-known Civil War battle, the one with the most casualties?!

"Cycloramas were a popular form of entertainment during the later nineteenth century," per the web site of the Boston Center for the Arts, which runs the Cyclorama. "Most major cities in both Europe and North America had at least one. Built to house enormous, life size, panoramic murals, they frequently depicted battle scenes, evoking a sense of national pride while presenting graphic depictions of many historical events."

Cycloramas were the IMAX theaters of their time.

I've known about the Cyclorama for years, but this was the first time I walked past it. I would love to get inside. In addition to the Cyclorama, the BCA campus includes the Boston Ballet, the BCA Plaza Theatres, the Calderwood Pavilion and the Beehive restaurant.

The complex also includes an artist studio building, below.

Additionally, the BCA is the landlord for the Banyan Bar + Refuge, below.

Just a little ways up Tremont Street is one of the city's oldest gay bars.

According to the Travel Gay web site, "[T]he Boston Eagle celebrates the classic leather-clad gay aesthetic. It isn’t, however, a kink club with a dress code. All are welcome. The Boston Eagle is shabby chic, rough and ready and devoid of pretension. It’s something of a Boston institution." Man, that big ol' bird is sumthin' else.

OK, now to some more "former" stuff.

This is 4 Appleton Street, the former home of Boston Protective Department Company 2. This picture doesn't show it well, but the square plaque under the middle window has the initials "BPD." The station was built in 1892 and housed a fire company that wasn't part of the city's public protection. Rather, the BPD "was funded as an association of insurance companies in Boston who sought to protect the commercial buildings and contents from damage by fire, smoke and water. In this endeavor, the BPD worked very closely with the Boston Fire Department and the Boston Police Department," per the Boston Fire Historical Society. For pictures, check this link at the BFHS web site.

Located at 321 Columbus Avenue, the building below went up in 1906 as a home for electric carriages.

Known, strangely enough, as the Electric Carriage House, this place was renovated in 1987 and features seven floors of office space.

OK, I'm switching on the randomizer for the rest of this post.

I don't know anything about the building above, other than that I find it quite striking. Located on Union Park, it stands out amid all the classic brownstones in the South End.

I don't know anything about Billy's Coffee Shop, which is located next to the Parker Memorial Building mentioned above, but I love the patina on the sign.

The quaint sign for Merrill & Co. is all that's left of this restaurant on Appleton Street, across from the former home of the Boston Protective Department station mentioned above. The eatery was open for only about a year and a half before closing in late 2015.

What is this place? I didn't know but I guessed it was a power plant for the MBTA or for Amtrak, each of which runs trains directly underneath. I love the massiveness of the door. Below is a close-up.

Recently, after I'd written most of this post, I found out the answer to "What is that massive door?" The Boston Globe ran an article about this place, as part of a new initiative inviting readers to ask about odd/quirky/strange things in the city. Turns out I was spot on: "According to the T, the building is the Orange Line’s Berkeley Traction Power Substation, and was built with the opening of the massive Southwest Corridor project in 1987," per the article.

I will conclude my tour of the South End with a shot of the legendary Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe.

Opened in 1927, Charlie's was popular with black jazz musicians in the middle part of last century when so many of them were denied service elsewhere, per Wikipedia. "On May 12, 2014, Charlie's announced that it was closing at the end of June 2014, ending its 87-year run. On August 5, 2014, South End restaurateur, Evan Deluty, announced he would be re-opening Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe and that the breakfast and that the lunch menu would remain unchanged, but a new dinner menu would be added along with expanded hours," per Wikipedia. The remodeled eatery opened in early 2016.

For more on the South End, see June 29, 2019, "Back Streets, Oh Boy."