Rebuilding the Lost City: UPDATE

From Dave Brigham:

The most seriously blighted property I've written about is finally being demolished. For 70 years, the Haartz Mason factory in Watertown, MA, made roofing and auto-top fabrics, before closing in 1993. For the last 18 years, the site has been a haven for vandals, graffiti artists and homeless people.

I posted pictures of the site last summer (see July 5, 2010, "Rebuilding the Lost City") and speculated that a future developer would include retail space on the property. According to the Watertown Tab, Criterion Development Partners plans two apartment buildings on the lot, along with retail space and a parking garage.

I often jog on the bike path directly behind the property, and have long been fascinated by the state of ruin at this old factory. Now, with the demolition in full swing, I'm equally fascinated by the amount of graffiti on display inside the buildings. I'm sure the demolition and clean up will go on for quite some time, given that Haartz Mason made coated fabrics, which I suspect means loads and loads of chemicals in the soil.

I'll post more updates as this new project gets under way. I'm excited that this blighted stretch of Pleasant Street will soon have new, vibrant life.

















(The one site that may be more blighted and polluted than this one is the former Watertown Arsenal munitions burning facility. The extent of the mess at that site is difficult to gauge from the road. See May 19, 2010, "Nuclear Dump Playground?")

This Old, Decrepit House Update #2

From Dave Brigham:

Having torn down the place that I dubbed the Scooby-Doo House last summer, the new owners of the property in Watertown, MA, are making good progress on its faithful replacement (see August 3, 2010, "This Old, Decrepit House Update").

The house was torn down after the owners determined that they couldn't save what had once been a grand home (see July 25, 2010, "This Old, Decrepit House"). The owners promised to build something in the same style, and they are following through, which is good to see.

Here's what it looked like before the wrecking ball swung:



And here's the new place:

This Old, Decrepit House Update

From Dave Brigham:

As I reported last month ("This Old, Decrepit House," 7-25-10), there was a good chance that a long-abandoned house in Watertown Square in Watertown, Mass., would be torn down. The house had been neglected even when it was occupied, and had holes in the exterior walls. I drove by today and sure enough, the place has been demolished. The new owners hoped to save it, they said, but if they couldn't, they talked about building something in a similar style. I hope they follow through on that. I'll post updates as construction gets under way.

This Old, Decrepit House

From Dave Brigham:

This creepy old manse is right around the corner from one of my family's favorite restaurants, Not Your Average Joe's, in Watertown, Mass. At the time that I first noticed it, my kids were totally into "Scooby-Doo," so I dubbed it The Scooby-Doo House. Backside contributor Joe Viger thinks it looks more like 1313 Mockingbird Lane, aka The Munster's house. Whatever you call this place, it's sad how much the longtime owners let it run down before it was purchased nearly a year ago by three brothers who hope to renovate it to its previous glory.



The Watertown Tab has written a few stories about the house, which has been abandoned for many years. According to neighbors, the house was very beautiful 20 years ago. It's not hard to see how with a LOT of time, money and elbow grease, this could be an amazing residence again. But, given that some exterior walls have rotted away and the place is filled with junk, excrement and decay, the new owners may have to tear it down. I, like the owners and neighbors, hope it can be restored. I'll keep an eye on this project, no matter which way it goes.

For a look inside the house, watch this video:

Rebuilding the Lost City

From Dave Brigham:

The long-abandoned Haartz Mason Coated Fabrics factory is located in Watertown, Mass., in an area that my wife's brother-in-law dubbed The Lost City. Located along Pleasant Street, the complex, which comprises several buildings, sits amid a mix of industrial buildings, thrift shops, office buildings and residential neighborhoods. Less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of Watertown Square, the old factory has featured a "Sale Pending" sign out front for the last several weeks.

I'm fascinated by the extent of decay and ruin at the factory. There is a giant smoke stack in the middle, surrounded by buildings that have been partially torn down or fallen apart, all covered in graffiti. There is a walking/biking path that runs right behind the complex, hard by the Charles River. With the advent of spring and summer, trees and bushes on the perimeter of the dilapidation zone obscure the mess inside.



The Lost City has been treated of late to some upgrades, such as new blacktop and sidewalks. Right next door to the Haartz Mason building is a new condo development that was originally going to be an office building. The developer evidently couldn't sell the space as businesses, so he converted it to residential.

Given that built-in audience, logic would dictate that whoever knocks down these buildings would put up some retail space. Whatever goes in there, it'll be a vast improvement. I can only imagine the nasty clean-up that lies ahead.

Nuclear Dump Playground?

From Dave Brigham:

I have a thing for government conspiracies. UFO cover-ups, espionage, secret midnight dumping of nuclear materials (I have a concept album years in the making about the first topic, and many years ago wrote a song about the latter subject). Having lived in the Boston area for nearly 20 years, I've driven past the site depicted in these photos countless times, and wondered what dangers and mysteries lurked behind the vines clinging to the fence.

Located in Watertown, the 12-acre site was once part of the massive Watertown Arsenal complex, where the Department of Defense manufactured and stored munitions. This specific site was used as a staging facility for the leftover metals from the manufacture of armor-piercing rounds, which were made of spent uranium. The tailings were trucked to the site in oil and burned in order to stabilize them, and then shipped off-site for disposal (I'm getting a lot of this info from a recent Boston Globe article).

Contaminated like crazy, the area may one day become a recreation area with walking trails and restored wetlands. But first the US Army Corps of Engineers must complete tests on the soil to see how deep the nasty stuff is, and just what it comprises.

I can only imagine how long and involved the process of cleaning this site will be. I hope it gets turned into a beautiful and useful area, but part of me will miss driving by the site and speculating on just what sort of awful things are buried in the sludge.

Dead-End Tracks, Part I

From Dave Brigham:

There's something about trains and railroad tracks that stir my mind. I become nostalgic for a time that I never witnessed, a time when freight trains delivered lumber to local yards, heavy machinery to factories and cattle to slaughterhouses. Passenger trains shuttled people across town or across the country.

I hearken back to my childhood, when I would often hear, and sometimes see, the freight train that ran through my hometown, Simsbury, CT. I wondered where the trains were coming from, where they were going, who was on them, what was on them. I wondered why, when I walked along the tracks, I saw so many liquor bottles strewn about (teenagers, surely, rather than hobos).

The abandoned trestle above, once part of the Watertown Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad, crosses the Charles River and a walking path less than a mile from my house. For a time, the branch served as the main passenger line between Boston and Waltham (thank you Wikipedia). The tracks were used until 2000 for freight service.

Tracks and trains bring to mind westward expansion, and exploration of new and exciting places. My wife and I took the kids to New York City a few weeks ago on the Acela and it was a great ride. Relaxing, sure, and filled with so many great views of the Connecticut coastline and the southern cities of the Nutmeg State. I was jonesing, however, because there were so many opportunities for Backside pictures, especially in unfortunate Bridgeport, but we were going way too fast for me to get any good pictures.

Anyway, in this age of turning old railroad beds into biking and hiking trails (an effort that I fully support), I'm glad that there are still some industrial age relics like this trestle hanging tough. I discover beauty in its solemn, sentinel-like presence. But I also wonder about unsavory types hanging out late at night. I see the old mattress on top and wonder whether somebody sleeps on it, or, well...my mind wanders into dark territory.