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The materials and detail of ff1ese apartment buildings were built to meet the standard of quality set by the suburban houses. It is the goal of the Aberdeen ...
Typology: Summaries
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Aberdeen Architectural
Conservation District
Study Report
Revised 1/
Boston Landmarks Commission Environment Department City of Boston
The Aberdeen Study Committee hereby transmits to the Boston Landmarks Commission its report on the designation of the Aberdeen neighborhood as an Architectural Conservation District.
The work of this Committee was initiated in 2000 after a petition was submitted by registered voters to the Boston Landmarks Commission asking that the Commission designate the proposed Aberdeen neighborhood an Architectural Conservation District under the provisions of Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as amended. The purpose of such a designation is to recognize and to protect the architectural and historical characteristics that make an area unique and worthy of preservation.
As a result of the petition and at the request of the Boston Landmarks Commission, the Mayor appointed and the City Council confirnied a Study Committee to make recommendations to the Commission on the proposed district. The Aberdeen Study Committee, which consists of members from the Landmarks Commission and property owners and residents from the Aberdeen Study Area, began its work together in 2000 to evaluate the architectural and historical significance of the area, the potential boundaries, and to propose the standards and criteria that would ensure the protection of the area.
All Study Committee meetings were held in or near the Study Area on a regular schedule and were open to the public. After more than a year of work, study and deliberation, a report with suggested standards was drawn up. During the period from March 20,2000 through August 27, 2001, the Study Committee held 25 working meetings to which all property owners and interested residents in the Study Area were invited. The Study progress was reported at two larger community meetings, held AprillO and May 22,
The intent of the Aberdeen Architectural Conservation District is to protect the unique character of a Boston streetcar suburb and preserve the diversity of housing types present in the area. Constructed predominantly between 1890 and 1940, Aberdeen is united by its architectural quality and landscape features.
The hilly topography, rural landscape and rock outcroppings of Aberdeen attracted the initial suburban developers to this section of Brighton and continues to distinguish the area within the city of Boston. It is, therefore, a primary objective to protect the existing landscape and topography of the district, built elements constructed to respond to the setting, mature plantings that enhance it, and stone elements of the architecture that deri~e'from the site.
The homes constructed in Aberdeen were predominantly designed in romantic tum-of-the-century types and styles that complement the landscape of the area. It is the goal of the Architectural Conservation District to preserve the fundamental character of the forms, materials, and details of the houses and their ancillary structures, which make a coherent ensemble with their landscape context.
The apartment development of the early twentieth century was a response to the construction of Commonwealth A venue through the area. The consequent development of an urban apartment district, along this spine and spreading throughout the neighborhood, established the diverse confluence of housing types that characterizes the district. The apartment forms respond to the previously laid-out winding streets and unusual lot shapes often integrating landscape features. The materials and detail of ff1ese apartment buildings were built to meet the standard of quality set by the suburban houses. It is the goal of the Aberdeen Architectural Conservation District to safeguard the fundamental character of these apartment bl!ildings, their ancillary structures and landscape features. _..
David Payne, Architectural Historian Michael Cannizzo, Staff Architect
The Committee was assisted by Boston Affiliates, a preservation consultant who was retained to complete Chapters 1- 6 and 12 of the Study Report with funding from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
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5 Leamington Road
24 Sidlaw Road
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Examples of Colonial Revival residential work by important Boston architects include: the wood frame 19 Braemore Road, designed during the mid-1890s by Eugene Clark, architect of the Allston Congregational Church on Quint Avenue; the brick Georgian Revival house at 2018 Commonwealth Avenue designed by Edwin J. Lewis Jr. during the late 1890s, and the stucco parged Colonial Revival/Craftsman style house des.igned by Maginnis and Walsh at 66 Englewood Avenue (c. early 1900s).
Representative examples include several large early 1900s residences situated on the southwestern slopes of Notting Hill at 5 and 9 Leamington Road. In the case of Cummings Road, the houses on the southwest side of the street are situated atop a steep ridge. The land behind these houses descends sharply to the back yards of Kilsyth Road houses. For example, the c. early 1900s Medieval Revival residence at 28 Cummings Road possesses a basement that is a full story below the grade of Cummings Road.
Located at 1729 to 1767 Commonwealth Avenue, 1-21 Wallingford Road and 2 to 48 Leamington Road. Designed in 1909 by A. Estes, these residences are characterized by modest scale, planar red brick surfaces, curving comers and a rhythmic repetition of door hoods.
Non-residential buildings in the form of one-story, multi-storefront commercial blocks, schools and commercial buildings are scattered throughout the area. Stylistically, the non-residential buildings of Aberdeen generally do not relate to residential properties in the District by virtue of dissimilar scale, form and, in the case of commercial buildings, an absence of style-defining ornamentation. (i.e. the small, boxy, one story scale of the commercial buildings bordering the Commonwealth A venue/Sutherland Road intersection). Commercial buildings are clustered at highly visible, heavily trafficked intersections such as Washington Street-Commonwealth Avenue, Cummings Road-Commonwealth Avenue, Sutherland Road-Commonwealth Avenue, Chiswick Road-Commonwealth Avenue and Chestnut Hill Avenue-Cleveland Circle. Constructed as support buildings within a residential area, these stores served the early automobile trade of the 1910s and 1920s.
The area's most extensive commercial nodes are located at Cleveland Circle and the intersection of Sutherland and Commonwealth A venue. With its black marble panels and fanciful poured concrete parapet ornamentation, 1795-1799 Commonwealth A venue, comer of Chiswick Road, exhibits the most ornate surface treatments in the District. In addition, a large, c.l922 public garage, now used as offices, at 1686 Commonwealth Avenue is noteworthy for its Classical Revival design.
Three schools are located within the proposed Aberdeen Architectural District, including the former Aberdeen School, a wood frame Craftsman/Medieval Revival building at 186 Chestnut Hill A venue, now an American Legion post, the Georgian Revival Alexander Hamilton Elementary School at 198 Strathmore Road (1924), and the Fay-Spofford and Thorndike- designed Tudor Gothic Revival Harriet A. Baldwin School (1926) at 121 Corey Road. Constructed of red brick \tith.cast stone trim, the Hamilton and Baldwin Schools possess large, asphalt-paved schoolyards. Two purpose-built houses of worship are located in the area, The stone First Unitarian Church of Brighton at 189 Chestnut Hill A venue was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Cabot, Everett and Mead in 1894. This church has been adapted for reuse as a karate center. Overlooking Rabbi Shubow Park, Temple B'nai Moshe was designed in 1947
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by the Boston architectural firm of Krokyn and Brown. The synagogue is housed in a concrete and brick Art Moderne building at 16 Sidlaw Street which retains its original bronze exterior lighting fixtures.
In general, the condition of Aberdeen buildings is good to excellent with some integrity problems related to the following: replacement of original fabric with vinyl siding, front lawns paved with asphalt to create parking areas, and the alteration of late nineteenth to early twentieth century single family residences with the construction of large, multi unit rear wings.
Intrusions to the area tend to be located at the western and eastern edges of the proposed district, including modern high rise apartments and altered storefronts along Washington Street, between Corey Road and Commonwealth Avenue. At the western edge of the district, along Chestnut Hill A venue, near Cleveland Circle, a gas station, modem bank and architecturally undistinguished mid-to late-twentieth century commercial buildings compromise the architectural integrity of the District. Towering over Chestnut Hill Park, at the intersection of Chestnut Hill and Commonwealth Avenues, the molded concrete and metal Reservoir Tower does not respect the two to six story scale of adjacent buildings. Additionally, a modern motel and gas station are located at the comer of Mount Hood Road and Commonwealth A venue.
On the other hand, the improved appearance of most of the District in recent years stems from increased on-site home ownership and the adaptive reuse of architecturally significant properties. For example, conversions of apartment buildings from rental to condominium units has often resulted in better maintained buildings and grounds. Front yard gardens enliven streetscapes and promote pride of place.
Successful adaptive reuse of architecturally significant buildings has helped to preserve the character of the District. As early as the late 1960s, the substantial, yellow brick and wood- trimmed residence at 77 Englewood A venue was converted from a house into a synagogue after it vacated its original, early twentieth century building on Nightingale Street, near Franklin Field, Dorchester.
Currently housing a karate center, the former First Unitarian Church of Brighton (1894) at 189. Chestnut Hill Avenue retains its original siting, rubble stone materials, asymmetrical form and Gothic Revival, elements. Designed by Cabot, Everett and Mead, Boston architects responsible for the Colonial Revival First Parish Church on Meeting House Hill, Dorchester, the Brighton Church's rubble st~ne retaining walls are key landscape features within the northwestern corner of the District.
Across the street from the First Unitarian Church of Brighton, the former Aberdeen School (1895), a wood frame, Craftsman/Medieval Revival building of modest scale is situated on a relatively ample, grass-covered lot. For many years this building has housed an American Legion post which was named in honor of President John F. Kennedy during the 1960s. The continued viability of the property in its present form is important because it is the District's only original non-residentiallink with the Aberdeen residential development of the late nineteenth century and because its land provides green space within a densely built up area of apartment buildings.
Topographically, the Study Area is characterized by rocky, undulating terrain with the highest elevations located in the eastern section of the District. The southern and western slopes of Notting Hill skirt the northern edge of the proposed district behind buildings located at 1705 to
13
140 Kilsyth Terrace
. -. '.&.
45 Lanark Road