The Revitalist

The Sankaty Head Lighthouse on Nantucket will start inching towards its new home today. The lighthouse, the only original remaining on the island, is endangered by erosion and without a move would eventually crumble into the sea. A local non-profit, The 'Sconset Trust, has taken ownership and raised funds for the $4M relocation project. (They have a nice website where you can track the progress of the move.) A nearby golf course has granted an easement for it to sit near the fifth hole. Lighthouse moving experts International Chimney Corp (they did the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse move on the NC Outer Banks) will be handling the delicate operation.

The Banker & Tradesman reports that the Shreve, Crump & Low on Boylston Street might be demolished to make way for a condo/office tower (sorry, subscribers only). The project has not been filed with the BRA yet, but B&T talked to City Councilor Michael Ross who was familiar with The Druker Co.'s plans for the site and willing to talk, unlike Druker. When the building was sold to Druker and Shreve moved out, a neighborhood group attempted to have it landmarked by the City, but their petition was denied. The 1910 Art Deco building sits just outside the Back Bay Architectural District. Apparently, the new plan is for a Class A office and luxury condo tower. One of the primary permitting issues is going to be shadows cast on Boylston Street and the Public Garden.

Personally, I have a very hard time seeing how the BRA or Landmarks Commission could justify the demo of this obviously significant building for a tower that will loom over the whole mid-rise block. That's going to have to be one amazingly stepped back design.

The Cottage Street manion in question.

Red Sox owner John Henry has filed papers with Brookline Town Hall to request a demolition permit for his Cottage Street mansion. He bought the property from Dodgers owner and developer Frank McCourt for $16 million. The 1939 Georgian Revival main house is 13,000 square feet, and an accompanying parcel has a 5,000 sq ft guest house, also slated for demo. The papers suggest that he would prefer to replace the existing structures with one house of similar scale that straddles four parcels that Henry has assembled. The Brookline Preservation Commission will review the application and rule on a possible demo delay of 12 months. Apparently, Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott were the architects of the main house, so that will contribute to its significance.

A $16M, 13,000 sq ft teardown? What is this world coming to?

It's interesting to note that relatively short Cottage Street is also the location of the H.H. Richardson House, whose future remains endangered. Looks like Brookline has some real preservation issues to chew on.

When I was a kid there was a house in my neighborhood that had two small windows with awnings facing out on the main street. It looked so much like a building with eyes and white aluminum eyebrows. I always liked that house – it seemed so friendly.

See the eyes?

Apparently lots of other people see faces in buildings, too. They have been contributing their photos of these faces to a Flickr group Faces In Places, which also shows up at a blog of the same name. This is definitely one for the blog roll.

Found this through Swiss Miss, which is, by the way, a fantastic design blog. 

Spotted on the Green Line this morning: straps!

This may be a new thing for us, but there were some straphangers in the crowd already – must be some displaced New Yorkers.

Magic Johnson was in town this week to promote a project co-developed by his Canyon Johnson Urban Fund and Cathartes Private Investments. The Mezzo Design Lofts in Charlestown is a 146-unit condo building, new construction, transit-oriented (near Sullivan Square T stop). The market niche is the Design element – buyers can work with the on-site interior design team to furnish the unit and then roll the costs into the purchase.

Johnson said that he has been trying to do a project in Boston for a while now, "I've been down this road in Boston for about 10 years now. I was kind of disappointed because I thought it would have created jobs." But now that he has got one in the ground, maybe his CJUF, which focuses on minority neighborhoods and workforce housing, will find it easier to get a second one done. No doubt he was nudged by reporters hot to trot over Gov. Patrick's recent announcement on casinos, but he did also say that he would be interested in a casino development as a way to be "putting people to work."

Mayor Menino is determined to make Boston more bike friendly. He has hired former Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman to be the city's bike czar. The first phase of his pro-bike initiative will include 250 new bike racks and an online map for scouting best routes. He wants to implement a network of bike lanes that serve the major avenues and connect the city through the Emerald Necklace. The Globe article points out that these sorts of initiatives have started and stopped in the city before. But this time several members of the administration are cyclists, and Menino, himself, has been tooling around his neighborhood on a silver Trek. There is also a certain amount of inter-city competitiveness around the country to see who can make his city more green, more transit-friendly, etc. This might just be the nudge that the city needs to go from talk to execution.

Chickens in the city have been around for a while now. One member of AHF is very familiar with the trials of urban chickens (foxes, skunks, opossums, etc.). The Times has a sweet article on the trend, noting that often times "chickens are the gateway animal for urban farming" and that people who raise chickens for their eggs are more likely to treat them as pets than those who raise them for meat. Online forums have opened up at thecitychicken.com and backyardchickens.com for people who want help designing their coop or dealing with brooding hens. As the article points out it's not just a upper class hobby farming, there is a serious hipster contingent, as well – like the Madison, WI "poultry underground" that persuaded the city to rezone hens (madcitychickens.com) and the liquor store owner in Red Hook who puts her backyard fresh eggs into Whiskey Sours and Ramos gin fizzes. Some people are looking for meat that they can guarantee the health and quality of, some are looking to reconnect with their food, and some are just looking for a pet that's not a chocolate lab.

The new WGBH Building projects over the Turnpike.

The Times reviews the new WGBH Building in Brighton. The station had previously been housed in a collection of unassuming buildings near the Harvard Business School campus. They have now moved to a dramatic new location alongside the MassTurnpike at the corner of Market and N. Beacon Streets. In an effort to reach a wider audience with their media, the outside of the building features a giant screen. "You can see the thing from two miles away," says the architect. They won't have text, or presumably ads for their programs, but will mostly project images that catch the commuters on the Turnpike. The example given is having a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds on a gray New England day. I bet palm trees on a warm sandy beach will be popular in February. The success of the "digital skin" will likely hinge on how well the images are programmed. If they can keep it fresh and relevant, then maybe commuters will think "What is WGBH going to throw at me today," as the architect hopes.

On Planetizen this week there is an op-ed on the self-storage industry entitled "When a McMansion isn't enough." Two graphics say it all.

data from NAHB. Housing Facts, Figures and Trends - May 2007

data from the Self Storage Association, a national trade group.

It seems to me that the self storage issue isn't really acquisitiveness (although McMansions are another conversation). People have an underlying ambivalence towards the "everything is disposable" mentality. They hold on to some of this stuff because it's still good and someone might use it someday, even though they can't figure out who or how. They would feel guilty just putting it in the trash, and so they compromise on storage. There is an untapped market here: someone to make the connection between owners of old stuff and new users of that stuff. Websites like freecycle.org are starting to make it happen, but there are people for whom freecycling is too much effort. They want someone to take away their old stuff and reassure them that it will find a good home and not go to the landfill. Anyone want to start a business?