Columbia Road - Geneva Avenue Historic District

The Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue historic district (proposed) is a collection ofeighteen brick apartment buildings and one brick commercial building along Columbia Road between its intersection with Washington Street to the west and Brunswick Street to the east in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Geneva Avenue crosses Columbia Road at the center of the proposed district. The collection of buildings shows the evolution of the apartment design along Columbia Road, a fast developing transportation corridor, during the first half of the twentieth century. The older buildings at the east end of the district are essentially masonry versions of the typical “triple-decker” dwelling found locally with later buildings to the west side of the district taking more modern Colonial Revival form.

All of the contributing resources in this district are built at the front of their lot lines and convey the accelerated urbanization of this neighborhood during the period of significance. The blocks of Columbia Road included here contain a handful of vacant lots and new development set back from the street, but groupings of contributing buildings and the collection as a whole continue to convey the historic significance of the area.

90-94 Columbia Road

100-108 Columbia Road (1924-25) (BO S.16486)

Developed by owners J. Krinsky and A.D. Babbitt in 1924-1925 with the buildings designed by the architectural firm of silvermam, Brown, and Hoenan. While these buildings have similar colonial revival details to 137 Columbia Road, they employ a lighter colored brick.

105 Columbia Road (BOS.16487)

This building is similar to many other brick apartment buildings throughout Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan with curved bays protruding at the corners of the building and a large decorative metal cornice. There are no early building records available but atlases for the neighborhood indicate that the building was constructed between 1910 and 1918. A summary of the above information is provided on the attached map for the area.

Commercial Buildings at 114 Washington Street (1927) (BOS.16488)

Philip Markovsky is also responsible with Israel Goodman and Moffie for construction of the set of commercial buildings that are part of the block along Washington Streetconstructed in the same year. Although now covered with unsympathetic signage, this small commercial complex houses seven small stores which appear to have the original simple brick walls and original wooden storefront doors.

129-135 Columbia Road (1927) (BOS.16489)

The largest apartment complex on the block 129-135 Columbia Road sits directly south of 137 Columbia Road. This complex of four buildings arranged in a “u” shape around a courtyard was designed by Saul Moffie, the architect of 137 Columbia Road and numerousother apartment complexes in Boston during the twentieth century. Philip Markovsky is listed as the owner of the property in 1927 when the buildings were constructed.

137 Columbia Road (1928) (B08.16490)

The apartment building at 137 Columbia Road was constructed during a period of extensive apartment building construction along Columbia Road. The property was developed for residential in 1928 when the city of Boston issued building permits for the construction of a three story brick and stone apartment building. The building permit for 137 Columbia Avenue indicates the owner of the property was Abraham Marks and the architect of record was Saul E. Moffie, a local architect of Jewish descent.

The four-story apartment building at 137 Columbia Road was designed in the Colonial Revival style. The building footprint is rectangular with a shallow inset on the north (facade) elevation at the entrance bay. The building is laid in seven-course Flemish-bond brick and capped with a flat roof. The roof is ornamented with a profiled cornice that runs the length of the facade and wraps the corners of the side elevations. The facade also features decorative concrete stringcourses with ogee profiles above the first story windows and above and below the tourth story windows. The main entrance is set within a projecting portico. The portico’s entablature is supported with Corinthian columns. The entrance holds a non-historic single-leaf metal door with a non-historic 3-light transom and non-historic sidelights.

Fenestration on the north elevation consists of single, paired, and tripled windows. All windows arc non-historic 1/1 metal replacement windows. First story window openings are set on concrete lug sills. Second story windows have concrete lug sills and dog ear concrete lintels. Inset brick spandrel panels with cast concrete medallions at the corners are set below select second story windows. Third story windows have concrete lug sills and stepped concrete lintels that are ornamented with a floral motif.

The side (east and west) and rear (south) elevations are punctuated with single and paired window openings. All windows are non-historic 1/1 metal replacement windows. Window openings have concrete lug sills and lintels. Inset balconies with metal railings are found on the side elevations but not on the rear elevation. A brick chimney rises along the rear elevation.

143-147 Columbia Road (1927)(BM16491)

Abraham Marks, the owner of 137 Columbia Road also developed the property he owned directly to the north. In 1927 he hired architect Samuel S. Levy to design 143-147 Columbia Road, the apartment complex that currently occupies the property. This complex consists of two adjoined buildings, each designed to house fourteen families.

16 Strathcona Road (1927) (BC.116492)

The last of the buildings on the block, 16 Strathcona Road, sits south of 137 Columbia Road. This building is the closest in scale to the subject property but lacks some of the ornamental details found on the buildings fronting Columbia Road. This property was also developed in 1927 but by property owner Samuel Price and his architect Bernard Levy. It is possible that Bernard Levy is the younger brother of Samuel S. Levy listed as ^–Barney” in the 1910 census.

150-154 Columbia Road (1924-25) (BOS.16493)

Developed by owners J. Krinsky and A.D. Babbitt in 1924-1925 with the buildings designed by the architectural firm of Silverman, Brown, and Hoenan. While these buildings have similar colonial revival details to 137 Columbia Road, they employ a lighter colored brick.

165-173 Columbia Road

180 Columbia Road (1928) (BOS.16494)

Designed in 1928 by the firm winebaum and Wexler for property owner Benjamin Elfman. This brick building has a very different street presence from other complexes in the area with brick balconies facing south on to Columbia Road on its three upper floors.

193-195 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917 (BOS.16495)

Three-story plus basement brick apartment building with cast stone quoins constructed circa 1909. The building is set on a stone foundation and constructed of seven-course Flemish-bond brick. The first story of the Columbia Road (north) elevation is clad with cast stone.

197-199 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917 (BOS.16496)

The three-story plus basement brick apartment building at 867 Columbia Road wasconstructed circa 1909. The building is set on a stone foundation and constructed of seven-course Flemish-bond brick. The first story of the Columbia Road (north) elevation is clad with cast stone. A projecting water table tops the basement-level on the north elevation. The two outer bays of the north elevation are canted; each corner on the canted bays is finished with cast stone quoins.

200-204 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917 (BOS.16497)

203-205 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917 (BOS.16498)

Three-story plus basement brick apartment building with cast atone quoins constructed circa 1909. The building is set on a stone foundation and constructed of seven-course Flemish-bond brick. The first story of the Columbia Road (north) elevation is clad with cast stone.

209-211 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917 (BOS.16499)

217-219 Columbia Road ca. 1905-191/ (BOS.16500)

The three-story plus basement brick apartment building at 217 Columbia Road was constructed circa 1909. The building is set on a stone foundation and constructed of seven-course Flemish-bond brick. The first story of the Columbia Road (north) elevation is clad with cast stone. A projecting water table tops the basement-level on the north elevation. The two outer bays of the north elevation are canted; each corner on the canted bays is finished with cast stone quoins. The side (east and west) elevations each feature a curved bay and a canted bay. A flat roof covers the apartment building. The side and rear elevations have metal coping at the roofline. The north (facade) elevation features an ornate ogee-profiled projecting cornice. The cornice has decorative modillions and dentils. A frieze board with inset panels also runs the length of the facade elevation.

The entrance is centrally located on the north elevation. The doorway is located within an inset entrance. The entrance is framed with pilasters and Tuscan columns that sit atop the water table. The columns support an entablature that spans the entrance. A panel is delineated on the entablature but no engraving is visible. The inset entrance walls are ornamented with paneled cast stone. The entryway holds a non-historic single-leaf door with sidelights and a transom that dates to the 1980s.

The entrance bay is flanked by smaller-sized single window openings, which are framed with Tuscan pilasters and set on cast stone lug sills. The outer bays of the north elevation have single window openings on all three stories. First story windows are set on a cast stone sill course and topped by a cast stone lintel course. Single window openings on the second and third stories feature cast stone lug sills and lintels. The central hays of the second and third stories have paired window openings. Second story windows in the central bays are famed with cast stone quoin surrounds with a profiled entablature. Third story windows in the central bays have cast stone lug sills and splayed cast stone lintels with keystones. The side elevations have single window openings set on cast stone lug sill. Windows in the rounded bays are topped with cast stone lintels, while the rest of the side elevation window openings have two-course segmental arched rowlock windows. Basement-level windows are infilled with concrete blocks. The remaining openings feature 1/1 non-historic metal-sash replacement windows.

This building is typical of other brick apartment buildings constructed throughout Roxbury, especially along Columbia Road, and the neighboring communities of Mattapan and Dorchester from the turn of the twentieth century through the 1950s in terms of scale, massing, materials, and ornamentation. The building at 217 Columbia Road features elements of the Colonial Revival style, which was highly popular during the first half of the twentieth century. The Colonial Revival details on 217 Columbia Road are also employed on the adjacent brick apartment buildings.

223-225 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917

229-231 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917

252-254 Columbia Road ca. 1905-1917

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

Bromley Atlases from 1889, 1904, and 1918 illustrate the distinct development of the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District, which is depicted in its current configuration on the 1918 Bromley Atlas. The 1889 Bromley Atlas depicts a minimal level of residential development, with a mixture of large tracts and smaller, more urban lots developed with single and twin houses. In 1689, this section of Dorchester was largely undeveloped, with small pockets of residential construction. The majority of buildings in the section of Dorchester bounded by the New York and New England Railroad, Grove Street, Blue Hill Avenue, and Geneva Avenue were wood-frame construction. Brick construction at that time was limited and generally only used for religious, civic, and commercial buildings, a handful of which are depleted on the map near the intersection of Blue Hill and Geneva avenues and supported the streetcar system. The brick construction Atherton School is located on Columbia Road near its intersection with Geneva Avenue.

By 1904, the Bromley Atlas shows an increasing number of smaller residential lots as the larger tracts were sold to speculative builders. Scores of wood-frame residential buildings were constructed on the east side of the New York and New England Railroad. The sale of large tracts allowed the establishment of new roads to connect Columbia Road and Blue Hill Avenue, which were developed with wood-frame residential buildings on small lots. The streetcar buildings at the intersection of Geneva and Blue Hill avenues had doubled in size by 1904.

In 1904, the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District had not yet been developed; the majority of the district was part of a tract owned by the trustees of William Wales. The tract fronted Columbia Road and extended east to Olney Street. Four small lots along Columbia Road adjacent to the Atherton School had been subdivided from the Wales tract and developed with a wood-frame building and three small brick structures. A handful of residential lots had also been delineated at the northern end of the Wales tract, also fronting Columbia Road.

As depicted on the 1918 Bromley Atlas, the portion of the William Wales tract. on the west side of the New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad was sold and developed between 1904 and. 191.8. In 1908, Elizabeth W. Little et al purchased a portion of the tract along Columbia Road. The sale was reported in the Boston Globe; the article noted that the title went through Frederic M. McIntire and that the property would be improved.

The twenty brick apartment buildings that comprise the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District date to this period and were likely constructed circa 1908-1909. Buildings permits were not on file at Boston Inspectional Services for any of the properties within the district. All the brick apartment buildings have similar forms and architectural detailing, indicative of the speculative, repetitive building described by Sam Sass Warner in Streetcar Suburbs. The brick apartment buildings were a departure from the wood-frame single and twin houses and triple deckers that were previously constructed in the area.

The brick apartment buildings in the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District exemplify the practice of speculative, decades of the nineteenth century and first decades of the twentieth century. Repetitive speculative builders are responsible for the areas or districts of residential buildings found throughout Dorchester that exhibit the same forms and architectural detailing. These builders tended to limit their operations to one or two house styles in a specific price range. Generally, according to Sam Bass Warner, “once a builder had learned a successful land-house combination he stuck to it until fashion forced him to abandon it. If the area he worked in shifted its character, so that his kind of operation was no longer the popular one, he usually preferred to move to new land rather than to vary his house and land style.”

Shifts in the housing form of an area often signaled the arrival of a different set of builders. As Sam Bass Warner also notes in Streetcar Suburbs, “In years between substantial shifts in transportation or architectural style neighborhoods continued building in uniform patterns.”‘ Thus, the row of brick buildings constructed along Columbia Road at its intersection with Geneva Avenue, which were among the first brick residential buildings constructed south of Columbia Square east of Blue Hill Avenue signals a change in the speculative builders active in the vicinity, a shift in architectural styling, and transformations in the transportation system.

Speculative builders constructed multi-family housing along Columbia Road due to the then recent improvements along the thoroughfare. The widening and extending of Columbia Road had a substantial effect on the value of property fronting the boulevard. The project spurred many property owners to put large tracts of previously undeveloped land up for sale. ⁴ Although initial development in the area had favored the construction of single family houses, development opportunities stemming from the Columbia Road improvement project led to a substantial increase in the construction of multi-family housing. As reported in the Boston Globe,

It is not necessary to go into any detailed statement of the condition of the real estate market in Dorchester during the past year, as the activity, which has been manifest in this section for the past few years, continued during 1905. At the present time it is to the interest of the home buyer to state that many properties are being sold here at prices within the reach of not only the middle classes, hut also the masses, many small houses having been constructed and finding a ready market. The number of apartment houses that have been erected in Dorchester tae past year demonstrates the fact that also people are now turning to this class of house that in previous years were satisfied with single dwellings. The claim is that the numerous improvements, such as heat, hot water, and janitor service, are responsible for this state of affairs.

The article went on to report that the new apartments along Columbia Road offered good rents, were rented quickly, and were occupied by the best quality of tenants.

Architecturally, all the buildings that compose the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District feature detailing evocative of the Colonial Revival style, with varyinglevels of ornamentation. Slight variations between buildings provided limited variety but did little to obscure the fact that they tended to be of a similar plan and design. The apartments, which are all brick construction, feature detailing such as stamped metal cornices and stone lintels and door surrounds. The most common ornamentation is decorative brickwork trim along the base of the cornice, quoins of either brick or stone, and medallions featuring either flora or the name of the apartment building. All of the brick apartment buildings are generally between three and four stories, a height that is contextual with the general scope of the neighborhood and with each other. Though how fronts are predominant, there are examples of apartment buildings in the district with flat façades.

Constructed during the height of popularity for the Colonial Revival style, the Columbia Road apartment buildings all exhibit the style in varying degrees. The Colonial Revival style became and remained highly popular in the United States from 1880 to 1955. The style draws heavily on American Georgian and English Adam inspired precedents. The single-most defining characteristic of the Colonial Revival style is an emphasis on the main entrance’s door surround. Entrance surrounds often feature pilasters supporting a pediment or entablature following a Georgian-style precedent or a fanlight above the doer following an Adam-style precedent.’ The enduring popularity of the Colonial Revival style explains its pervasive use by speculative builders in the Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District.

Four principle characteristics define the Colonial Revival style. The style emphasized accentuated front doors with pilasters supporting pediments or one-story, one-bay entry porches, fanlights and sidelights framing the entrance, symmetrical fenestration on the facade, and multi-pane double-hung sash windows, which are frequently paired. Although these common characteristics unify the style, there are multiple variations. Such dwellings can be one, two, or three stories in height with side gable, hipped, and gambrel (signaling the Dutch Colonial style) roof. Some Colonial Revival dwellings have asymmetrical facades, while others feature a second-story jetty reminiscent of post-medieval English dwellings. The principal areas of decoration on a Colonial Revival dwelling are the entrances, windows, and cornices.’ The style is commonly found not just on single-family dwellings but on multi-family housing such as twin dwellings, triple-deckers, and brick apartment buildings. Examples of ornate, Colonial Revival-style entrances featuring ornamental pilasters, pediments, or brackets are found on the residential buildings within the district.

The Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District retains its integrity of location, association, feeling, setting, design, workmanship, and materials. The district is visually distinct from the surrounding earlier wood-frame construction and forms a distinct wall of brick frontage on Columbia Road, which has remained intact since its construction. The construction of the district within a distinct period (1905-1940) reflects the rise of speculative builders on Columbia Road following its widening and expansion at the turn of the century.

NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA SUMMARY

The Columbia Road – Geneva Avenue Historic District is composed of eighteen brick apartment buildings and one brick commercial building constructed between 1905 and 194D. The district is significant at the local level under National Register Criteria A and C. The district is significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of Dorchester following the expansion of the streetcar system and the transformation of Columbia Road into boulevard and a vital transportation artery. This group of buildings was constructed by speculative builders in direct response 10 the transformation of Columbia Road. The district is additionally significant under Criterion C for its architecture, as the group of buildings forms a distinctive collection of residential complexes built by speculative builders along Columbia Road on either side of the intersection with Geneva Avenue. The district contains examples of the brick apartment building forms found throughout Dorchester. The residential buildings and the associated commercial buildings are excellent examples of the transition of Colonial. Revival forms during the first half of the twentieth century and are the work of locally known

architects.