BSA Historic Resources Committee Meeting Notes for March 2007
Present: Mark Almeda, Fred Atherton, Olga Bachilova, Matthew Bronski, Amy Cole-Ives, Taya Dixon, Marilyn Fenollosa, Robert Fulmer, Jeffrey Harris, David M. Hart, Erin Hester, Susan Keats, David Kelman, David King, Krista McFadden, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Elizabeth Randall, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Jay Stanbury, Eric Ward, and Gary Wolf
1. 133 Federal Street, Demolition Delay: 133 Federal Street, Blue Cross-Blue Shield Headquarters (1956)
Henry distributed a letter written for the HRC in support of demolition delay for 133 Federal St., in advance of a hearing at the Boston Landmarks Commission. David Fixler spoke in favor of the demolition delay on behalf of the BSA board. [The BLC voted unanimously in favor of demolition delay. In the meantime, the project footprint and design team may have altered irreversibly with the resignation of Renzo Piano from the project.]
2. Wright-Locke-Hamilton Farm, Winchester: The Historic Resources Committee has been aware of a few clusters of early farm structures that are embedded in suburban settings with increasing financial pressure toward their removal to create unencumbered residential development sites. Matthew Bronski and Susan Keats brought an especially significant farm site to the Committee because of its illustrative power. This single site raises issues of natural landscape conservation, cultural landscape preservation, leveraged application of Community Preservation Act funds (if Winchester passes CPA), and current agricultural zoning as a working farm owned by only three families since 1640 that was sold to a large national developer. Under Chapter 61A of Mass General Laws, in exchange for the many years of reduced property taxes (at an agricultural rate), the Town of Winchester has the right to match any bona fide offer to purchase the 20-acre site, but the price is steep at $13.5 M, and the law requires a Town to decide within only 120 days. The buyer, Avalon Bay, is proposing 260 units of housing, a far denser development than would be allowed by Winchester's zoning bylaws. However, 25% "affordable" units and a Chapter 40B basis for permit applications favor the developer in permitting, not the town. The farm is on the current Preservation Mass Ten Most Endangered List and has been individually listed on the National Register since 1983.
Left: Shed (l) 1827barn (c) and 1828 farmhouse (r) Right: 1915 squash house (l) and 1827 barn (r)
Susan and Matthew explained the history of the site; the changes in farm crops and family ownership over the past four centuries; and its unusual significance in Canadian history, through the settlement and founding of the Capital region of Canada by Philemon Wright (the last Wright to own the farm) in 1800. In 1980, the Canadian government placed a large bronze plaque on the Winchester farm, commemorating its significance in Canadian history.
Both the land and the buildings are significant. The Winchester Historic Commission deems the site a Heritage Landscape, where the significance of the buildings and the land are inseparable. The Winchester Conservation Commission greatly values the five habitat types on the 20 acres and their value abutting both Winchester and Lexington Conservation Lands. The Con. Comm. also notes that much of Hamilton Farm is designated as "critical supporting watershed" by the State, priority areas to protect biodiversity. It is one of only four such areas within Route 128 and the only one in the entire Mystic River watershed. All parts of the working farm are intact - farmhouse, barns, well, covered cistern, icehouse, sheds, corral, etc. - making continued use as a farm technically viable. The Historical Comm. and Con. Comm. both advocated that the town save the entire 20 acre parcel. [Editors note: so often in Great Britain, but so infrequently here in the U.S., do historic building and nature conservation constituencies strategically ally] However, the Town's current plan is to buy the farm and sell-off up to 11 of the 20 acres of the farm for development, to recoup part or all of the $13.5 million purchase price. The Town issued RFP's for developers for this partial development scheme and received 10 responses, with offers ranging from $4 to the full 13.5 million, from 8 single family houses to 100 apartment units, and from 5 to 11 acres developed on the 20 acre site.
One of the most compelling responses received was from the Trust for Public Land, teamed with a local grassroots group, The Winchester Hamilton Farm Interest Group, and a local housing developer, Symes. They proposed 8 houses on 5.7 acres tucked discretely into the least historically or ecologically sensitive corners of the site, with conservation trails on the ecologically valuable natural land, a community farm on the historic farm and cultivated fields, and a "Town Meadow" recreation area on meadow/pasture land. A proposal from Abbott Engler Brigham also concentrated development on the least sensitive corner of the site and preserved the most ecologically and historically significant portion of the site. Other proposals were more typical housing developments. Some developers simply couldn't resist demolishing the historic covered cistern to fit in one more unit of housing or running an asphalt access road right through the organic raspberry fields. Ugh.
To even have the chance to make something positive happen at the site (as opposed to the 260 unit Avalon Bay development, which would bulldoze the site), the Town had to convince 2/3 of Town Meeting members and a majority of town-wide voters at a Special Town Election to purchase the farm for $13.5 million within 120 days. This promised to be an exceedingly difficult task, given Winchester's history of voting down 15 of 18 proposed overrides since the introduction of Proposition 2 1/2. Winchester currently doesn't have CPA and couldn't vote to adopt it prior to the deadline to exercise it ROFR to buy within the 120 days (CPA can only be adopted at a regular Town Election, not at a Special Town Election).
The School Committee recognized that the Avalon Bay 260 unit proposal would likely necessitate a new school or temporary trailers to accommodate students at an already full school. The Town officials and particularly its Finance Committee did a stellar analysis to show that the "do nothing" option of not buying the farm and allowing the 260 unit development to happen would not be "free." They calculated that the 260 units would cost the average tax payer approximately $112 a year the first year (mostly education costs), escalating forever, whereas purchasing the farm for $13.5 million would cost the avg. taxpayer $151 per year for 20 years, period. This realistic approach to educating the public of the real costs of not buying or protecting open space and historic landscapes should be emulated by other communities facing similar issues. Realizing the true costs of doing nothing, various supporters of open space, ecology, fiscal stability, schools, and historic resources joined forces to advocate for purchase of the farm. In Winchester, such unity behind a single cause is quite rare. Meanwhile, given the significance of the site and Philemon Wright in Canadian history, the saga of the farm's precarious fate was covered on CBC radio (Canada's equivalent of NPR) and in the Ottawa newspapers.
Postscript since our March meeting: A week after the March HRC meeting, Winchester Town Meeting voted 151-1 to purchase the farm. Two weeks later, the Town as a whole voted 79% to 21% to purchase the farm. The next day, the Town notified the Hamilton family and Avalon Bay that the Town is exercising its right of first refusal and purchasing the farm for $13.5 million. The Town will close on the property in July, stepping into the exact Purchase and Sale agreement and dates that Avalon Bay had negotiated with the Hamiltons. While the farm is saved from bulldozing and 260 units of housing, the battle from here forward will be for the Town to choose a partial development scheme that preserves much of the landscape and saves all eight of the historic buildings. Stay tuned….
3. Cape Cod Modern House Trust: Peter McMahon put together an exhibition of early Modern houses from Cape Cod at the Provincetown Art Association. He has now formed a nonprofit that is working closely with the National Park Service on National Seashore properties that have historic architectural value. He is setting fundraising goals for the organization and interested in making his group's efforts known to potential supporters.
4. Tours:
David Hart and Matthew Bronski are developing an exciting tour and mini-symposium at Strawberry Banke with Kimberley Alexander for a Saturday in mid-June, with presentations about the construction and design of buildings from their collection. Matthew is hoping to persuade Jim Garvin to take part in the day's events in some way, as in 1963 he was instrumental in transforming Strawberry Banke from a paper corporation to a 25-building physical reality, as well as running a one-man salvage operation each morning during the dawn hours in advance of a phalanx of efficient wrecking machines. [See A Building History of Northern New England, James L. Garvin, University Press of New England, 2001-a handsome and intelligent book.]
Henry, Gary Wolf, Jonathan Smith (and others from DOCOMOMO-US/New England) have begun to talk to Sarah Kelly at the Boston Preservation Alliance (BPA) about leading information-laden tours of Post-WWII Architecture in Boston. The BSA president, Hubert Murray sent a list of about thirty significant Post-WW II buildings to Mayor Menino and the Boston Landmarks Commission. These tours may aim to create more awareness and a higher level of critical analysis for the buildings on that list.
Next Meeting
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, April 12, 2007
Featuring Bill Bary on
Post-Katrina New Orleans: Preservation Planning and Action
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes