Preservation v. profits for 1850’s Greek Revival home in Roxbury

A developer is planning to raze this circa 1850s home on Hawthorne Street to build condominiums on the 8,000 square-foot lot on which it sits.

Residents are rallying to oppose a developer’s plans for the fate of a historic house in Highland Park. Developers intend to demolish the Greek Revival style dwelling at 20 Hawthorne Street and replace it with condominiums. In response, the community petitioned to preserve it.

Real estate prices have been soaring in the neighborhood: new condos are selling for more than $600,000. The prices have attracted developers, such as CAD Builders LLC, who constructed an 8-unit condominium on the adjacent 22 Hawthorne Street and now seeks to build similar housing at 20.

Residents argue that destroying the house is unnecessary.

“Sometimes demolition is the only way, if the building is structurally unsound or if it would be far too expensive to renovate, but that’s not the case here,” said resident Jon Ellertson, who has lived in the neighborhood for 48 years and has, with his wife, renovated two local Greek Revival homes. He added that CAD Builders “admit [that the house] has no structural flaws, but is in the way of their maximizing profits with new condos.”

“It [the building] is in good condition. A nice little family could live there and be very happy there,” said abutter Lauren Clarke-Mason.

Petition signers invoked 20 Hawthorne St.’s historic architecture and role in arguing that it should not be torn down. The single-family residence is “the only cape style house in the neighborhood,” the online petition declared. The structure is notable also for its mid-1800s Greek Revival interior woodwork and for having been home to several historic figures.

“One of the reason I moved here 20 years ago and decided to stay is I love the variety of architecture here,” said local resident Celia Grant, who signed the online petition to oppose the building’s demolition, “There’s a lot of styles that are gone from other neighborhoods, especially Greek Revival.”

“I think that Roxbury history and history in general is often demolished in favor of making quick, easy-to-make … buildings,” said Clarke-Mason. She said history is often made to give way “in favor of huge monstrosities and tax breaks for people who build stuff in this community and then live somewhere else.”

CAD Builders owns the land, but if the petitioners are successful at convincing Boston Landmarks Commission that the house has sufficient historic and architectural value, the Commission may order a 90-day demolition delay. During that time, CAD would be expected to meet with community members to find alternative methods for developing the land.

Bid for time

The parcel of land occupies 8,100 square feet. Residents suggest that this large size would allow developers to construct two or three condos on the back of the land while still preserving the home.

As part of the development process requirements, CAD met with community residents on August 6. Attendees said that CAD representative Gary Martell was not open to alternatives to demolition.

“He said if I can’t tear the building down, I’ll sell it because I only tear down buildings, I don’t renovate buildings,” recalled Ellertson.

“No one makes money off of fixing properties that are older; rehab is twice as expensive,” Clarke-Mason said the developer told the assembled people.

Residents acknowledge that preserving the building would reduce the developer’s profits, but argue that this should not be where priorities are placed. According to Redfin, CAD purchased 20 Hawthorne Street for $495,000. In contrast, a single apartment unit at neighboring 22 Hawthorne sold for $589,900.

The community’s petitions and arguments were presented before the Landmarks Commission on Tuesday, August 25. Speaking on Monday, many expected the demolition delay to be approved, but were wary of getting their hopes up.

“Right now a developer can just mark his calendar for 90 days, refuse to meet with the community … and just wait out that period,” said Ellertson. He cited a previous experience in which a developer had neglected to schedule meetings, then proceeded with his original plans once the delay concluded.

One solution, Ellertson said, would be to have the Commission require CAD “to engage another subcontractor who knows how to save this building and not hurt the bottom line,” should they approve the delay.

Competing priorities

In addition to historical and architectural value, some argued that new condos would also alter the character of the neighborhood.

“The new occupants of those condos [at 22 Hawthorne] have signed the petition to save these buildings. Even though they live in a new condo built by CAD they recognize the value in saving this building,” said Ellertson, “When I talk with these new neighbors they say they moved to Highland Park because they like the diversity of the neighborhood: the racial diversity, the economic diversity … They love the architectural diversity of the neighborhood.”

Additional resident concerns are that insufficient parking space would be created for the new housing units, thus worsening traffic and parking conditions in the area.

“It’s a crowded street, it’s a one-way street,” said Roxbury resident Rodney Singleton. Before the neighboring lot at 22 Hawthorne was turned into condos, he and other community members informed CAD that there was not enough parking to support eight units.

“It’s difficult to get parking when there’s a little function going on right now,” he says they told CAD, “not to mention when there’s 8 units [added].”

The developers built 16 parking spaces to service 22 Hawthorne, which could be problematic if multiple residents in a unit have cars or guests. CAD has said some of those spaces will be assigned to future inhabitants of 20 Hawthorne, should they be successful in their plan to build units there.

Others worry about residents being forced out of the neighborhood in the face of rising prices as developers buy land and create high-priced units on it.

“There’s all these complaints about people being forced out. There are fewer and fewer affordable places to live. … Developers are out-bidding people in the neighborhood who might buy [a place],” said Singleton, “They’re pretty sure they can make a profit because they can squeeze a bit more out of the property than what it was in its former life … or its current life, if you increase the number of units.”

Twenty Hawthorne Street has been home to such figures as Roland Worthington, who was a publisher of the Daily Traveler (a paper that later became part of the Boston Herald) before being elected to the Massachusetts General Court in 1859.

Another famous inhabitant was Mary Goode, who became the second African American woman in the state legislature when she served on the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1975-76 and 1977-78.