Historic JP house shouldn’t be demolished; should be named a landmark
The fate of two-family house with Italianate architecture built around 1858 is in the balance right now, as the Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) considers whether to designate it as an official historic landmark. In less than a month, sometime in mid-May, a 90-day City of Boston demolition delay on the house will expire. Basically, the rules say that if the house doesn’t achieve landmark status from the BLC before the demolition delay expires, the house can be destroyed by the owner. A group of Stonybrook neighbors and the Stonybrook Neighborhood Association itself have been working in favor of preserving the building with ornate exterior features at 19 Kenton Road by giving it landmark status. They have made a presentation and submitted a petition to the BLC as steps in the landmark process.. Neighbors are now asking people to email the BLC voicing support for giving the local building landmark status and its possible inclusion in a proposal to create housing. At a well-attended meeting of abutters and neighbors in September, 2024, attendees were unanimously opposed to a proposal from local developer Joseph Federico to tear down the house and build a large single building, according to an article in the Gazette at the time. Neighbors suggested then and are saying now that the developer could create six residential units in two buildings, instead, on the double parcel without demolishing the historic house. Back in January this year, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Zoning Committee voted to table the proposal that called for demolishing 19 Kenton until the landmark decision is made. “Landmarking this house, which affects only the exterior, will help to preserve the feel of this little area,” Joy Silverstein, a 40-year resident of the street, said last week, “We are directly off of Washington Street, which is rapidly becoming a corridor of large boxes with hundreds of new units. More housing is needed and welcome, but to build and keep communities and neighborhoods, this house and others like it should remain.” The building’s appearance and its history both provide good reasons for avoiding demolition, local landmark proponents have told the BLC and others. Landmark status advocates, many from Kenton Road and the neighborhood, wrote about the house’s history in a letter to officials recently. They have done their homework: “Kenton is a very small side street off of Washington Street and is one of the oldest streets in the Stonybrook neighborhood. A number of Kenton houses are listed in the Massachusetts Historical Commission database, and in a 1983 BLC Jamaica Plain Preservation Study. “All the Kenton houses date from the 1850s to approximately 1905. 19 Kenton, built in the mid-1850s, is an intact and attractive example of Italianate architecture. It is also a symbol of the arrival of the middle and working classes in Jamaica Plain, due to the area’s transformation at this time from country estate into an early instance of transportation-oriented development. (Neighbors have also started an effort to create a Kenton area Architectural Conservation District at the encouragement of the landmarks commissioners).” They also wrote: “Originally called Greenwood Avenue, Kenton was among the first streets established between Washington and Forest Hills Streets. “Isaac H. Cary, proprietor of a “Fancy Goods Store” in downtown Boston, owned a substantial amount of this land southwest of his own house from Forest Hills St to Washington St, including Greenwood Ave. (Kenton Road), Garfield Ave. (now Gartland Street), Williams Street, and on down Washington Street toward what is now Forest Hills T Station. Cary bought and then subdivided these large tracts of his estate, sold the parcels or built houses on them, some of which he rented out. “Beyond its architectural character, 19 Kenton represents an important span of time in Jamaica Plain’s transition from vast country estates into a subdivided and developed, more affordable and accessible neighborhood. In the mid-1800s ordinary people could live here and commute to downtown via the newly constructed and expanded public transit options near or on Washington St. (Boston and Providence Railroad, horse-car trolleys, electric streetcars, and the MBTA Elevated Railway). 19 Kenton is a two-family, and modest in size compared to the mansions of Boston, but it was exactly the scale needed at the time to house the growing Jamaica Plain middle- to working-class population. “After Cary sold 19 Kenton in 1879, it was successively owned by a piano company foreman, a retail liquor store proprietor, and a mason, to mention a few. Renters over time included a photographer, a milkman, a driver, a trucker, a carpenter, and a stair builder. This house represents the history of the middle and working class in Jamaica Plain; even its most recent owner was a brewer, connecting back to when Jamaica Plain hosted the majority of Boston’s breweries. This house’s tenant record represents one of a number of classes of people typically not represented in Boston’s landmarked properties.” “If Boston continues to cannibalize its historic architecture, it will damage its reputation and appeal as a historic destination for tourists and for new residents,” Stonybrook resident Jennifer Uhrhane said last week, referring to the current development proposal. “This is a six-unit, market-rate… proposal,” she pointed out. She said the two-building alternative that neighbors are suggesting, would succeed at “achieving the same number of proposed units, but preserving the unique historic, architectural and small-scale character of Kenton Road.” The BLC ordered a Study Report about 19 Kenton Road. Other activities and discussions are also part of the usual process before the status can be granted. I addressed questions to the BLC about the timing of necessary BLC actions prior to the 19 Kenton Road demolition delay expiration in mid-May. They were not answered in time for me to report here. Neighbors are encouraging Boston residents to indicate support of 19 Kenton Road becoming a landmark by contacting the BLC at [email protected] by early May.