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Archive for the 'Everything Else' Category
Richard Pinkham House – Octagon House in Medford
Richard Pinkham House Medford - Octagon House
We were on our way to a brokers’ open house in Medford when I stumbled upon the house at right. I love octagon houses and knew there was an unusual example of one in Medford but I never knew where it was. Turns out it’s the Richard Pinkham House at 24 Brooks Park in Medford.
Richard Pinkham was a house builder and this was his own home. The house’s construction dates from 1850 – 1855. Pinkham purchased the land in 1850 and the house first appears on a map in 1855. Richard Pinkham lived in the house for at least 50 years.
The house is very distinctive - blending elements of three architectural styles: Greek Revival, Italianate and Octagon Mode. What’s most unusual about the house is that the octagonal element is enveloped by the rest of the house with wings or rooms projecting from three sides of the ocatagon. It’s best appreciated in an aerial view.
The Richard Pinkham house was restored and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Next door to the house (with a parking lot that straddles the Pinkham house) is this handsome building. It’s a large Federal Colonial style apartment building at 20 Brooks Park. The building was designed by Stirling / Brown Architects of Winchester. It’s a beautiful city building. You really have to look long and hard to realize that it’s only a few years old rather than 150 years old or more. Why can’t more new buildings look so good?
20 Brooks Park Medford MA
I’ve always liked Brooks Park. The loop of the street circles the grassy park of the same name. It’s tucked away but close to Medford Square, just across Main Street from the Royall House. There’s an interesting asssortment of houses of different eras including the house for sale at 13 Brooks Park that was our reason for visiting the neighborhood.
Happy Halloween
Now that most of the snow’s melted in the city it’s time for trick or treating.
Happy Halloween to all! May you get lots of candy.
From the archives – Here’s someone – probably me – in one of my favorite Halloween costumes, bought years ago at Irwin’s, a toy and hobby store that used to be in Porter Square.
Happy Halloween!
Fire in Teele Square Somerville
I couldn’t figure out what was holding up traffic in Teele Square this afternoon. Turns out it was people gawking at the damage left by last night’s fire in Teele Square Somerville. What a sight!
The fire was discovered at about 11 pm last night, Saturday. That must have been a challenge – fighting the fire in the middle of the bizarre October snowstorm.
Fire damage in Teele Square Somerville
The damage is extreme – hard to believe actually given the block’s proximity to the fire station around the corner. The damage extends for almost the entire block in the center of Teele Square between Clarendon Ave and the intersection of Elm Street and Broadway.
Hawk Cleaners at the corner was destroyed – you can still see some of the blackened dry cleaning hanging on the rack amid the rubble. The space holding the nail salon next door was also destroyed. The next few storefronts, including the Chinese restaurant Kee Kar Lau and the Somerville police substation are boarded up. At the end of the block a hair salon and Rudy’s restaurant seemed to be intact though Rudy’s was closed for the day because of the fire with signs posted that they hope to be able to open by Monday evening.
It’s a sobering sight – the devastation that fire can cause so quickly no matter how close the firefighters may be.
Somerville fire reduces businesses to rubble
Furniture Drive for the Homeless
Massachusetts Furniture Drive
Do you have unwanted furniture that you want to get rid of? You can clean out and do a good deed at the same time. The Greater Boston Association of Realtors is holding a furniture drive from November 7 – 10, 2011.
Items collected in the furniture drive will be donated to Massachusetts families transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing. The furniture drive will be conducted in conjunction with Olympia Moving and Storage of Watertown.
To schedule a furniture pickup contact Olympia Moving and Storage by emailing [email protected] or calling Mark McEwen at 617-231-1204.
The deadline for scheduling a pickup is Friday, November 4, 2011.
Donated furniture must be in clean, usable condition, free of any rips or tears. GBAR reserves the right to refuse unsuitable items.
Questions about the furniture drive? Contact Anastasia Prapas at [email protected] or 774-264-0155.
Medford Elm Tree
American Elm tree in West Medford
I was psyched to see this newly planted elm tree aside the West Medford fire station.
Elm trees once lined New England’s streets. I loved the canopy of green, leafy trees that I walked beneath on my way to school when I was a kid. It was years later, when I went back and found not a tree on the street, that I realized those must have been elm trees lining the street. Dutch Elm Disease wiped out 100,000s of American Elm trees.
There are efforts underway to plant DED-resistant elm trees. This tree, a Liberty Elm, from the Elm Research Institute of Keene, NH was planted by the fire station in memory of West Medford resident Laurie Cote.
I didn’t have the privilege of knowing Mr. Cote but found this tribute in a newsletter from the Piano Technicians Guild.
West Medford elm tree plaque honoring Laurie Cote
Wednesday What’s It – How Well Do You Know Cambridge?
Ok – I think this is an easy one – don’t prove me wrong!
Win a cup of coffee and a donut - tell us what it is and where it is in Cambridge
The first two people to identify the what-and-the-where of our new Wednesday What’s It will get a card for a cup of coffee+ on us.
How well do you know Cambridge? Tell us what this is.
Cambridge Flamingos
It’s October and Fall is in the air – and the Halloween decorations are popping up in Cambridge yards.
I spotted these variations on the pink flamingo in a yard on Eustis Street in Cambridge when we were on tour this week. No pink flamingos for us – we’ve got skeleton flamingos – Halloween themed yard art.
Skeleton Flamingos in Cambridge
Boston Globe Magazine Home Design Issue
Kitchen Booth in a Cambridge House
The Home Design issue of the Boston Globe Magazine is always one of my favorites. I was psyched when I opened the newspaper this morning and found that today’s Magazine’s theme was Your Home: Kitchens and Baths. Be sure to check it out.
The magazine features some beautifully renovated kitchens and baths. There’s also an article about building new – not something many home buyers in our area are able to do.
Another article features the return of kitchen booths. I love kitchen booths. My favorites are the ones that look like old fashioned restaurant booths that were put in houses in the 1910s to 1930s. I don’t have a good picture yet of one of those – they’re often in a hard to photograph spot in the kitchen I’ve found. But the stylish booth pictured here is similar to the ones featured in today’s article about the revival of kitchen booths. These booths are newly created and crafted for modern kitchens. The Globe features booths with padded seats – or “banquettes” as some have taken to calling them. Me? I’m tempted to call them “diner booths” no matter how stylized they’ve become.
The booth above was in a superbly renovated house at 15 Bellis Circle, Cambridge that sold earlier this year. De
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