Kelly's Diner - an imported classic diner in Ball Square Somerville

I’m a big fan of diners – I like classic roadside architecture and the menu offerings.  Happily, Massachusetts still has a good selection of classic diners with several in Centers and Squares territory.

Tomorrow night, Monday, January 23, 2012, Larry Cultrera will give a presentation at the Medford Public Library on Classic Diners of Massachusetts.  Cultrera is a diner historian and his new book, Classic Diners of Massachusetts, has just been published by the History Press. 

The Classic Diners of Massachusetts lecture is scheduled for 7 pm on Jan. 23, 2012 at the Medford Public Library, 111 High Street, Medford MA.  Free and open to the public.

The article is fascinating – I love the signs but hadn’t known a great deal about their history.  (I’ll soon fix that – an article like this one puts me on a quest for more info – and a 1930 copy of Samuel Eliot Morison’s Historical Markers of Massachusetts is now heading my way courtesy of ABEbooks.com and a bookseller in Vermont).

Turns out that the research and text used on the signs was done by Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison and the Globe’s article touches on how the signs are a reflection of what was considered important by Eliot and others from the vantage point of 1930.

Me? I’m just happy that we have any semi-permanent reminders of what happened here since our memory seems to get shorter and shorter. 

While many of the signs have remained almost half are no longer in place.  Happily there are efforts underway to restore the missing markers, according to the Globe, including a proposed bill to provide funds for restoration and replacement.

Next time you come across a tercentenary sign take a minute to read it and think about what once was not that long ago.  Here are a few of the tercentenary markers from Arlington, Cambridge, Medford and Watertown.

The Former Bowl and Board Building Is No More

I did a double-take this evening when I drove through the intersection of Putnam and Mass Ave.

The building that formerly housed Bowl and Board before it’s short lived Davis Square incarnation has been taken down.  There’s a big empty hole, surrounded by temporary fencing, at the corner of Mass Ave and Trowbridge Street.

Bowl and Board opened in Cambridge in the 1960s.  A favorite of many, it was a great place to shop for necessities – and indulgences - for your new apartment or condo.  The store moved from 1063 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge to Davis Square in late 2008 but sadly this store, and the several others owned by the family, were liquidated at the end of 2009.  NPR did a series documenting the stores’ travails as the recession deepened.

It’s been sad and a bit bewildering to see the storefront – in its prime location, just blocks from the heart of Harvard Square – remain empty for so long.

Turns out that the building was bought from the former landlords (for $3,500,000) and is going to be the site of a new five-story building. There will be ground floor retail space, four floors of condos, and a garage underneath.

I hate to see another vintage one-story commercial building disappear.  Will we finally protect them when only a handful survive?  The Cambridge Historical Commission did a study of the building as part of the demolition application.  It has a wonderful vintage photo of the building at 1063-1077 Mass Ave. 

The retail building at 1075 Massachusetts Avenue was built in 1925. Messinger’s Pharmacy had the space at the corner of Trowbridge until Bowl and Board moved in in 1967.  Forty years is long enough that the building will forever be known as the “Bowl and Board building” to plenty of Cantabridgians.

Architecture In Medford - Lecture on Saturday

Looking for something to do on Saturday night?

The Medford Historical Society is presenting a lecture:

Home Architectural Styles in Medford: 17th Century to Present by Ryan Hayward of the Medford Historic Commission.

Medford has a marvelous collection of antique houses of many styles and periods so this promises to be a fascinating talk.

The lecture is scheduled for tomorrow night, Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 7 pm at the Royall House Slave Quarters at 15 George Street, Medford, MA.

Admission is free – donations welcomed.

Original window in a Cambridge bungalow

Window Restoration Workshop  Your old windows have a lot of life in them yet! 

A good fitting old window with a  tight storm window is very comparable to a replacement window in terms of energy efficiency.  And a replacement window is never comparable to an original in terms of architectural integrity or life expectancy.

Your original windows can last one hundred years or more and after restoration can last one hundred more. That’s not the case with replacement windows. We often see inspectors pointing out problems with replacement windows during inspections even though the windows are only a few years old.

There are companies that can restore windows for you or you can learn to do it yourself.  The Newton Historical Society will be hosting a workshop on Saturday where you can learn to restore your own windows.

Window restorer Ryan Pirro will lead a hands-on workshop. You’ll learn how to weather strip and repair your windows.

The workshop is co-sponsored by Green Decade/Newton.

Cost is $30 or $15 for members of Green Decade or of the Newton Historical Society.

The workshop is scheduled for Saturday, November 6, 2010 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.

You can register and pay online or contact Green Decade for more information at 617-965-1995.

Modernist House for Sale - 119 Park Ave, Arlington

Caring for the Modern House – Historic New England Workshop Owners of mid-century modern houses – or those who love them – will want to attend an upcoming workshop in Lexington, MA.  

Ask The Experts – Caring For The Modern House is scheduled for January 31, 2010.

A panel of experts will discuss the special challenges presented by caring for modernist houses.  Come with your questions and issues about preserving, restoring, updating, and maintaining your home.

Panelists include:

• Brent A. Gabby, Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger
• Katherine Mierzwa, Friends of Modern Architecture
• Sally Zimmerman, preservation specialist at Historic New England

Sponsored by the Lexington Historical Society, the Friends of Modern Architecture, Lincoln and Historic New England.

The workshop will take place Sunday, January 31, 2010 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm at the Lexington Historical Society, 13 Depot Square, Lexington, MA. 

Registration is required.  Call 781-862-1703

Admission: $40 for nonmembers. Reduced admission for members of Historic New England, the Historic Homeowner program, Lexington Historical Society or Friends of Modern Architecture.

Don’t own a modernist house but would like to?  The mid-century modern house above is my new listing in Arlington.  It’s open this Sunday, the 24th, from 1 to 2:30 or call me to schedule an appointment.

26 Harris St, Belmont, MA

 Documenting Belmont Buildings Destined for Demolition  Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to visualize a building once it’s gone?

This happens to me even on streets I drive down every day.

When all that’s left is a gaping cellar hole, or there’s a new building on the lot where an old one once stood – you scratch your head and ask “What was here before?”

And in recent years with teardowns becoming all too frequent our architectural memory becomes even more fractured.

The Belmont Historical Society has started a project to photograph the houses destined for demolition.

566 Trapelo Rd in Waverly Square

The program began in 2008 and I would imagine was prompted in part by the outcry about the Belmont Hill School’s demolition of  what may have been New England’s first Modernist house, designed by architect Eleanor Raymond.

There are only two photographs on the Society’s webpage for the project, both from 2008.  Perhaps with the real estate market upheaval demolitions paused in Belmont in 2009 – I don’t know. Hopefully the project is ongoing.

Check out the photos of demolished Belmont houses on the Belmont Historical Society’s website.  One is a sweet bungalow, the other a two-story mansard with turret in Waverley Square.  The buildings that replaced them can be seen at right. 

Not that a photograph is enough. But it’s a start.  And maybe with enough Before and Afters we’ll think a little longer about allowing our older, smaller houses to disappear one by one.

Cambridge Mass Vintage Paving Company Marker

Vintage Paving Company Markers ~ It’s funny sometimes, the things that start to catch your eye that suddenly start popping up everywhere.

For me, one of those things are the old metal markers that are set into concrete sidewalks.  I love them!  As I make my way around Cambridge, Arlington, Medford and other nearby towns I’ve started to photograph any I come across.

Who knew that concrete sidewalks are so durable?  The oldest plaque that I’ve found so far is the clover-shaped marker dated 1907 by the Simpson Bros. Corporation of 166 Devonshire Street in Boston.

Other paving company markers I’ve found include:

• Benj. Fox, Inc., Concrete Construction, 15 Exchange St, Boston
• F.O. White Construction Co., Cambridge
• Thomas J. Hind, 19 Milk Street, Boston
• Vulcan Const. Co., General Contractors, Boston, Mass.
• W.A. Murtfeldt Company, Artificial Stone Walks, 161 Devonshire St, Boston
• Wm. F. Condon, Artificial Stone, 218 Putnam Ave, Cambridge, Mass.

I think most of these miniature plaques are made of bronze. And it still seems to be a practice of paving companies to inset a company marker.  A house near my office had a newly constructed cement sidewalk and a metal plate with the company’s name was inset. It was a messy job though - the marker, not the sidewalk – and the sense of pride that these older signs exude was absent.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot written about these intriguing little signs.  Someone has taken the time to extensively document the sidewalk markers in Buffalo, NY where the metal plates date from 1885 to the 1920s but I’ve yet to find much else.

If you know anything more about these vintage paving company markers please let me know.