In the three years since Historic Boston published its 1999 Preservation Revolving Fund Casebook significant progress has been made towards the preservation and effective reuse of these forty endangered historic properties. Physical improvements or complete rehabilitation are occurring to 30% of the properties, and planning initiatives with varying degrees of reality are underway at 40% of the sites. Unfortunately, no substantive progress has been made on 20% of the properties, and full or partial demolition has occurred in 10% of the cases. (Click here for Property Status Summary)

Historic Boston works diligently to preserve and reuse endangered historic sites in Boston. In addition to continually striving to put together the people and resources necessary to affect positive change, in the past three years HBI has invested its financial resources in 1999 Casebook properties by:

1. Managing and partially financing the exterior restoration of #7 and #8 Alvah Kittredge Park Rowhouses;
2. Conducting feasibility studies;
3. Providing religious structures matching grants through the Steeples Project; and
4. Committing financial resources towards preventing the demolition of Casebook properties.

Of course, Historic Boston does not face the challenge of preserving Boston's architectural heritage alone and has collaborated with various public agencies and private organizations over the past three years.

The 1999 Preservation Revolving Fund Casebook identified the following four factors contributing to the rapid pace of rehabilitation and preservation in Boston at that time:

1. Boston's flourishing economy was enabling private developers to redevelop larger, more difficult historic properties in diverse neighborhoods.
2. Governmental agencies provided crucial support.
3. Non-profit organizations played critical roles.
4. Boston's acute need for more housing.

The public and private preservation initiatives over the past three years only reinforce the validity of these contributing factors. The effect of Boston's prospering economy and real estate market is evident in the proposed rehabilitation of the Suffolk County Jail and Opera House. Massachusetts Historical Commission grants provided critical funding to numerous preservation projects, like that at Christ Church in Hyde Park. The planning process regarding the fate of the Mission Church Properties illustrates the City of Boston's crucial role in preservation. Non-profit organizations, from Main Street programs to community development corporations, are playing prominent roles in projects at the Allston Hall Block and Joseph Barnes School. Most rehabilitation projects, like those at Upham's Corner Market and the Court Square Press Building, include a housing component

Although the real estate market has significantly contributed to preservation efforts in the past three years, its effect is not entirely positive. The increasingly common conversion of historic buildings into condominiums rules out use of the federal historic preservation tax credit and the corresponding historic rehabilitation standards. Rising property values can encourage destructive stewardship of historic properties in order to realize speculative gain. Additionally, public redevelopment incentives, like the low-income tax credit and state and local subsidies, focus redevelopment on the creation of new housing, which can result in inappropriate residential use of historic structures.

Beyond these dangers, the bureaucratic imbroglios, greed, inertia, unrealistic expectations, lack of vision or leadership, and deferred maintenance that continues to endanger Boston's architectural heritage demonstrates that the need for Historic Boston's persistence, imagination, and high-risk cash investments remains strong.

Property Status Summary

Summary Completed: 08/16/2002

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