Each time we visit the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm, we discover something that we never noticed before. Sometimes we find photos, magazines or other remnants from previous occupants. And because the property was last owned by Jorge Epstein, an architectural salvage dealer who brought home...
More than 160 representatives of historic preservation, affordable housing and open space organizations squeezed into the Boston City Council's chambers this week to advocate for the Community Preservation Act (CPA) to be placed on the November 2016 ballot. CPA is a tool designed to help Massachusetts...
HBI is pleased to announce that Brian Awe, Barbara Boylan, Karilyn Crockett, Marla Curtis, Michael Durand were elected to membership of HBI's Board of Directors at the organization's annual meeting on March 23rd. At the same meeting, HBI bid a sad farewell to outgoing board...
Last week, the first year preservation carpentry students from North Bennet Street School paid a visit to the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm in Mattapan to conduct an exploratory investigation of the circa 1786 farmhouse. Instructor Steven O'Shaughnessy led the effort to carefully peel back the...
This year the preservation world is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. Passed in 1966, the National Historic Preservation Act is a landmark piece of legislation that has served as the guidepost for historic preservation in the United States. It is...
Rita Walsh, Senior Preservation Planner, with VHB is assisting HBI with state and federal historic tax credit applications to support the rehabilitation of the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm property for its new uses. She is also preparing a nomination of the property to the National...
Noah Hicks and The Sip & Spoke Bike Kitchen wrapped up their Indie Go Go fundraising campaign this week. With over 200 donors, Noah and his team were able to raise $18,732 in start-up capital for the new business in the historic Upham's Corner Comfort...
Steven Ayres, Vicar of the Boston's venerable Old North Church in the North End, reached out recently to tell HBI about paint analyses that are just beginning inside the sanctuary of the historic building. The church's plans, outlined below, could very well change our perception...
With buildings dating to the early 1800s, the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm (FCE Farm) itself is testimony to the agrarian history of Mattapan. The more recent history of Mattapan as an urban neighborhood is no less intriguing. In the 1960s, the neighborhood surrounding the farm...
This is Part 3 and the last in a series of blogs in which HBI's Jeffrey Morgan presents preservation partnering scenarios and the opportunities they present to steward historic and long vacant or blighted properties to new economic uses. Part 1 discussed the redevelopment of...