Upham’s Corner Comfort Station, Dorchester, MA (1912)

About This Project

The former rest station, a stucco 940-square-foot facility with full basement, is undergoing a $1.9 million historic rehabilitation with improvements that will create Comfort Kitchen, a full-service café with dinner operations. The architect for the development is Utile, Inc. Architecture + Planning. The contractor is MJ Mawn, Inc.

 

The Upham’s Corner Comfort Station served Boston’s streetcar system and is near the MBTA’s Fairmount commuter rail line, as well as being within the City of Boston’s Upham’s Corner Main Street District. The Comfort Station is a one-story stucco and tile “mission style” building built as a convenience station in 1912 to support the expanding streetcar system in Boston. It was designed by Dorchester architect William H. Besarick, who also designed the nearby municipal building at the corner of Columbia Road and Bird Street, as well as many triple-decker residences in the area.

 

The Comfort Station lies on what was once part of the Dorchester North Burying Ground, which is listed in the State and National Register of Historic Places and within the cemetery’s Boston Landmark designation.

 

Charitable fundraising totaling $450,000 and a $365,000 grant from City of Boston Community Preservation funds were combined with capital from the tenant and permanent financing secured by Historic Boston to make the project possible. Historic Boston Inc. will employ $176,000 in proceeds from Massachusetts Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits as a funding source to save and establish the new uses for the historic structure.

 

Coming Soon: Comfort Kitchen

Now nearing completion of a $1.9 million restoration and rehabilitation of the 1912 Upham’s Corner Comfort Station in Dorchester, HBI is pleased to announce a partnership Biplaw Rai,  Nyacko Perry, and Kwasi Kwaa who plan to open Comfort Kitchen, a daytime café and pop-up dinner experience featuring local food entrepreneurs. Learn more about the Comfort Kitchen Team and the project at the Upham’s Corner Comfort Station here:

 

 

Category
Current Projects