Alvah Kittredge House and Park to Get a New Life

by Paul Goldstein

After decades of work by community members, public agencies, and preservation organizations, important steps have been taken in the past several months to preserve and rehabilitate the Alvah Kittredge House and adjacent Alvah Kittredge Park in Roxbury’s historic Highland Park neighborhood. The house and park were identified as top priorities in the Alliance’s Neighborhood Preservation Priorities Report for the neighborhood in 2009.

The Alvah Kittredge House, located at 10 Linwood Street, was constructed in 1836 for First Parish Church deacon Alvah Kittredge (1799-1876), a prominent businessman who served many years as one of the Roxbury’s five elected alderman. The large Greek Revival house was built on the site of the Roxbury Lower Fort, and features tall Ionic columns supporting a portico on the front façade and a hipped roof topped by an octagonal cupola. Originally located on Highland Street, the house was moved and reoriented in the late nineteenth century.

Kittredge lived in the house for decades, and retained ownership until 1871 when the house was sold to Nathan Bradlee who lived there with his family. In 1975, the Roxbury Action Program purchased the house and turned it into the organization’s headquarters. By 1991, the organization had stopped using the building, and eventually sold it to a private owner. By the late 2000s, the house had fallen into severe disrepair, much to the disappointment of community members who viewed the home as an iconic piece of the neighborhood landscape. 

Area residents expressed concerns for the future of the building, and approached the Boston Landmarks Commission for an exterior designation in 2008. Their continued concerns led the Boston Redevelopment Authority to agree in the spring of last year to take the property by eminent domain, determining that the requirements of a preservation easement on the property (held since 1976) were not being met. The BRA proceeded to sign over the property to Historic Boston Incorporated for immediate structural stabilization and redevelopment. HBI has planned to divide the property into five residential units, two of which will be designated as affordable housing.The organization will be renting the properties for at least five years due to the use of federal and state tax credits for the project. The extensive refurbishing of the home will begin in the spring of 2012, but the buzz surrounding the project has greatly increased. Last July, a tour of the property drew a large crowd, including Mayor Menino, who voiced his strong support for the project.

Once considered to be in danger of deterioration beyond a point of repair, the future of the Alvah Kittredge house is more secure then it has been in many years. Area residents and local preservation organizations succeeded to working together to save the historic property, and rehabilitate it to the point where it can continue to be an important part of Roxbury history.

Alvah Kittredge Park, located across the street from the Alvah Kittredge House, was originally founded as Lewis Park in 1864, and was renamed Alvah Kittredge Park in 1912. The park, which has been in a state of severe disrepair for many years, is owned and maintained by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department. Following the preservation workshops, Carol R. Johnson & Associates generously donated pro bono services to lead three community design workshops which produced the initial conceptual redesign for the park. Members of the Highland Park Neighborhood Association spearheaded the effort to secure funding to kick-start restoration of the park. In September, 2011, Ronald A. Marini Corp broke ground on a $600,000 improvement of the park, with funding from the City of Boston, the Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust ($50,000), the Browne Fund ($115,000), the Henderson Foundation ($100,000), and a MA PARC Grant ($310,000) awarded in the fall of 2010.

           

The park restoration will remove concrete barrier walls, chess tables and splintered seating, and dilapidated benches.  The redesigned park introduces two new seating plazas connected by a walkway with a granite seating wall. Local artist Ross Miller has been commissioned to create a permanent public art piece for the park which will include a contemplative granite fountain. A series of plaques and wrought-iron fence inserts will tell the story of a local history the community has chosen to celebrate. The Boston Parks Department and community members are looking forward to the grand opening of a restored Alvah Kittredge Park in June, 2012.