I

The Three - Deckers of Dorshester

'..?E

W

fi.#ww'####

;.;t.j;:ii

f f i | zt4 .:lqi 'ji2&1,: l ii 4 x : : . : :'iL;,tt:

W,t,,t.'\w 4 ' ! ,

tg'i

ffiy#it*

{,t

Boston Landmarks CommissionBoston Redevelopment Aut hori tY

Three-Deckers of Dorchester : An Archi tectura l His tor ica l survey

by

Ar thu r J . K r im

December 30, 1977

NorE: This is submit ted to the Mayor 's of f ice of Program Developmentin fu l f i l lment of ob l igat ions establ ished under a grant to the BostonRedevelopment Author i ty . This paper is par t o f a larger s tudy ent i i led"Dorchestery'Mattapan Preservation Study" which is administered by theBoston Landmarks Commiss ion and is funded in par t by the BostonRedevelopment Author i ty and in par t by the Massachuset ts His tor ica lCommission, Off ice of the Secretary of State, through matching grant-in-a id program for h is tor ic preservat ion of the Nat ional Park Serv ice,Depar tment of the In ter ior . Edi tor ia l ass is tance was prov ided by Judi thMcDonough, Rober t Burke, and Mat thew Kiefen. Research ass is tancewas prov ided.by Joan Richandson, Boston Univers i ty In tern.

l-

C O N T E N T S

P R E F A C EDemocratic Architecture

D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E T H R E E . D E C K E RThree-decker RootsStreetcar SuburbsCommunity of BuildersThree-Decker - Three Fami ly - Tr ip le-Decker

P E R I O D SPrototypes

l. Formative Periodl l . V ic tor ian Per iodl l l . Ea r l y C lass i c Pe r iodlV. Late Class ic Per iodV. Functional Period

Conclus ion

PRESERVATIoN RECOMMENDATTONS and OppORTUNtT tEs

A p p e n d i x l - T h r e e - D e c k e r B u i l d e r sAppendix l l - Three-Deckers lmageryAppendix l l l - Survey Methodology

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

,

PREFACE

iititlt

' f f iiriiil

,t:zji,l!;riti.ili,j,";::i.i!t

A ca r w indsh ie ld v iew o f t h ree -decke rs above the h ' i ghway .

Southeast Expressway at Columbia Road.

- 1

P R E F A C E

The three-deckers of Dorchester : you see them in the dr ive

cross ing the Neponset marshes in to Boston, ta l l and narrow wi th the i r

wooden porches peer ing above the Southeast Expressway (p. 1) .x You

see them again beyond the l imits of the downtown into South Boston,

wooden porches perched high above concrete walls. They l ine their

backs against the Red Line tracks to Ashmont and their fronts on the

sandy beach at Mal ibu. They r ise to meet the s teeple of Meet ing House

Hi l l and st retch out towards Mat tapan. The three-deckers are a large

part of the identity of Dorchester and define its sense of place.

What are these three-deckers? As architecture, they are curious

forms/ par t urban and par t suburban. They look l ike apar tments

transformed into houses, or perhaps houses overgrown into apartments.

They have the f lat roofs of the city, but the wooden walls of the country.

They appear as rowhouses t ransplanted in to the suburbs.

And the i r porches, f ront and back. T iers of porches, ga l ler ies of

porches, decks of porches, for s i t t ing down and look ing out , wi th

columns and ra i l ings on every f loor . Verandahs and balconies h igh

above the s t reet , grandstand p iazzas in the a i r . A lways there are

three porches in the back, one for each fami ly . In f ront , f ine decor-

ated porches wi th grand co lumns and fancy ra i l ings, somet imes one/

sometimes two, sometimes three stories high.

At t imes i t seems that a l l Dorchester is three-deckers, and indeed

a large par t o f i t is . Over f ive thousand stand today, the largest

co l l ec t i on anywhere . Rare l y a lone , o f ten i n pa i r s , usua l l y i n g roups ,

three-deckers form ent i re neighborhoods extending as far as the eye

x Photos were taken bv the author.

- ' i i -

can see. A hypnot ic rhythm of repeated forms: porches and bays,

shadow and l ight , deta i l and texture/ an endless array of three-

deckers, over the h i l ls and across the p la ins of Dorchester they ex-

tend, from South Cove to Neponset, from Andrew Square to Lower

Mi l ls , f rom Uphams Corner to Adams Vi l lage, f rom Columbia Road to

Gal l ivan Boulevard, f rom Boston Street to Blue Hi l l Avenue, f rom Ronan

Park to Frankl in F ie ld , f rom Popes Hi l l to Mount Bowdoin. Nowhere

else is there such a landscape of three-deckers. l t is one of

Dorchester 's g lor ies.

The three-decker is democrat ic arch i tecture. l t was bui l t to g ive

the average fami ly the benef i ts o f suburban l i fe whi le l iv ing c lose to

c i ty jobs. l t was nei ther tenement nor mansion, but ra ther good sol id

housing. l t was large enough to ra ise a host o f ch i ldren around the

dining room table, but small enough to keep a pot of f lowers on the

back porch.

The three-decker was af fordable, for the new fami ly who rented

the top f loor , for the owners who occupied the middle f loor , and for

the ret ined couple downsta i rs whose rent pa id the mortgage. l t was

at t ract ive l each f loor had i ts own par lor bay and own p iazza, i ts own

sta ined g lass and oak pantry / and i ts own v iew. This was the appeal

that dnew the fami l ies out on the t ro l leys in to Dorchester .

Today the three-decker is s t i l l democrat ic , s t i l l a f fordable, and

sti l l attractive architecture for those who want the benefits of the

suburbs wh i l e l i v i ng c lose to the c i t y - i nc lud ing the po rches !

- i i i -

a

D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E T H R E E . D E C K E R

Three-Decker Roots

The roots of the three-decker l ie deep wi th in the t rad i t ions of

Boston, and are as ingra ined as the c i ty 's accents. l ts or ig ins can be

traced to the Colonia l wood bui ld ing t rad i t ion in such landmarks as the

Paul Revere House. Here the basic elements of the three-decker may

be seen in the i r or ig ina l form: a three-story wooden house bui l t on the

s ide-entry rowhouse p lan.

The basic architectunal characterist ic of the thr"ee-decker is i ts

wood frame construction. In most other American cit ies, the rowhouse

developed in br ick or s tone. ln Boston, however , the wood bui ld ing

technology brought by the sett lers remained the norm among colonial

craftsmen and was continued into the 19th century industrial period.

Thus, when the post-civi l war f lood of immigrants created a need for

mul t ip le- fami ly housing, new house types developed wi th in th is wood

bui ld ing t rad i t ion. The f i rs t areas of three-decker development were

South Boston and Roxbury, where the centra l c i ty 's f i re laws prohib i t -

ing wood construct ion d id not apply .

The three-decker fo l lowed the height s tandards set by the houses

of the Colonia l per iod; two f loors and an at t ic . This three-story

Colonia l f raming system, jo in ing large wood beams wi thout na i ls (mort ise

and tenon) , was easi ly t ransferred to suppor t the main f rame of the

new three-deckers. For the rest o f the s t ructure ( in ter ior wal ls , e tc . )

ba l loon f raming techniques wi th nai ls and studs were used; these had

been adopted by bui lders af ter the Civ i l War because of e f f ic iency and

- i v -

DEVILOPMENT OF THE THREE.DECKER

Three-deckers der ived the i r name f rom the three-story rear porches thatse rved the fam i l y ' s domes t i c needs .

46-48 Robinson Street , F ' ie lds CornerI 890- I 894

t'-

reduced costs of const ruct ion. Thus the ant ique construct ion methods

of mort ise and tenon jo inery were cont inued by thr ee-decker bui lders '

in to the 20th century.

The narrow shape of the three-decker a lso is based on long t ra-

d i t ion, the town house p lan of E l izabethan England. Here the best

room/ the ' rpar lourr" faced the s t reet wi th the door set o f f to one s ide

and the k i tchen at the back. In Boston th is became the s tandard p lan

of the c i ty rowhouse, wi th i ts s ide-entry doorway and k i tchen e l l . In

the ear ly 19th century the fashionable houses on Beacon Hi l l were

designed wi th e legant bow f ront par lors , and th is p lan was adopted in

the nowhouses of the new south End by the c iv i l war . Thus, when the

f i rs t three-deckers were bui l t , they took af ter the fami l iar s ide-entry

rowhouse plan complete with parlor bay. Often two rowhouses would be

bui l t s ide-by-s ide as a double house, and th is bas ic form was adopted

by ear ly three-decker bui lders in construct ing s ix- fami ly houses.

The funct ional or ig in of the three-decker l ies in the pr inc ip le of

mul t ip le- fami ly housing and the so lut ions developed in Boston before the

c iv i l war . There were two obvious antecedents at e i ther end of the

socia l spect rum, each bui l t in the centra l c i ty and each conta in ing

renta l un i ts for severa l fami l ies. one was the apar lment house or

"French Flat i l that had been in t roduced to pol i te soc iety wi th the Hote l

Pelham in 1857. At the other ext reme was the tenement house, wi th

few domest ic conveniences whatsoever . These were s imply bui l t and

lvere ch ief ly occupied by the l r ish immigrants in the 1850,s.

The back porches are the tnue arch i tectura l innovat ion of the

three-decker , for i t is they that g ive i t the d is t inct ive character o f a

- \ r 1

t!a>+\Sr.

South Boston-urbarrflat roof2 story porch

Roxbury - suburbanhip or gable roof3 story porch

l^ 1

7z> ''.

\ \

i )5 ' r I/ \ i

sY/'

/z/ t'l l

\ \' t ,

\-r<-=) \

-1////

DORCHESTERSTREET CAR L INES1 9 1 8 o

N

"porch house" (p. v) . The rear decks developed when the rowhouse

was d i v ided i n to th ree - fam i l y un i t s , one on each f l oo r . Thus , t he

t radi t ional k i tchen e l l had to be mul t ip l ied for each fami ly f loor , re-

su l t ing in the format ion of the " three-decker . ' ,

since the three-decker developed at the edge of Boston, between

the c i ty and i ts new suburbs, there developed two types of three-

deckers; those charactenist ic of the city with f lat roofs in South Boston,

and those character is t ic o f the suburbs wi th p i tched roofs in Roxbury.

Each area had i ts own set o f bu i lders, who carr ied the two types down

through Dorchester along the main streetcar routes; those from south

Boston a long Dorchester Avenue, and those f rom Roxbury a long Blue

Hi l l Avenue. The two three-decker forms commingled over t ime, each

borrowing from the other a roof or a porch, unti l in the end both

looked the same (p . v i i ) .

Streetcar Suburbs

The agent for d i f fus ion of the three-decker in Dorchester was the

stneetcar . The noted urban h is tor ian Samuel Bass Warner has ca l led

Dorches te r " t he fu l l f l ower ing o f t he s t ree tca r subu rb r r tand i n a ve ry

real sense the three-decker and the t ro l ley were par t and parcel o f the

same suburban landscape. Or ig ina l ly both were qui te independent of

one another , each developing separate funct ional ident i t ies dur ing the

Civ i l War era. By the turn of the 20th century the i r paths had crossed,

and Dorchester became the essence of the s t reetcar suburb (p. ix

a n d x i ) .

- \ r 1 1 1 -

Boston was among the f irst cit ies in the world to have a complete

metropol i tan s t reetcar system. Fol lowing the o ld country s tage l ines

that rad iated f rom the center c i ty , ra i lway technology was adapted in

the 1850rs, and by the Civ i l War these horse ra i lnoad l ines fanned out

to Bostonrs l imits, to Lynn on the north, Watertown on the west and

Quincy on the south. In Dorchester the most impontant route ran from

South Boston through Fie lds Corner to Lower Mi l ls , a long the fu l l

length of Dorchester Avenue, and through the f irst neighborhoods of

three-decker development. Other horsecar routes operated along

Boston, Hancock, and Bowdoin Streets, and from Roxbury to Codman

Square along Washington Street.

The Depression of 1873 halted further expansion of the horse

rai lroad system in Dorchester, and even caused the abandonment of

several l ines including the one on Freeport Street. With economic

recovery in the 1880's the car l ines were again extended. The new

routes provided vital cross town service that l inked Dorchester with

Roxbury and the South End, inc lud ing a loop f rom Fie lds Corner a long

Geneva Avenue to Upham's Corner , f rom r .oxbury a long Dudley Street

through Upham's Corner to Dorchester Avenue at Savin Hi l l , and f rom Edward

Everet t Square to the South End a long Massachuset ts Avenue. By 1889

other l ines opened a long Blue Hi l l Avenue connect ing the South End

wi th Frankl in Park, and Por t Nor fo lk wi th F ie lds Corner a long Neponset

Avenue .

Horses, whi le handsome animals on the s teeplechase, were inef -

f ic ient as mot ive power for metropol i tan t rans i t systems, and much

experimentation was conducted after the Civi l War to devise a new

power source for the horse cars. After several attempts with steam,

- x -

SOUTH BOSTON

ROXBURY!\

l ^ 1

HYDEPARK

7 /Yrl '

QU INCY

7ia-----

M ILTON

DORCHESTER NEIGHBORHOODSoN

- x ]

gas, and cable, e lect r ic i ty was per fected by the la te 1880rs us ing over-

head tno l ley wi res to power the cars. Again, Boston was among the

f i rs t c i t ies to adopt the new t ro l leys, which ran faster and cheaper

than the horse cars, and thus opened up whole new suburban areas for

development .

The meeting of the electr ic trol ley and the three-decker occured

about 1890. At this point both had been perfected; their combined

presence began to create a new landscape of the streetcar suburb in

Dorchester . Dur ing the 1890's new t ro l ley l ines were bui l t in to the far

reaches of practical service, from Fields Corner down Adams Street to

Adams Vi l lage, f rom Codman Square down Washington and Nor fo lk

Streets and from Lower Mil ls along River Street to Mattapan.

By the turn of the 20th century a new web of streetcar l ines were

cut across Dorchester creating a complete grid of trol ley routes l inking

every major corner wi th each other , f rom Uphams Corner a long Columbia

Road to Frankl in Park, f rom Frankl in Park down Talbot Avenue to

Peabody Square in Ashmont , f rom Mat tapan to Rosl indale a long Cummins

Highway, and the f ina l thrust down Blue Hi l l Avenue to Mat tapan.

These were the s t reetcar routes that d i rected the bui lder 's minds

and formed the three-decker neighborhoods of the early 20th century.

Dur ing rush hours, tno l leys ran every two minutes, and for 50 carr ied

passengers f rom Dorchester to every corner of Boston. This universe,

the t ro l ley and the: three-decker , lasted for a generat ion. Thei r era

f ina l ly concluded wi th the automobi le and the economic co l lapse of the

Great Depress ion. St i l l Dorchester t ro l leys ran for another generat ion,

as t rack less . t ro l l ey buses , un t i l t hey too were d i sman t led i n t he 1960rs .

- x i i

Today the ye l low MBTA buses run a long the o ld car l ines and

mainta in the fabr ic of the t r ip le-decker neighborhoods, whi le the Red

Line and the Southeast Expressway prov ide the modern t ranspor t l inks

from Dorchester to the rest of Boston.

A Communi ty of Bui lders

Since the bui ld ing of three-deckers was a compet i t ive bus iness

which d id not requi re large amounts of capi ta l , the bui lders themselves

tended to be drawn from the ranks of local tradesmen. Evidence sug-

gests the existence of a community of bui lders - an informal al l iance of

tradesmen and speculators who worked for and with each other, bor-

rowing and invent ing designs. l t is they who were most responsib le

for the l ively vernacular quali ty of the streetscapes of porches and

cornices that are the delight of Dorchester today.

While some of these builders were Yankee carpenters, most of the

three-deckers were constructed by newly emergent immigrant groups -

l r ish, Canadians, Jews and l ta l ians, the very people the t r ip le-deckers

were meant to attract on the trol leys.

Usual ly there were three ro les involved in the bui ld ing of a

three-decker ; the landowner, the bui lder and the arch i tect . Of ten they

would, in fact , be three separate men. Qui te f requent ly , however , the

bui lder would a lso own the land, des ign the three-decker , and con-

struct i t . Often the roles would be switched so that the same group or

ind iv idual would per form d i f ferent funct ions in d i f ferent ne ighborhoods.

Not surpr is ing ly , bu i ld ing three-deckers was most ly the work of men,

- x ] ' l ' l -

but of ten women, widows and sp insters, would buy the land and d ic tate

the number and type of three-deckers constructed. And at least one

three-decker was designed by a woman archi tect .

There were no b luepr in ts or p lans for the ear ly three-deckers and

bui lders fo l lowed the t rad i t ional measurements and methods of const ruc-

t ion, repeat ing the basic rowhouse p lan that had been handed down

over generations. After the turn of the century, the three-decker

designs became more complex, requi r ing arch i tect rs b luepr in ts . But

these were s imply an outgrowth of the menta l p lans in the bui lder 's

head, of ten drawn in quick penci l sketches to sat is fy the Ci ty Bui ld ing

Department. There were few professionally trained architects, and most

men who gave themselves the t i t le were neal ly bu i lders turned designers.

Thus, the three-deckers were bui l t by a repet i t ion of successfu l methods

and forms, fo l lowing examples in the local ne ighborhoods, so that very

dis t inct ive three-decker types developed in var ious par ts of Dorchester .

Eventual ly , the s ty l is t ic ind iv idual i ty o f local groups d isappeared as

builders from different parts of Dorchester crossed each otherrs paths

and exchanged ideas and designs. At the same t ime, these local groups

themselves were absorbed in to a larger , more homogenous bui ld ing

communi ty . Thus, by the end of the F i rs t Wor ld Wan three-deckers

throughout Dorchester showed a great s imi lar i ty o f des ign.

N.B. Major groups of Dorchester bu i lders and the i r respect ive areasoperat ion are d iscussed in greater deta i l in Appendix l .

- X l V -

Three -Decke r - T r i p le -Decke r - Th ree Fami l y

Or ig in of the Term

The three-decker is a unique housing type character is t ic o f New

England c i t ies in the ear ly 20th centur"y . Genera l ly def ined, the three-

decker is a free standing, wood frame structure on its own narrow lot,

three s tor ies h igh, wi th one fami ly un i t on each f loor . Or ig ina l ly ca l led

" three-deckers, r r these houses were a lso known as three- fami l ies and in

very recent years, have been cal led ' r t r ip le-deckersr ' r a term unknown

to the i r o r i g ina l bu i l de rs .

The antique term reveals the origin and function of the form. The

three-decker is not simply a random term invented for the Dorchester

tr iple-decker. Rather, the roots of the word can be traced to

El izabethan England and the great naval warships bui l t to protect the

Br i t ish ls les. The most impress ive man-of -war , the ' rsovere ign of the

Seasr" launched in 1637/ was ca l led a " three-deckerr r in re ference to

the three decks of guns that sat above the water l ine. By the t ime of

the Amer ican Revolut ion the impress ive qual i t ies of a r r three-deckerr l

were appl ied in popular speech to anyth ing of great s ize or impor tance.

As a common f igure of Amer ican speech, ' r three-decker t r was qui te

natural ly borrowed to describe the new three family, wooden houses

evolv ing in New England c i t ies dur ing the la te 19th century. The f i rs t

t rue appl icat ion of the term, l ike the f i rs t three-decker , cannot be

prec ise ly dated. The ear l iest re ference is f rom Worcester in 1893,

impor tant because i t ind icates that th is Massachuset ts industr ia l c i ty

was an ear ly three-decker center , and more s ign i f icant ly because i t

occurs just a t the t ime when the f i rs t Dorchester three-deckers were

be ing bu i l t i n l a rge numbers .

. X V -

As an architectural tenm, the 'rthree-deckerrr has a certain appro-

pr ia te qual i ty . Most obv ious ly i t descr ibes the three-story rear porches

tha t s ign i f y t he th ree fam i l i es l i v i ng i n t he bu i l d ing . As i n t he r rdecks t l

o f the o ld Engl ish sa i l ing sh ips, the term a lso refers to the unique

wooden quali ty that defines the three-decker as a New England housing

type.

'rThree-deckerf i was the common term unti l quite recenfly, used by

both carpenter and scholar al ike. In the last decade the old term

f ina l ly gave way to the modern " t r ip le-decker . r r L ike everyth ing, i t

loses something in translation but the term is the one that many people

now understand to be proper for off icial reports.

. XV'I