History Lesson: The Diver House
“By 1900, with 37,000 lodgers, the South End was the nation’s largest rooming-house district–a drab, dismal quarter which one social worker called ‘the city wilderness.’ Its once peaceful squares were now hemmed in by sooty factories, noisy machine shops, dusty brickyards, grim warehouses, and the incessant rumble of trucks and steam engines.”
J Anthony Lucas reviewed the South End in less-than-glowing terms in his Pulitzer Prize winning assessment of Boston’s mid-Seventies racial struggle, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. One of the three families, the Diver family, purchased 118 W. Newton in 1970 for only $27,000. As they moved into the decrepit bow front that August, Joan Diver wondered what she got herself into:
“It was a total disaster, she thought, beyond all hope. The old spruce floors were rotting, the window sashes were splintered, the plaster ornaments had fallen from much of the parlor ceiling. The bottom two floors were livable, but the top two looked as if they barely survived a hurricane–wooden lath showing through the walls, wire and cables trailing along the halls, two bathrooms with exposed plumbing and uncovered plasterboard.”
I recently visited the home, trying to imagine the chaotic street of thirty years ago: a sharp contrast to the quiet, tree-lined street it appeared in 2008. In a 1975 letter to Mayor White, Joan bitterly complained of the neighborhood:
“In the last week, there have been six muggings on our block of West Newton Street alone, three within a 24-hour period within ten yards of our house. Colin himself apprehended a mugger last night”
Actually, Colin brained the guy with a Louisville Slugger, breaking the bat over dude’s head…
I’m confident nobody in 1970 pictured the South End a beautiful residential neighborhood. I’m equally confident nobody imagined a South End real estate transaction breaking six figures. Make no mistake: it’s not Hingham. It’s an inner city neighborhood with inner city problems, but the stunning Victorian architecture makes the homes of the South End some of the most desirable in the city.
118 W. Newton Street
$2,495,000
Beds: 4/ Baths: 2.5
SQ. FT.: 3755
$/SQ.FT.: 664
Also on the Diver’s block:
135 W. Newton, #2
$1,395,000
Beds: 3/Baths: 2.5
SQ.FT.:1954
$/SQ.FT.: 714
154 W. Newton, #1&2
$1,095,000
Beds: 3/Baths: 2.5
SQ.FT.: 2487
$/SQ.FT.: 440
Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
South Salem Opportunities Near Salem State
How the Other Half Can Almost Live
Sunshine & Lollipops said:
Oh the South End. A storied place. We’ve come ever so far since those heady days of the 1970s. The muggings have been replaced with marigolds, the crime with chrysanthemums. The flowering of this neighborhood is a story that deserves greater attention and I’d like to extend my thanks to you Alyk for focusing on this glorious neighborhood.
The properties you mention are blockbusters, just perfect for that early 30’s newly-minted lawyer from a white shoe downtown firm, anxious to park his mid-6 figure salary in a home where he can entertain his colleagues in style and grace. Men like he will pursue such properties with a laser-like focus, as aggressively as they pursue partnership. Price for them is no object and they will get what they want and deserve.
Or perhaps they’d be the right for some slightly more elderly Wellesley swells? An early 50’s couple, he just having sold his high tech concern to a deep pocketed buyer and now facing the prospect of early retirement. The kids having flown the coop to the Ivy League, and now they’re looking to graduate from their suburban manse to a more sophisticated urbane lifestyle. But for them, no luxury will be sacrificed as they make the jump to the city!
These are bright times for the South End. Prices are continuing to skyrocket, flying ever higher as the siren-like lure of the city calls ever more well-heeled buyers to its breast.
Recession? For buyers in a nabe like this, not an issue. I’d like to raise my glass and toast to the realtors handling these (sure to be very quick) sales.
February 1, 2008 8:26 AM
chlyn said:
This is an amazing turnaround. I wonder why this area burgeoned and other areas (Somerville, Allston) have not? Is it the physical makeup of the area, with dense housing (as shown in the pic) rather than mixed housing and commerical use?
February 1, 2008 10:58 AM
Lisa said:
those houses are amazing now. Inner city neighborhoods back in the day were very scary. But the people that moved in must really take pride in their section of the city.
February 1, 2008 11:53 AM
Cecil Damour said:
Fine article! As a newcomer to the area, I doubt I can fully appreciate the changes recorded over the past hundred years, but architecture, history, and a general scarcity of violence compared to eras past are easily viewed and appreciated at a glance.
Kudos to the ugly duckling that is South End.
February 1, 2008 2:55 PM
Cecil Damour said:
Correction.
Kudos to the ugly duckling that was the South End, and congratulations to the swan that is the South End.
February 1, 2008 2:57 PM
April said:
Such a beautiful neighborhood. I would LOVE to have one of those fantastic homes!
What a difference a few decades make.
February 1, 2008 7:42 PM
Alyk said:
Hello Sunshine & Lollipops. The second listing (135 W. Newton) is already off the market. I assume it sold, but I don’t know for sure.
February 2, 2008 2:23 AM
Alyk said:
Hello Chlyn. I’m no expert on gentrification and urban renewal, so I couldn’t say for sure why the South End and why not Somerville, Allston, or any other area.
If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the result of three factors:
1. Location- it’s a short walk to everything inside Mass ave.
2. Urban Design- lots of small parks, no parking lots, and loads of street-level, local businesses create (force) a neighborly bond.
3.Architecture-I read somewhere that the South End has the largest concentration of Victorian-era architecture in the world. People are passionate about their bow front townhomes.
I’m sure sociologists and urban planners have other theories, too. Any thoughts?
February 2, 2008 3:01 AM
bikes2work said:
Alyk,
I agree with your analysis, but I think item 3 is often underrated versus the first two points. Consider East Cambridge as a counterpoint–while it is gentrifying, it has not gentrified nearly to the extent of the South End. East Cambridge has a great location on both red and green lines, close to MIT and the river. It has the small parks and definitely has a “neighborhood” feel. BUT, and this is the important point, the housing stock is not attractive. Instead of beautiful brick rowhouses with good bones, you have ugly triple deckers. It just takes a lot more to improve a neighborhood when the houses are ugly. The south end was originally conceived as a nice (i.e. rich) neighborhood, and so has returned to that state with relative speed. East Cambridge (or South Boston, or East Boston, or any number of other neighborhoods) have not, and so change is much slower.
February 2, 2008 8:32 AM