After I wrote about the Diver’s house on Newton,I read that they sold the house in 1976 for $65,000. In the same article, Colin mentioned they stay in the bed & breakfast right next to their old house when they come to town. I’d love to know how much of the current house is from the Diver’s restoration.

By 1900 the South End had declined to the point that it had 37,000 lodgers (living in one room slum apartments basically), the most lodgers of any area in the country. It wasn’t until the Prudential Center was built in the mid 1960’s that the area started to gentrify, a process that we see continuing to this today.

Anyway, if you find this stuff interesting, I really recommend “Common Ground”, it’s something like $12 on Amazon.

But that said, Alyk’s overall observation on the pricing trend within quadrants of the South End still holds: If the one bedroom in question was reduced to 399K for example, it would still trump the others on a price per square foot asking price of over $700.

I think Alyk’s observations are spot on but again, perhaps the more interesting comparison would be a building like 9 Appleton Street (that Alyk wrote about yesterday) which is a midrise in the northeast quadrant, recently renovated with upgraded common areas along with the Tremont and Harrison mid-rises.

In the northeast and northwest corners of the neighborhood, like similar areas of the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, many of the condominium conversions and renovations are now 20+ years old, so absent recent updating by individual sellers, prices p.s.f are often lower not higher than new construction in the southeast and southwest corners.

I think a comparison which would confirm your observation when researched would be if all three properties were a similar product, for example units within renovated townhouses. In the examples you used, Lawrence Street is a classic townhouse based unit whereas Tremont Street is in a late 1980s mid-rise and Harrison Avenue is a new construction mid-rise.

The buildings on Harrison & Albany just don’t lend themselves to much “quality of life” so that’s why they aren’t as popular. Also, distance from T, as you say, is very important.

The area near the corner of Berkeley (then, Dover) and Harrison was a very bad slum, at one time; it may be that it has never recovered.

I don’t think having a homeless shelter is a terribly big negative, for that area. It’s more that the buildings around there are monstrous … including having the “Mother Church” as a neighbor.

The public housing between Washington & Harrison is also something that keeps the neighborhood developing. There’s no room for the cute little shops that people with baby carriages love to visit.

I agree that the hospital is not a great neighbor, since there are usually ambulances with sirens wherever there are hospitals. Having said that, Worcester Sq is a beautiful place to live, from what I hear.

You need density for neighborhoods to thrive (hello, Jane Jacobs?), so Washington Street is too wide and Albany and Harrison Ave has too few low-rise buildings. Tremont is the de facto “retail district”, but it developed over twenty years – which is both slow and fast.

Columbus Ave had potential as retail, but it’s growth was stymied by the blocks of co-ops / “affordable housing” buildings, which, while giving the neighborhood “density”, did not lend itself to a healthy retail environment.

The streets closest to Back Bay are considered more appealing because they are short, narrow, and therefor, “attractive”. And, because they were the first to be rediscovered after the urban decay in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The area down near Harrison & Berkeley would also still be considered “desirable” if the city hadn’t torn down the entire “New York Streets” neighborhood and replaced it with the Herald building.

But, the building is up for sale, so maybe it can be reclaimed?