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Historic MDC barracks in Brighton burst into flames
By adamg on Tue, 12/22/2015 - 6:30am
Firefighters at the barracks. Photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department reports the former and long unused MDC police barracks at 525 Western Ave., at Soldiers Field Road caught fire overnight.
The two-alarm fire at what was originally the administration building for a horse track that used to run along the Charles, was reported around 3 a.m. and did an estimated $250,000 in damage. No injuries were reported.
Fire investigators have yet to determine a cause.
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Comments
Hmmmm.... So a shitty old
Hmmmm.... So a shitty old building that can't be touched because it's on the register of historic places, that the city/state was hoping someone would take over and maintain, in an area where a lot of new developments had recently gone up, suddenly catches fire.
My thoughts exactly...
My thoughts exactly...
The
goodbad old ways of doing things never go out of style.Most of the arson for profit
from the seventies was 'flipping', the process of selling a building repeatedly to generate a profit. Last guy in the loop burns it, the ring splits the money. It actually is fairly easy to detect, with a little deed research.
Another motive is to get out from under a mortgage or to recoup losses from operations. The idea of putting down 5-10 percent of the purchase price is relatively new. The reason the 2008 collapse didn't lead to a lot of arson was the fact the the banks owned 90-95% of the value of the building. Everyone just shrugs their shoulders.
Apparently there's a contractor/developer lined up for the project. There may not be a motive and the risk is great.
I'd wait for the fire report before jumping to conclusions.
Not only that, but
In an area where Bill Galvin has taken it upon himself to unilaterally declare anything with rocks to be too historic to demolish because the rocks are old and he hates veterans.
But lets not kid ourselves - a goodly number of these Victorian and Edwardian piles of timber were never safe when it came to fire ripping through them, particularly on windy days.
It's called 'balloon framing'.
From the cellar to the attic with no firestops. Who needs wind when the walls are the chimney.
Balloon framing only part of it
Open stairways, abandoned chimneys, questionable methods of routing retrofit electrical wiring and plumbing that create fire routes ... they simply were not designed or renovated in a fire safe way.
All part of why many more modern buildings are "so boring".
Balloon framing.
Properly inspected (IE 'permitted') work is usually OK. Plumbing is actually not a great problem (unless it's lit by the plumber...) Modern firestopping is required on any major retrofit.
The framing itself is the problem. Once it gets in the walls, you're chasing it in a hurry. A fire in the basement (overheated boiler or whatever) can shoot up to the attic. Literally in a nice cozy wood lined chase.
cain't win.
if the state actually sunk dollars to preserves these old bones, I imagine just as many would get the pitchforks and torches out to cry "such waste".
This was a nice assemblage of old buildings that met a bad end.
yep, I'm sure the
yep, I'm sure the Architectural Heritage Foundation that was awarded a contract to preserve the historic buildings on the site and build housing on the non-historic sections torched it.... That's their M.O.
There has been a lot of
There has been a lot of interest in this street recently.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/12/18/western/2GRsW0yEqdalIJzW...
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2015/11/developer_pitch...
rehabilitation is in the works
From http://www.speedwayhq.com/
Under the purview of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's Historic Curatorship Program, the site will be rehabilitated and re-established as Speedway Headquarters.
Under the purview of the Historic Curatorship Program, the Architectural Heritage Foundation and partners have developed a plan for the practical reuse of the property that will preserve this piece of Boston's history for future generations to enjoy.
Additionally, non-historic parts of the property will be removed and replaced with newly constructed residential units that will be of a scale, dimension, and design that protects and compliments the integrity of the extant historic structures.
is the horse track...
...where Rex Trailer used to ride his horse coming into Boomtown?