Nick Gillham walked along the train tracks near the old Metropolitan Storage building off Mass. Ave.
Copyright Nick Gillham. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
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Comments
Industrial?
By Ron Newman
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 4:31am
Everything in that photo is part of MIT.
Yeah, I know
By adamg
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 7:37am
It's just that the photo struck me as something you might see in an industrial town in the Midwest.
Including ...
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 8:32am
The Clean Energy Nuclear Plant that every city of the future has.
Not exactly
By Cute Username
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:59pm
The MIT Nuclear Reactor is not hooked up to a generator and is only used for research purposes, so "clean energy" isn't really right.
Met storage
By hydeparkish
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 5:55am
what is stored in there keeping it from being developed, anyone know?
AFAIK
By Kathode
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 7:18am
it's empty. MIT is trying to decide what to do with it. The original plan to build a dorm wasn't going to work with the existing building (which is historic) so they are considering other uses like maker spaces and student work space.
Original comment deleted
By roadman
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 7:16pm
Thanks to everyone for the clarifications. Just not used to seeing "historic" and "warehouse" in the same sentence I guess, especially in reference to a building I used to walk by numerous times in the 1980s and barely gave it a second thought.
And yes, the object lesson here is clearly "Think (and research a little) before you type."
It is also idiocy
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 8:33am
To not bother to look up why it is considered to have historical significance.
AMIRITE?
Except you're wrong.
By angrydroid
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:04am
Except you're wrong.
Much as I like the like the
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:07pm
Much as I like the like the Ireproof Rage Warehouse, it's not the only 1890s brick industrial building in the greater Boston area. And it didn't invent the idea of making an industrial building look like a castle.
I'm sure the original architects would be horrified to learn that today's planners want to house students in it without adding any windows. Also, they themselves added an extension (as your quote says), back when historic buildings didn't have to be frozen in amber despite the costs and consequences.
Can I come to Reading and decide what is historic?
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:08am
http://www.cambridgeday.com/2015/08/13/mit-shuttin...
YES IT IS HISTORIC. Everyone who has ever had much to do with the building agrees on that.
Roadman,
By whyaduck
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:52pm
funny you use the word "idiocy" in your sentence 'cause your sentence is idiotic.
More historic warehouses
By Ron Newman
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:33pm
The streetscape we all love in Fort Point Channel is largely made up of old warehouses.
Old Kendall Square
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:28am
I remember in the 70s when most of Kendall Square looked like that.
I do, too
By Miaow
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:55am
My father worked as a welder at a metal fabrication company in Kendall Square and at some point in the 70’s. When I was a kid he took me to work one day.
Oil storage tanks
By downtown-anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 10:13am
Somewhere around the internet there is a picture of Kendall Square with large storage tanks.
EDIT: There you go.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_librar...
historic aerials
By cybah
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 11:56am
Also check out my favorite time waster...
https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer
They have a slide and dissolve feature where you can look at two maps side by side.
I always found comparing 1955 to 1961 to 1971 to 1995 to be amazing. So much build up around the city between 1955 and 1978.
Kendall included. Kendall Square had a much larger Broad Channel that went to almost Ames street (which didn't exist in 1955)
Interesting look.
Tar paper wonderland
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 11:06am
All of the old "tenament" style factories were covered in ugly pinky tarpaper. TRW was one of them (fasteners division).
Small wonder that they didn't all go up in a single fire.
As Close to Industry?
By Pref Anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 10:23am
I may be wrong, but I thought Cambridge still had an active if small manufacturing sector, even excluding life sciences.
Junior Mints
By Ron Newman
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:05pm
are still made at a factory on Main Street. It has had several owners over the years, the current one being the Tootsie Roll company.
Very little manufacturing is
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:11pm
Very little manufacturing is left.
I'm sure the owners of the Junior Mints factory are just waiting for the right time to make big bucks selling the building and moving to the suburbs, like the NECCO factory did.
Not exactly
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:04pm
The NECCO factory stayed in an urban area accessible to transit. The main difference was that they shortened the commutes of their workers considerably by building a modern factory in Revere.
You say urban, I say suburban
By anon
Fri, 02/16/2018 - 1:35pm
You say urban, I say suburban. https://goo.gl/maps/JyGF68q22aG2
Some workers will have a shorter commute, if they live in Revere or Chelsea. Other workers will have a longer commute, if they live in East Cambridge or the near the southern Red Line. Either way, it doesn't make this part of Revere not a car-oriented wasteland.
Junior Mint factory
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:16pm
You can smell the chocolate all over the area. I gain weight just walking by. :-)
Yes, just down
By whyaduck
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:53pm
the street from where I work. On a summer's day, one can smell the Tootsies.
Ah yes
By Tim Mc.
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 10:39am
the historic
IRE-PROOF
RAGE WAREHOUSE
(is that where they stash uhub comments before publication?)
Looks like a Charles Sheeler work...
By Pete Nice
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 10:50am
Old School.
Historic photo
By anon
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:09pm
Most people won't have the chance to see the West Garage while it's half-demolished.
Not to be a buzzkill
By Ari O
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:11pm
But unless that was taken from the Pacific Street crossing, it's not a good idea to trespass on railroad property. Even if it's infrequently-used and low-speed.
You would have to be both blind and deaf
By Ron Newman
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 12:30pm
to get hit by a train on the Grand Junction. They cross all of the streets at slow walking speed.
I kept my ears and eyes open
By Nick G
Wed, 02/14/2018 - 9:31pm
I kept my ears and eyes open in both directions. They blow their horns at every crossing.
This day, there was a MBTA super at the crossing - they had the tracks flagged off - one of the reasons I opted to go B&W for the photo; the bright orange flags on the rails were distracting.
For those interested why the garage is being torn down, a project I'm working on: http://capitalprojects.mit.edu/projects/new-reside...