Project Assignment #1: Select a Site

One day soon after graduation, I was surprised to find a package from my Uncle David in the mail. "Why couldn't he have just gotten me money like everyone else?" I rather ungraciously thought as I opened it and revealed the Access Guide to Boston by Richard Saul Wurman. My mother seemed much more impressed by my uncle's ability to select gifts than I was, and she told me that I would feel differently about the book once I got to Boston. I did not believe her at the time, but as usual, she ended up being right. I constantly use my tour book to find everything from places to eat to interesting ways to spend sunny weekends.

In fact, if not for the Access Guide to Boston, I would never have found my site. As I read through the Beacon Hill section of the book earlier in January, an entry crossed my eye:

Pinckney Street: Begin at its base, and with luck you'll arrive at the summit just as the late-afternoon sunlight turns golden, and the trees become sparkling lanterns stretching down toward the Charles River. Called the "Cinderella Street" of Beacon Hill by one author, it was once the dividing line between those who were and those who were not. There are both handsome and humble buildings here, and all are utterly delightful.
(Wurman 21)

The book went on to mention "the hidden house," "the pie-shaped house," and "the house of odd windows." Immediately intrigued, I added Pinckney Street to my list of places to visit. After seeing it for the first time, I became even more curious about how the street was built and developed and what it might look like in the future, but I was not really sure where to go for answers. The timing of this project, therefore, seems very serendipitous.

I have decided to focus on Pinckney Street between Joy and Charles Streets, as well as on part of Charles Street, most likely the block from Pinckney to Mt. Vernon Street. For the purposes of this project, I will define a block not as an area of space separated on all four sides by streets or similar boundaries but rather as both sides of one street. The maps highlight the location of my site both in the Beacon Hill neighborhood and in the general Boston area.

in Beacon Hill Neighborhood

in Boston area

Charles Street is predominantly commercial, which means it will provide excellent contrast to the almost entirely residential Pinckney Street. It also provides a topographical boundary for my site because it forms the base of Beacon Hill and at one time was on the riverbank (hence the name Charles Street) . The site also contains Louisburg Square, a small, private park, and a former boys school that is now condominiums, both of which will serve as examples of other types of land use. By considering both sides of Pinckney Street, I will find another form of contrast since, as Wurman mentioned, the street historically delineated the boundary between the "haves" and "have nots" of the neighborhood (21).

This social aspect of Pinckney Street is one of the reasons why I find it so intriguing. I want to analyze not only how the geographical patterns of social classes, evident even in differences between one side of the street and the other, shaped the architecture and history of the street over time but also whether they are still felt today. Similarly, I am curious as to how the businesses on Charles Street have changed over time; today they are mostly upscale establishments, often seeming to cater to tourists. Do residents of the area eat, work, and shop there, or do they go down the other side of the hill, to Cambridge Street, or do they follow entirely different beats?

It is impossible to consider the site's change over time without considering it as a well maintained historical artifact. Beacon Hill is one of Boston's oldest neighborhoods, and I want to look at how modern inventions such as the automobile have influenced both the lives of the residents and the buildings themselves. The narrow street is hardly conducive to traffic. The neighborhood seems to work hard to maintain a sort of timelessness -- even modern businesses such as Starbucks try to blend in with the colonial feel -- and I want to find out if it has always preserved its appearance in the face of modernization or if it has only returned to this facade in recent years. How has it fended off threats to its historical character? Is it stable enough to successfully maintain its image in the future? Additionally, the street has been home to some of Boston's famous residents, including Louisa May Alcott's family, and it will be necessary to touch on their lives and experiences on the street.

juxtaposition of old and new -- Starbucks Coffee with historic facade

The aspect of Pinckney Street I am perhaps most excited to explore, however, is its architecture. The densely packed houses edging very close to the curb offer only the smallest clues to what they hide; by exploring the alleyways and looking closely at roof lines and doors, however, one begins to realize that because of the not-so-linear geography of Boston, the street has quite a few secrets. Courtyards open up on hidden houses behind the main street while tight land use on other parts of the street pinches houses into strange shapes. I want to take a closer look at the houses on the street and discover, if I can, how some of them came to be built as they are. Other areas of the city are on oddly shaped blocks without having hidden houses, and I want to find out when and why the disorder behind the initially apparent order of the street came to be.

house in transition

To the uninformed eye, Pinckney Street could look like any other street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood or even like many other streets in America's older cities. But this street has many unique and intriguing qualities, and I hope through my research and exploration, to unlock some of its mysteries and to predict how it might look in the future.

Works Cited: Wurman, Richard Saul. Access Guide to Boston. Harper Collins, 1999.

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