Weekly journals that describe the journey through urban space and time, from ignorance to a level of awareness; these journals chart the emergence from obliviousness.
Journal 1 Journal 2 Journal 3 Journal 4 Journal 5 Journal 6 Journal 7 Journal 8 Journal 9 Journal 10
Journal 1
My thoughts after first lecture. I heard Professor Spurn talk a few weeks back in 4.11A, and am still excited about the class. It will be particularly interesting exploring American sites; growing up in Sydney, most of my thoughts are shaped by my experiences in Australian cities (which, notably, are quite young in comparison to many other cities of the world). Some of the things I think (from experience) contribute most heavily towards the development of a site and its city:
- Immigration: The influx of foreign population into a city changes not only the demographic but also the cultural landscape of the city. Foreign elements appear in the city, often in the form of food vendors (and often concentrated together), community centres etc. Example: Little Italy (Sydney), North End (Boston). Also see development of residential areas that are populated by immigrant cultures (e.g. Burwood etc in Sydney, Melbourne itself) - Transportation infrastructure: The type of transportation available dictates to an extent the development of the spread/sprawl of the city (I am not sure of the terminology at this point…). Better long distance public transport (e.g. bus lines, suburban trains) and motorways give rise to more spread out suburban development (in Sydney, lots are much larger). Better subways/metros give rise to more dense city living and office districts (e.g. NY, Sydney CBD, Financial District (Boston)). Big Airports – tourism infrastructure, international business relations
- Natural landscape: I have lived in cities where harbours are the most prominent natural feature and thus the centre of the development of the city (Sydney, Trieste (Italy), Boston). Harbours begin as trade centres and evolve into natural havens when industry moves elsewhere (e.g. Botanical Gardens, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour (Sydney)) (e.g. Aquarium? Boston) (e.g. Piazza dell’Unita (Trieste))
- Man-made landscape: In Boston, living on the Charles, we see that very little remains of the original natural landscape. Most of the surrounding area is landfill and thus the land is specifically purposed, the river’s flow has been altered, etc.
- Trade opportunities: Coastal cities often are trade hubs and thus often have developed industrial infrastructure (e.g. Botany Bay (Sydney), Chelsea (Boston)). It is interesting to see how these industries are moved away from the centre, but also how those remain interact with the surrounding residential neighborhoods. It would be interesting to choose a site that has tried to temper a conflation with the spheres of residential and industrial existence. (e.g. Landing Studios, Salt Park in Chelsea) I’ve lived in Sydney, Boston, Trieste; I’d like to find a site that shares something with all three of these cities.
Journal 2
In lecture this week we discussed Philadelphia. It gave me a far better impression of the city than the one I received when I had visited! It was interesting to see how the original grids/plans of public spaces had been preserved and also transformed via highways and breaks (e.g. to the freedom monument); government acquisition of sites (such as the waterworks) is something I’d like to investigate in Boston. I greatly appreciated the vastness of greenery that exists within the city limits (I only remember modernist concrete monoliths when I visited Penn); the description that we were given in class reminded me more of Wilmington.
Another interesting point we discussed was the effect of landscape on city structure and placement. Philadelphia, Wilmington, Trenton are all ‘fall towns’, situated at the falls of rivers that run from the mountains and into the coastal plains. This struck a personal interest for me: Sydney is situated in the coastal ‘plains’ of Eastern Australia, with the Great Mountain Range to the West and the Pacific to the east. Sydney is a little different to Boston and seemingly the fall cities we discussed in that the landscape is much hillier: it resides not so much on a plain but on an undulation. Growing up on such varied terrain, I’m interested in the effect of natural landscape (in particular changing heights and hill contours) on the urbanization of a site. I’ve noticed it already in the North End and in Chelsea: in the North End, there is not so much a grid but roads that follow the contours of the hill or run down river-like towards the water. In Chelsea I believe that hills were deciding factors of where to settle first, and thus the oldest residential areas of the site are on top of the hills overlooking the salt pile and rest of the channel. We discussed this a little in class too, noticing how decisions to place community hubs such as churches or town centres on hilltops mitigated flood damage. Landscape and its effect on urban planning would be interesting to investigate in my chosen site.
I’m considering a few sites at the moment:
Chelsea and the Salt Works at Chelsea Bridge: We had a lecture on this area during 4.11A by the head of Landing Studios. She is interested in the intersection of residential and industrial spheres, and, most interestingly, the evolution of industrial sites from blight to monument. She talked of her studio’s project for the Chelsea salt stockpiles that lie three stories high on the shoreline between the residential district and the water. Some large percentage (30%?) of the residents claimed to not even know they lived in what would be technically a water view property: they had never seen past the salt that obstructed the view from their houses. The ongoing (~10 year) project is a kind of urban renewal (references were made to the Hi-Line in NY) and a reclamation of space to give to the public. My favourite part of the project was the recycling of oil tanks as architectural elements in the waterfront park: the blights had turned into public treasures.
The Innovation District: This was suggested to me by Allison. Chelsea is a little far and furthermore not practical to commute to; perhaps a closer example of industrial areas being renewed/reclaimed is at the Innovation District. I’ve only walked through Summer Street once(I visited the Sunday Art Market in the area), but I certainly noticed a jarring juxtaposition between barren plots inhabited by single, old brick buildings and the larger more modern office buildings. It served to form a dynamic silhouette. The North End:
I love Italy. I speak Italian, grew up in an Italian neighbourhood, I went to high school in Little Italy; living there last summer I’ve grown to love the Italian lifestyle. It would certainly be interesting to see how such a lifestyle was appropriated in the USA, how the nature of the environment and pre-designed, pre-settled urban centres affected the workings of the Italian immigrants.
I went to the North End last week with my Aunt and cousin; we ate in a restaurant on Prince Street. It had only 5 or 6 tables, and thus served a sense of exclusivity; I noticed this in other restaurants in the area but not so much in central Boston or Cambridge. It would be interesting to investigate why this is the case (is it an Italian design? Was it brought about by the density of the North End?). I also noted an interesting juxtaposition between ‘American’ cultural heritage in the area (e.g. Paul Revere’s house etc.) and that of the Italians. It would be interesting to see how these two cultural histories intermingled.
Journal 3
Site Selection:
I visited the North End last weekend, and mapped out my walk and photo locations. Initially I wanted to include Langdon Park and the Cobb Park area (partly because I wanted to research the Great Molasses Disaster of 1919 which flooded the area around Langdon Park); I had also considered the intersection of the residential districts of the North End and the commercial wharf districts. However, I found Commercial Street a strong edge marker that I didn’t want to break; I thus confined my site to the inner districts of the North End. Noting the density of the area I further decided that only 4-5 blocks would provide sufficiently interesting histories and anomalies. Some anomalies I noted: my 5 block area is outlined by generally commercial properties (restaurants, shops etc.) and public space (parks, churches) while the interior streets were lined almost entirely with residential buildings. Furthermore, in the small site that I chose there was an abnormally large number of public recreational spaces, each with its own distinct personality: Paul Revere Mall has the air of a historical monument, the Peace Garden seems like a religious site (with ominous statues looking out from the lawns) and the Polcari playground is an asphalted public space. The renewal/preservation of these sites is something I’d like to look into along with the other anomalies that the site presents.
Post Site Selection:
On Tuesday we went through the class and named our sites; the student next to me announced that his site was Paul Revere Mall. Naturally I was worried when I realized that another student had chosen the exact same site (not just the North End, but the block with Paul Revere Mall). Would my project still be interesting? Would our presentations be identical? My worries were quelled by the end of class, luckily, after some group discussion.
In groups of three we discussed our sites, why we chose them, and the similarities and differences involved in these processes. I talked to Bailey and Laura who had chosen Coolidge Corner and Haymarket respectively; each of our sites had haphazard (or at least non-gridded) road layouts and included interesting mixes of residential and commercial property (on the same block or even same building). What was most interesting, however, was the motivation behind our site choices: all were to an extent personal. Bailey had visited Coolidge Corner the first time she visited Boston and has a love for trains, Laura was personally interested in the historical buildings in the Haymarket area. I chose the North End because of my love of Italy, my desire to speak Italian and become further acquainted with Italian culture and its appropriation in an American environment. I thus realized that the physical overlap in my site and the other student’s was not a problem: the academic overlap would be little, as our research would be directed by our interests, the anomalies investigated and mysteries pursued in our own style, fueled by a curiosity unique to oneself.
Journal 4
The field trip was terribly cold! I had forgotten that we were going outside and had decided to wear only a few layers of uninsulated sportswear; when we were on Main St I had considered running to Goodwill to acquire some cheap warmth.
The trip itself was terribly interesting! It was great to look at the fauna of Boston, something I am not at all familiar with (coming from Australia); we examined the dogwood and its peculiar method of flowering.
Some techniques we learnt:
Finding the growth rate of a tree: observe the length between buddings; these occur annually and thus the distance is the length grown over the year. Using trees to understand sun/shade patterns: We observed the different shaping of trees. Typically we noticed the pulling away from tall buildigns until they had grown taller than the building itself, at which point it could grow straight up happily. Furthermore, observing the plants at the beginning of spring, buds were just beginning to form and noticeably clustered at points that received more light (e.g. at the top of the tree or furthest from the building).
Observing the nutritional/soil situation of trees plots: We noticed many sad looking trees stunted in small garden beds (thin trunks, thin foliage, short reach). Plots were often ~1.5 x 1.5 m big and the dirt within them dry or uncovered (due to run-off).
This was most obvious near the carpark on Portland St. There were two rows of trees: one along between the pavement and the road in plots about 1.5 metres wide, and another by the carpark in much larger plots that were lined with turf. The difference was blatantly obvious: the trees along the pavement were about two thirds the height of the others; even though their sunlight was not blocked by the building at any time of the day, the availability of soil space for root systems and hence nutrients was a huge factor in the fecundity of the trees.
Runoff and pooling: We learnt to observe water channels on the microscale that is the sidewalk. We noticed rivulets forming in sand runoff and from this the micro-terrain of the roads. This was also noticeable in areas around manholes and grates: here the concrete/asphalt was further deteriorated and deeper pools which in turn accelerated the process. Interactions between nature and human constructions and noticing the temporal disparity between different elements: Professor Spirn took us to a tree that had melded with a chain-link fence. Both elements had affected each other: the tree had warped the structural bars of the fence but had grown in diamond patterns through the chain link. I think this will be the focus of my second assignment: observing how man made elements have changed the natural processes in the site. One I am thinking of is how the building of two storey buildings has formed wind tunnels that have in turn affected the nature of water buildup or foliage growth. We’ll see more on Saturday when I return to the North End.
Journal 5
I revisited the North End in search of natural processes. The first time I went there none caught my eye: it is a well urbanized area, crowded and very human. But alas, once I knew what to look for and indeed how to look, natural processes were, of course, all around me. After our field trip and the reading, the foibles of the urban environment suddenly presented themselves as puzzles of extraordinary interest.
What I found:
Trees on the side of Paul Revere Mall:
Paul Revere Mall is lined with trees, huge and ancient, probably planted over fifty years ago. These form a promenade perpendicular to Hanover Street, which is itself lined with smaller trees. One of these stands at the intersection of Hanover and the trees of the Mall, and its growth path is noticeable affected by its much taller neighbor: firstly, it is much smaller, thinner, with shorter yearly growth lengths, but most noticeably leans away from the mall and into the street. I deduced that this is likely because of the shade produced by the trees of the Mall; the Hanover tree is reaching out into the open air of the street, but must nevertheless compete with its neighbor for both sunlight and nutrients.
Trees plots on Hanover Street:
Trees on the West side of Hanover Street had a peculiar shape to them. Their counterparts on the other side were typically shaped and perhaps one and a half stories tall. But these on the west side had trunks about two metres tall with bushy outgrowth, in the shape of a standard; upon closer inspection, the distance between annual buds was rather small, and furthermore grew outwards and downwards rather than up and out. These two factors resulted in a ball shaped, stunted looking tree, made to look slightly more eye-pleasing through a resident’s added Christmas lights. What could have caused this? I am still investigating, but believe that it is the result of a combination of little light (the trees on this side that are not in the shadow of buildings are much taller) and the small plot of land they are planted in (though this does not seem to greatly inhibit the trees on the other side of the road).
Wind/cold pockets and air flows:
At this time of the year much of the snow has melted but in certain areas snow still remains. This makes it easy to spot areas of different temperatures. I noticed one spot in particular, by Old North Church, where a large snow pile was still fresh in the corner of the outer church walls. The area was blocked from sunlight throughout the entire day, and was on two sides protected by wood (which is perhaps a better insulator than the surrounding concrete?); the area was thus non-negligibly colder than the areas around it. Furthermore, it was located at the end of a passage that connected Revere Mall with the front of the North Church on Salem Street; this passage formed a wind tunnel, and the cold air that collects in this alcove at the end of the passage cools it down. It was surprising to see such a temperature difference from the streetside pavement which was at the time basking in the sun, and the icy alcove that still resided in the depths of winter.
Run off:
In Charter Street Park snow once again helped me notice a natural process, this time marking the collection point of water amongst the cobblestones. Charter Street Park is a paved public area in a kind of atrium formed by a collection of residential apartment buildings; upon entering it I noticed a trail of snow that lead from the entrance and through into the central plots of the area. Getting closer to the ground, it became obvious that the cobblestones all sloped down towards the centre, a result of either deliberate water runoff plans (away from building foundations) or the building of the park on softer ground (as opposed to the concrete foundations of the apartments). Thus, the water collected in first a trail and then a pool, and had remained frozen (as snow and the pool as ice). Furthermore, there was a noticeable increase in algae growth in these areas due to the increased moisture.
Ivy and wall crawlers:
The side of one of the buildings lining Charter Street Park showed the remains of a previous terrace building that had been torn down. Stubs of concrete and bricks still protruded from the walls, but no longer did they support a wall: ivy and other wall crawling plants were thriving on the unmaintained wall and the abundance of grips it provided. I wondered whether this plant growth was pre or post demolition: it was obvious in some places that the ivy had grown into holes in the brick (and thus likely affected the structural integrity of the building).
I am returning to the site on Sunday; a hectic week of work and robotics meant I couldn’t finish the paper by today and Professor Spirn has granted me an extension; I will search for more puzzles and natural processes that have integrated and adapted to the urban form of the North End.
Journal 6
A hefty week. In lecture on Monday it was interesting to hear the way different students interpreted the topic of “natural processes” and the processes that they chose to investigate. My favourite was probably Daniel’s; I found the way he structured his assignment around the natural topography of the land very rigorous and interesting.
In class on Wednesday we were split into groups of three; I was in a group with Fiona and Horg. We were assigned area 5 in the class site, the area that currently houses Technology Square. We began by attempting to locate our site boundaries on the 1853 map: the first step was to locate Broadway and Main Streets, the north and south borders, and then the east and west: Portland and what is now Galileo Galilei Way. The northwestern cut out that now runs through Technology square was not to be found on the 1853 map, however, and proved not to appear on any of the other maps we were given! Instead, Washington and Harvard Streets continued through the site and formed smaller, angular blocks within the site.
We moved on to investigate the changing land uses in the area. In the 1853 map we noticed that there was a predominantly residential area in the south of the site; in particular, we deduced that this area was reasonably affluent: the plots were reasonably large, many had secondary buildings within the property, and we noticed several Doctors as owners of property. In the north of the site the main feature was the piano and organ factory; interestingly, the railroad diverted here and split from the subway and entered the factory. As such, the infrastructure for industrial transport was already laid in the site by 1853.
Continuing to the 1903 map, the organ factory remained but a new industrial feature had encroached on the site borders. Lever Brothers Soap Manufacturers had begun to own buildings on the edge of the site; in the 1917 map it had acquired the organ factory, extended the railway across Burleigh Street (which no longer exists) and placed some kind of tanking or storage system in the plot below. As a result of this expansion, by the 1930 map, the residential use of the site had effectively disappeared. The site had become almost purely industrial (or at least corporate; we did not work out who owned or even what was the complex in the south of the site). What came as the biggest surprise, however, was that by the 1970s, this entire development had disappeared, and had been replaced by bare land spotted with a few offices.
Though we knew the redevelopment of the area was inevitable given the existence of Technology Square, many questions arose from our investigation. Why did they choose to clear the block entirely? Certainly Harvard and Washington Streets could have been maintained and Technology Square built around it. Perhaps the redevelopment committee was committed to the idea of ‘mega-blocks’ (a 1970s(?) urban planning fad). Furthermore, once the area had been cleared completely, why was the land so underutilized? We know that Lever Bros left the site in the 1950s, but the 1970’s map still showed barely any development (four office buildings). We wondered whether this was due to the cleansing of the land after the heavy industrial use; perhaps it was simply due to slow development and coordination between MIT and the City of Cambridge.
Moving on to my own site, I’m prepared to be barraged with questions. What made analysis difficult in class was the relatively large distance in time between the maps; hopefully I can find a set of documents with a finer resolution.
Journal 7 -The Map Hunt Begins
When given the initial task of finding maps of my site (this was post-class-site-analysis) I struggled to find anything remotely useful. At the Boston Public Library I found information about the Norman Leventhal map collections, and thus used this is as my primary source for maps, however, searching through sixty three pages of results for “Boston Maps” from 1777 to 2000 secured only a few (remotely) useful pieces. The most interesting artifact that I found was a map of North Street from 1859 which detailed much of the commercial use of the area (thought this was not directly on my site, it gave a useful indication of the general land use).
With some guidance from the lecture on map searching and library resources, I utilized MIT’s subscription to Sanborn maps to find census map data. Unfortunately, since the North End is the oldest and historically most dense area in Boston, it has been consistently mapped in the first volume of each ‘date’; that is, for a collection of maps labelled 1908-1938 I would only be able to find a map of the North End from 1909.
Harvard’s HOLLIS engine allowed me to source a healthy collection of Bromley insurance maps; these, however detailed, unfortunately only spanned the years 1880 to 1912. I thus had a good grasp of the changes of the short period that surrounded the turn of the century, but lacked information on the changes that occurred in the mid to late 1900s. Further searching led me to The Boston Atlas, where I found some later cartographic escapades.
Thus begins the analysis:
The 1775 maps already depict some of the boundaries of my site. Salem and Prince Street exist in their current states. Hanover appears to have some ancestry in what was then known as ‘Middle Street’ and ‘North Street’ (this is now the name of a parallel street). It is unclear whether Henchman Street exists or not; a street similarly aligned is unnamed but does not exactly match when overlaid on newer maps. This could be due to two reasons: either the road itself has changed or the cartography at the time was inaccurate. The streets within the boundaries also differ: there exists a ‘Love Lane’ and a collection of smaller unnamed streets. The blocks at this time appear to be built up only on the street side with large open spaces in the centre; furthermore, it seems that within the site boundaries the buildings are tightly packed side by side with few entrances to the inner voids, though this may be by virtue of cartographically poetic license.
Moving on to the 1814 map, the block created by Henchman, Commercial, North (Hanover) and Charter Streets is now fully formed (this block is one I find particularly interesting; mainly due to the park it embraces). This map depicts lot boundaries: the area seems to be residential (large lots with single buildings at the front of the lot) with the larger buildings perhaps depicting a church).
Upon reaching the 1880s we are presented with insurance maps that give us wildly more detail. The site is equally used for residential and commercial purposes; many of both types are owned by Anglo/British/Irish sounding family names (e.g. O’Hara, Mc Manus etc). We also see the first detailed indication of large public institutions: Christ Church is clearly marked where Old North Church is now known to stand, and Bay State House occupies the beginnings of the elongated space that now is Paul Revere Mall. Three schools appear: Eliot School, Weir School, and Freeman School; all three of these still exist (under different names).
The intermediary maps between 1885 and 1912 show a gradual change from a predominantly Irish to a predominantly Italian demographic. Another change shown is a shift toward commercial land use (assuming that at this time red still indicates a commercial holding); the 1912 map is smothered by pastel pinks.
By 1928 the space that is now Revere Mall had been cleared and labeled ‘Playground’; Christopher Columbus School is expanding, and the area is still dominated by Italian names. Curiously, the only obvious collection of residential buildings is in the Henchman Block in what is now Charter Park along Greenough Lane. The rest of the site is mainly filled by small shops, interspersed with some garages, a library and a a few large buildings labelled so and so ‘Inc.’. The 1938 map shows only large landmarks and as such specific land uses are not visible, however, we can see that Paul Revere Mall has been established as a public ‘green’ recreational space along with the North End Playground (now a concrete set of basketball courts). Something I need to enquire about is the method by which multi-story buildings are depicted.
The 3D map from 1994 is useful in its depiction of the atriums that I noticed when working on assignment 2. Here it is easy to see the height of the buildings and the areas they enclose; many of the blocks outside my site boundaries are tightly packed with buildings, while the blocks within my site are arranged to form alcoves especially quaint in a 3D aerial depiction.
Being a natural geographic land mass and one of the first points of settlement, there are have been no major redevelopments or wild geographical restructurings in the North End. I noticed a slight shift from residential to commercial land use; tourism may prove an interesting factor to investigate. What I feel will perhaps provide the most interest is the cultural demographic landscape of the site and how this landscape was shaped over time, how certain forms remained set in the ground while others came and washed away.
Journal 8
This week was spent on Assignment three. A fun project and certainly the most interesting so far, it was not without its fair share of difficulties. Much of my time was spent searching for appropriate maps at useful intervals; there is a healthy number of Sanborn and Bromley maps from the 1880s to the 1920s, but there is a large gap until the 1960s, at which point Sanborn maps were produced once a decade. Granted, it seemed that the greatest change occurred during this time period, but I was slightly uncomfortable with the lack of map information over the years that included the Depression, the Second World War, and the time of great urban renewal (amongst other global and national events). Upon the analysis of the maps that I did uncover, however, I found that this period in fact showed little change in actual land-use.
To begin the process of land use analysis, I colour coded the Sanborn maps according to their labels. This initially was not easy as maps from different years were different sizes and orientation (and at times also split into multiple sheets). To aid the comparison I created an animation depicting the change, and, alas, the change (and in places lack thereof) was plain to see! The transition from single family dwellings to flats and tenements and the associated changes in density gave me basis for the chronology of my site through time. The changes depicted in the maps narrated the site’s transition from wealthy to poor, from British loyals to immigrants, and its return to moderate socio-economic status. To further analyse the temporal demographic landscape I considered making another animation colouring the map according to ethnicity (using the Bromleys) but I ran out of time.
Another interesting issue I found was the option of expanding my site. My current boundaries saw little to no industrial usage since its settlement; looking only at my site I wondered whether this was true for the entire North End: lo, it was not. The other side of Commercial Street, along the wharf, has been home to industry since the 1800s and still is today. Furthermore, slightly to the east, there existed a beach (which supposedly played a key part in the strengthening of the immigrant community) which has now been converted to an athletic/recreational park. However, I decided against the expansion of my site: not only did Sanborns and Bromleys conveniently place almost my entire site on one sheet, most importantly I found the changes within it enough and the interesting concentration of ‘institutions’ sufficient to tell a story worth listening to.
Journal 9: Introduction to Traces and Trends
On Wednesday Professor Spirn introduced us to the topic of Traces and Trends (and Artifacts and Layers). It was surprising to see the number of differences (albeit subtle) between each of these curiosities; I feel that one of the greatest challenges will be the appropriate categorizing of the foibles that I find around my site and structuring my paper accordingly. I returned to my site on Saturday. Interestingly, I found that many of the elements that I caught my eye this trip (looking for traces and trends) were things that had piqued my curiosity during my first trip! Most of the elements that I photographed were juxtapositions of old style architecture and newer urban projects; much of the site is looks as it did earlier in the 20th century. Amongst other things, I noticed a large number of torn down buildings (indicated by their 'shadows' on the sides of adjacent windowless buildings); I noticed again the abundance of alcoves (possibly relics of the flats/wooden shanties that used to sit there?). Here are the three photos I am submitting:
A copper plated façade pokes out from between two buildings… A vestige of an architectural style now largely deemed archaic!
1. Ye olde lamp-post. Most of the lamps in the area are of this style
2. The gateway has a façade covering the interior; is this an attempt to promote or foreshadow the naturalization of the North End? Or is it just hiding the mess under the bed?
Prince Street displays its architectural developments. From left to right: old red brick, fibreboard/wooden apartments, yellow stone, copper facades. Note: I edited this picture.
Journal 10: Trends and Traces in Northern Places
Assignment Four was easily the most interesting assignment so far. Not only did it explain the relevance of the previous exercises (which had the potential to seem at times abstract and non-consequential), it gave me the freedom to choose the themes I wanted to explore. Furthermore, exploration of the themes that I found most interesting exposed me to the stories of the people of the North End, and, in turn, imbued upon me a richer understanding of what it meant to read a human narrative.
In the process of writing the essay I chose to explore the narrative of the immigrant experience that originally influenced my choice of site at the start of the semester. It was unbelievable to discover that the traces of immigration are so evident in the site; what I had originally thought was simply older style architecture and urban layout were in fact vestiges of tenement housing; what appeared simply as anomalies were in fact explained by maps and associated history. Another example of this was the changing commercial scene in the North End. During my first walk through my site, I noticed the peculiar way in which the ground floor was often much plainer than the upper facades. In Assignment Three, analyzing my maps, I noticed that most of the street side properties were stores, at least until the 1960’s; at this point I still didn’t notice anything particularly curious. However, when revisiting the North End this time with my maps, I realized that these stores have since been bricked up and converted into residences; the ‘plain’ ground floors were remnants of what were once glass store displays. This observation in turn led me to a hypothesis of the trend of centralizing mercantile industry in the North End.
I appreciated the order in which these assignments came; while assignment three was certainly fascinating in showing the transitioning population density of the North End, many nuances of the maps were not fully appreciated until I had walked through the site again and associated each physical curiosity with its cartographic history. As such, searching for traces and trends was an apt way to conclude the assessment of my site; without the lengthy research of our previous endeavors, I would not have been able to read the urban features of the North End as a guide to its past and its future.