Dot Block | Dot Ave, Greenmount St, Hancock St | Dorchester

Ablarc's photoessay on JP changed the way I looked at triple deckers. They absolutely can be beautiful and I love how uniquely New England they are.

Dorchester and Somerville are filled with fine-looking stretches of triple-deckers like this:

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Lrfox said:
Yeah, I'm in one in Somerville. 3rd floor unit that's in excellent shape (gut reno in 2017). It's one of the most thoughtful, well-built units I've lived in... I'm very happy in mine. I think that if they're kept in good repair, they're perfectly fine for the area.
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this is very much my own experience, except my somerville unit isn't a traditional flat-roofed triple-decker -- it's just a late 19th century three-story victorian that i'm pretty sure was originally a single family. but yeah: top floor, really well laid out, in great shape. after years in stand-alone homes, brownstone apartments, brownstone condos, modern apartments, etc -- this one is easily my favorite.
 
The examples above aren't bad at all. I'm gut renovating a triple decker in East Boston right now. I actually think the East Boston stock is preferable to most of the Dorchester stock because of the front porches. After 120 years very few of those porches look good around Dorchester and even fewer are renovated to match their historical aesthetic. A simple clean facade is superior imho...and the Philadelphia style pitched roof multi family units age more gracefully...there are more examples of that in Somerville.
 
sidewalks said:
People have a reflexive nostalgia and defensiveness toward the housing style...so I don't see any widespread change happening in the next several decades. Wood doesn't age well...and these were thrown up to house a working class population. My uncle lives in a two family over in Watertown and is fond of saying that there isn't a right angle in the place.
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Yes, they were - and they were a more "humane" answer to row houses as they allow light and airflow on all 4 sides of the building instead of two. Wood houses age fine as long as they are maintained. I also have a two family, and, yeah, as it has settled over 100 years the term "level" is certainly relative, but, row houses settle, too.
 
BronsonShore said:
Ablarc's photoessay on JP changed the way I looked at triple deckers. They absolutely can be beautiful and I love how uniquely New England they are.

Dorchester and Somerville are filled with fine-looking stretches of triple-deckers like this:

RzREmFY.jpg


w34o7L1.jpg


PlbvNcZ.jpg
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Yea they definitely can be pretty okay, and with upkeep like in Somerville you get much better looking houses. Just in my surroundings they're not up kept and they go to hell fast. They're really just not my style.

Literally right up the street from this development you get these at the next intersection at Pleasant/ Savin Hill Ave. This is my style and I wish there were many more of these. Also these are a defined Boston style, they're not New York brownstones. I really like these a lot.



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Nice little corner store I use a lot on my way to the red line. The Pleasant/Hancock st side of Dot Block is right down there on the left of this picture below.





Right across the corner of the intersection. I wish this had retail on the corner, but not a bad little corner building.

 
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Then going up the street a bit further and taking a left onto Stoughton st you get to townhouses like this:





Very Nice.




Average buildings like this.




And of course Uphams Corner





I definitely think triple deckers are perfectly fine, but I think for corners, squares, or the main roads, brick or masonry buildings going up to 5 stories is how it should be. I think there should be ordinances saying masonry and 5 stories on main roads. After that on the between roads and side roads triple deckers are fine and a part of our history with their own story... like the Taft st. example shared above.

Actually this house built on Savin Hill Ave is a great example of a new wood house built on a side road that looks great.

Old:





New... I like how they kept the old look but made it much bigger at 4 stories. Im not sure why it sticks out so far, maybe to close off the neighborhood from dot ave, if thats why, it does.



 
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Wow...that's a beautiful project...I'm amazed the developer can afford such quality. I've looked at a lot of projects in Dorchester and can't make the numbers work. You're paying the same for construction as you do in the South End but your sales numbers are so inferior.
 
I think the addition of the street through the center with stores lining it inside as well vs only dot ave is nice. This is gonna be a great addition. As someone who lives close by Im hoping it brings a few of the types of stores we need in the area within walking distance. Im always jealous of the better stores that we can walk to by my girlfriends house vs mine so hopefully this helps.
 
"A new signal at Hancock and Pleasant" is completely unnecessary and stupid... Sigh... I'm so sick of the city messing up intersections with stoplights rather than just getting its act together to make roadways safe more generally; this happens time and again where a problem intersection goes from zero lights and speeding to a totally unnecessary light. The current intersection is a giant waste of pavement, but I've never seen a traffic backup here. A light is unnecessary. A very tight roundabout with raised crosswalks and greenery planted in the space leftover would do wonders to this area. Now, we're gonna get pointless traffic backups alternating with the usual asshole Boston 40mph-through-the-yellow.
 
Totally agree. The City's obsessions with signals is so frustrating, as is how often they make the timing absolutely horrible.
 
37,000 sq ft of retail ought to please the people on here who frequently reference the necessity of retail in these major projects. Think of how many Game Stops they can fit here!
 
Catherine O’Neill, a consultant hired by proponents of both DotBlock and Bayside, briefed attendees on plans for the two developments. DotBlock co-developers Samuels and Associates and Wintergold, LLC expect construction work on the $200 million, 488-unit complex to begin soon.
“We should have shovels in the ground in the first quarter of 2020,” O’Neill said.
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www.dotnews.com

Columbia-Savin Hill updated on trio of big-ticket projects | Dorchester Reporter

Columbia Savin Hill Civic Association (CSHCA) members received updates on various development projects in the area — including The BEAT, DotBlock, and Bayside— during a Monday meeting at the Little House. Catherine O’Neill, a consultant hired by proponents of both DotBlock and Bayside, briefed...
www.dotnews.com www.dotnews.com
 
Looks almost like the bathtub that was used to help build the World Trade Center, but not as deep in the ground. :)
 
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