Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
There was one cluster of buildings in that group that seem like they would have been a loss, assuming the interiors were in decent condition. The 5-storey building (which on its own is the least interesting of the group to me), the interesting-looking stone building hiding in behind which has contrasting stone corner detail (which makes me wonder if it wasn't disassembled and rebuilt down at what is now Historic Properties), then the arch-top windowed building to its left and the one next to it with the angled roof c/w skylight, which must have been pretty unusual for the era. That one in particular looks as if it had been well-maintained with fresh-looking siding of some sort and a newish-looking shingle job on the roof. Again, it reminds me of one of the reproduction buildings found now at Historic Properties.
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Interesting ideas - to me the cluster of buildings in its entirety is quite nice (in form, not condition) with the 5-storey as a cornerstone of sorts.
Regarding the idea of the stone building being disassembled and rebuilt in the current Historic Properties, remember that Historic Properties as it is today wasn't planned in the 1960s, so there would have been no foresight to disassemble these buildings further up on Upper Water Street, and reassemble them in the current Historic Properties area - they were just a bunch of old buildings that were in the way of progress - the Cogswell Exchange for the Harbour Drive project. Thus, they were demolished as quickly and cheaply as possible.
IIRC, the stone buildings that make up part of the current Historic Properites site were also slated for demolition but were saved by a group of citizens (which eventually became the Heritage Trust?) who protested the demolitions and were successful, effectively putting an end to the project.
Regardless, here are some photos from the
archives site that show what those buildings looked like in the 1960s, before being restored and turned into Historic Properties.
I don't recall the details of the restorations, but I imagine many/most of the wooden structures were either rebuilt using a combination of original and new materials, or just completely built from the ground up.
It's almost hard to believe this is the area currently occupied by the outdoor patio of the Lower Deck pub:
How it looked after restoration (1980s?):
More pics from the 1950s/60s:
