In just a few short years, Boston has watched the loft evolve from a novel alternative to apartment and condominium living, something “alternative” types occupied in say, New York City or Chicago, to become the living, working homes of hundreds of residents. An idea drawn initially from the industrial loft spaces of New York’s SoHo in the 1970s and 80s, the loft’s initial appeal is, of course, volumetric space and lots of it. A close second in appeal is the open plan living the modern loft affords. For people used to the traditional New England home or condominium-style layout, the loft’s break with expected decorum can be liberating. Dropping formal ‘rooms’ for open plan living, according to owners, is like exchanging the suit and tie for your favorite pair of jeans.
The original lofts in places like San Francisco’s SoMa district and to a greater extent New York’s SoHo were most often for artists-in-residence programs, providing spaces unencumbered by barriers – except for the occasional cast-iron column – where painters, sculptors and such could create often with huge banks of natural light. Mid-19th century sewing and light manufacturing spaces in these cities and others like Chicago or Boston needed these huge windows for both light and summer ventilation as gas was the only source for lighting available and air conditioning was a full century away.
Today’s lofts in metropolitan Boston are usually based on the ideas of those originals, retaining creative space, abundant natural light and open living, but enhancing them with sleek kitchens and modern baths. So, although the grimy freight elevator may have been replaced by a shiny passenger elevator and the original artists have been augmented by architects, design professionals and others, the ingredients of loft living have not changed.
The idea of loft living was first realized in Boston along Fort Point Channel on the waterfront with the completion of Fort Point Place with a full-fledged gut renovation of existing 100+-year-old brick and beam warehouses. The developers, instead of doing the full condo treatment with drywall everything and crown moldings practically required by law elsewhere in the city, chose to go in a different direction. Fort Point Place was the first large-scale loft project here (with over 100 units) to play up the features indigenous to 19th century warehouses. Instead of covering up the old beams, they sandblasted them. Instead of a fine painted finish, many walls are deliberately exposed masonry.
While many other loft projects have sprung up from underutilized former manufacturing and warehouse buildings in the Seaport area, Boston’s Back Bay, with its proclivity for high-end living is not immune from the loft. To be sure, these buildings, like The Pope on Columbus Avenue or better yet, 360 Newbury, pay closer attention to things like open, cook’s kitchens decked out with the Bosch, Gaggenau and Sub-Zero appliances that today’s Back Bay buyer demands. And at 360 Newbury, this same buyer is getting a little more. They are buying into one of much-revered modern architect Frank Gehry’s only “deconstructivist” buildings that is mixed-use. Originally the headquarters of the Boston Rail Co. in 1918, the entire building was revamped in 1989 under Gehry’s direction. Lead-coated-copper beams jut out from the both the mezzanine level and the 2-story penthouse, turning what was a rather boring building into a kind of “transformer.” Only in the last 2 years has the building’s interior been transformed into loft-style condominiums.
Taking cues from those 19th century manufacturing and industrial buildings in the far South End, Art Block has recreated an entire section of this neighborhood, by bonding old with new. Consisting of duplex townhouse style units to reflect the 19th century nature of East Brookline Street and 23 Loft-style units in a modern loft building, Art Block also incorporates artist’s studios, gallery space, a significant number of affordable housing units and underground parking. Although decidedly modern, the loft building evokes the feeling of the earlier manufacturing buildings using materials like slate-gray shingling, reflective of the area’s Victorian era mansard roofs. Art Block, and its developers, New Atlantic Development, under the direction of the BRA also kept the creative element of artists and artisans in the finished complex of buildings with affordable, work-only spaces in the renovated Joshua Bates School building.
Now that open-plan living has worked its way into the popular culture lexicon, the loft is no longer seen as “alterna-living” but as a fabulous way to get volumetric space – and plenty of it – in a city full of tiny Victorian-era one bedroom condos carved out of former servants quarters. As these loft spaces, with their high ceilings and relaxed living are conducive to the way many live now, loft projects have begun to spill over in other locations. Jamaica Plain recently opened The News, a conversion of a printing company on Seaverns Avenue, Chelsea has the Chelsea Studio Loft, and perhaps most surprisingly, Lynn has both Sloan Machinery Lofts that was recently completed and Ladder 3, which was creatively carved from, you guessed it… a 19th century fire station.
