Book recommendation: Beyond the Neck
Nov. 25th, 2023 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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davis_squareBeyond the Neck: the architecture and development of Somerville, Massachusetts, by Carole Zellie. Commissioned by the City of Somerville, this book documents the city's development from the early colonial era up through the start of the 20th century. Find it at the Central or West Branch libraries, Dewey decimal number 974.44.
The first edition of the book was published in 1982, so before the Red Line extension into West Somerville. For that, some of the text is eerily prescient: Davis Square developed as a neighborhood with good access to transit into downtown Boston, except in the 1870s it was horsecar service and steam trains connecting to the Boston and Lowell. It was interesting reading how much of the city was developed a little earlier than I had thought, more in the 1880s than post-1900, unless you get into the untamed wilderness beyond Teele Square, which did remain farmland until fairly late.
If you're at all into local history, I found this really interesting. I'm not an architect and can't really tell the difference between Queen Anne and Shingle Style houses, but there are lots of pictures of things the research found historically significant (several of which are still standing!).
The first edition of the book was published in 1982, so before the Red Line extension into West Somerville. For that, some of the text is eerily prescient: Davis Square developed as a neighborhood with good access to transit into downtown Boston, except in the 1870s it was horsecar service and steam trains connecting to the Boston and Lowell. It was interesting reading how much of the city was developed a little earlier than I had thought, more in the 1880s than post-1900, unless you get into the untamed wilderness beyond Teele Square, which did remain farmland until fairly late.
If you're at all into local history, I found this really interesting. I'm not an architect and can't really tell the difference between Queen Anne and Shingle Style houses, but there are lots of pictures of things the research found historically significant (several of which are still standing!).
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Date: 2023-11-26 12:30 am (UTC)cool, thanks for the rec!
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Date: 2023-11-26 09:20 pm (UTC)A lot of houses around here are listed as being built in 1920, but I think that's just when they were entered into that record system or something. Because my house in Gilman Square is on the books as being built in 1920, but I can see the outlines of my house and the houses around me in Bromley's 1895 Atlas of Somerville (link goes to a flickr compilation of images - not sure where else one can find the atlas). So I'm pretty sure the houses were here well before 1920. I had always thought 1920 was a bit late for new construction to have ceiling fixtures supplied by gas, but most of the houses around here have the piping still in place - the pipe is probably disconnected from the live gas line further upstream but I'm not about to crack the valves and check.