Credit: Lori DeSantis

Caption: The 1912 ballroom addition at 5 Commonwealth Avenue should
be given landmark status, say advocates.





Forty neighbors have signed a petition asking the Boston Landmarks Commission to designate as a Boston Landmark the interior of 5 Commonwealth Avenue, the mansion built by the Baylies family that is now occupied by the Boston Center for Adult Education. With landmark status comes certain restrictions on changes that can be made.

A hearing on the matter will take place on August 28 at City Hall at 5:45 pm.

“The Boston Center has been a good caretaker,” said Frances Duffly of Marlborough Street, one of the leaders of the effort. But as the BCAE begins its plan to sell the building — they hope to a single family — she and others are worried that the 1904 mansion’s historic interior with its 1912 ballroom addition could be destroyed or compromised beyond repair.

“We need to slow down and think about this,” said Duffly. “What I’m looking for is the ability for the landmarks commission and the Back Bay Architectural Commission to consider options.”

Petition backers face significant hurdles. One is the commission itself. “We typically do not do interiors of private homes because there is no public access,” said Ellen J. Lipsey, executive director of the Boston Landmarks Commission. Lipsey pointed to the Women’s City Club at 39-40 Beacon Street as an example of a private club that was sometimes open for public events. When a developer bought it and turned it into condominiums, the landmarks commission denied a landmarks petition for its interior because of the lack of access for the public.

Lipsey said fewer than 20 Boston interiors are landmarked, and most of those are theaters, office buildings or Jacob Wirth’s restaurant or the Gibson House Museum at 137 Beacon. “All are accessible to the public on occasion,” said Lipsey. “We do not do anything that doesn’t have a public benefit.”

But Duffly and others point to the Burrage House at 314 Commonwealth Avenue, once the Boston Evening Clinic and now converted into condominiums, as an example of a private building with interior preservation restrictions — in that case it involves one room. Lipsey said Burrage House was so designated because the room is visible through glass on a door.

South End real estate broker John Neale, who has been active in the preservation world for many years and is one of the prime backers of having 5 Commonwealth’s interior landmarked, believes that such a designation raises the value of a historic property. He hopes for a buyer for the building who understands historic preservation and has the means to carry it out.
“A buyer like that should be proud that they have bought a property with a landmarked interior,” he said. “They would see that as value enhancement.”

Neale pointed to Amos and Barbara Hostetter’s renovation of the second Harrison Gray Otis House at 85 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill as the model for preservation and stewardship of a historic mansion, while adapting it for a 21st-century family’s needs.

The Hostetters hired the architecture firm of Ann Beha Associates, which specializes in historic restoration and renovation, with architect and historian Catherine Truman as the project manager. While the Mount Vernon Street house had no landmark status on its interior, the owners and architects planned the work as if it did have those restrictions, Neale observed.

He said he has seen too many owners rip out original materials that cannot be recreated and install expensive, but banal features that will age quickly and have no more redeeming feature than that they are liked by the owners, whose taste and sense of history is suspect.

“As a broker, I often tell buyers with detail [in a house] not to destroy it,” he said. “They’ll create a more suburban-type house when they should keep some of their formality intact.”

He said too many private houses in the Back Bay have been destroyed in this way with interiors that in their worst incarnations look like something from Palm Beach, and that such transformations reduce rather than increase the value of such houses. “Some of the most significant interiors have been altered beyond recognition,” he said.

He called 5 Commonwealth Avenue one of the most significant houses in Boston for its scale, its ballroom addition, the conservatory, its outdoor space and the way the rooms flow gracefully from one to another.

He calls the house a historic asset for a historic city. “It deserves to be preserved,” he said. Even if a single family buys the house and lives in it now, the house could become a museum in another 100 years with full public access. He thinks the city needs to anticipate such an outcome. “Boston needs to step in and say we care about our heritage,” Neale said.

Boston Center officials say they do not have enough information to comment on whether they support landmark status. “As you know, our preference is for use as a single family home,” said BCAE Executive Director PJ Blankenhorn.

She said the BCAE board voted on August 17 to sell the building. “We’ve got interest in the building, and we’re working with brokers who are showing it,” she said.

Neale worries about the potential buyers who may be looking at what would be one of the premier trophy homes in New England.

“You can hear my level of worry,” said Neale. “I’m afraid for 5 Commonwealth Avenue. I’ve seen too many interiors go down in a pile of plaster dust.”

Fall is just around the corner, and if you’re looking to update your home décor this season, the Back Bay’s top interior designers say clean lines, warm colors, and a blending of the old and the new are what is fresh and new. Now is the time to update your living space and embrace the current trends.

“New England has long been a stronghold for traditional design, but it has slowly been more accepting of a more contemporary style. I have seen a big change in the last five years in New England,” says Leslie Fine, president of the award-winning Leslie Fine Interiors, Inc. “More and more homeowners have been requesting a more pared-down, cleaner and contemporary look.”

Fine says this style is called transitional, and it is encompassing more and more of what her clients are asking for.

Heather Wells of Heather G. Wells, Ltd. Architectural Interiors agrees that the transitional style — a combination of traditional items or architecture with a more contemporary look — is what her clients are looking for as well.

“Style is very eclectic right now. People want to see a bit of traditional, a bit of contemporary and a bit of glamour,” she says. “We are mixing a lot of antiques and ‘found’ pieces in with a cleaner interior to make it more interesting and personal.”

Regardless of the latest trends in all the magazines, both Fine and Wells say their biggest inspiration is their clients.


“Beauty on its own is not enough — the space must function for your lifestyle. My passion is to create beautiful and functional homes for my clients. Each project is a unique and wonderful challenge,” says Fine.

Wells says her firm can build an entire room’s design off of one item that has unique importance to the client.

“We try to have the client provide a starting point — either with a favorite piece of art, or an object found in their travels, or an article from a magazine that really inspired them. Then we build from there,” she says.

Leslie Fine Interiors was established in 1996 and specializes in transitional and contemporary interiors. The newly renovated office on the corner of Clarendon and Boylston Streets is an example of this style — the traditional architecture of the space with the high ceilings and the detailed moldings was maintained, but it is furnished with clean and contemporary pieces.

Heather G. Wells Architectural Interiors has been in the Back Bay for six years and has been in business for nearly a decade, with another office in Chicago. They are full service, providing assistance in interior architecture and space planning and designing cabinetry and choosing materials such as flooring and tiles. They also provide decorating services that include furniture plans, budgets, fabric and furniture selection and purchasing, as well as accessory and art shopping.

With two decades of experience between the two firms, these designers know a little bit about some of the interesting aspects of working in the Back Bay. With older buildings and cramped quarters, designing a room to appear open and modern can be a challenge.

“Because of narrow stairwells and other limitations, in many instances, larger pieces need to be brought through windows from the outside of the buildings by cranes,” says Fine.

Wells says use of space is a top consideration.

“The spaces are tight and the light is limited, so we need to be very conscience of scale and not blocking the light from the windows,” she says. “The scale of furniture pieces is essential to making it feel right.”

And making it feel right is what it’s all about.

“We are a firm that likes to edit the style of the client instead of applying our style to their space,” says Wells. “We act as advisors and editors.”

It’s that time of year, when the grapes that have been ripening in the summer sun for the past few months are just about ready to be harvested, and winemakers begin to prepare for their 2007 vintages. Most of us aren’t going to be out in the fields squashing grapes anytime soon, but we can do our part by preparing our palates and educating ourselves through wine tasting classes and dinners around the Back Bay.

Two area wine retailers regularly offer free wine tastings where customers can try something and learn something new. At the Boylston Street Best Cellars, tastings are offered daily from 5 to 8 p.m., with special weekend tastings from 2 to 5 p.m. Periodically, a representative from a wine distributor will lead a tasting. And through September, the Saturday “Sip and Song” tastings feature music and food from a local restaurant.

Assistant Manager Jenny Meacham says that at Best Cellars, the tastings are part of the overall goal to make people see that wine can be understandable, enjoyable and affordable. Best Cellars stores only sell lesser-known labels, and none are priced more than $15.

“The tastings definitely bring a lot of people in and help them to branch out from their normal wines,” she says.

Over on Newbury Street, Bauer Wine and Spirits has been offering wine tastings on Saturdays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for about 15 years. After a summer break, the tastings will begin regularly after Labor Day.

General Manager Howie Rubin says Bauer carries one of the more unique wine selections in Boston, and residents from all over the area venture to the Back Bay to see what is being offered each month.

Tastings are down-to-earth and casual, usually with a food pairing and themed to match the season or a type of food.

“The wine tastings are not about selling,” says Rubin. “They are much more educational.”
Occasionally, Bauer will host a larger offsite wine tasting event for which participants are charged a nominal fee but will get to sample from more than 50 wines, paired with food.

At some of the Back Bay’s restaurants, the obvious pairing of wine and food reaches new heights with sit-down classes. Piattini, the intimate Newbury Street Italian bistro, has made wine education one of its main goals. Owner Josephine Oliviero started the Piattini Wine Education program to ensure that her guests learn something about every glass they order from Piattini’s impressive wine list. Each glass comes with a small card detailing the region, tasting notes, and other pertinent and interesting facts about the wine. Oliviero says her regulars carry these cards with them and bring them back — sometimes a little worn — visit after visit when they find a wine they particularly enjoy.

“Our goal is to teach people just a little something about wines and make wine a little less intimidating,” she says.

Oliviero says that the Back Bay location also will soon begin hosting the popular Class in a Glass wine dinners that had previously been hosted at the now-closed Columbus Street Piattini location. October 1 will be the first Class in a Glass at the Newbury Street location, and Oliviero encourages those interested to make a reservation since space is limited to 40. The “Under the Tuscan Sun” themed dinner is $40 and includes four wines with food and a speaker leading a general wine discussion.

“This is a really popular series for us,” says Oliviero. “At our other location, we would have anywhere from 10 to 100 people.”

At 33 Restaurant and Lounge on Stanhope Street, Wednesdays are for wine tasting with wine flight tastings, monthly wine classes and special grand wine tastings all offered. Prices vary from $20 to $40 depending on the event. Food from Executive Chef Anthony Dawodu accompanies the wine, and the events are led by 33’s sommelier, Paul Westerkamp.

With all of these options, you’ll soon be able to explain the difference between a syrah and a shiraz — and recommend a fabulous pairing for Piattini’s Vitello Saltimbocca.

Cheaper, faster, better

Storrow Drive has been much in the news lately because Richard K. Sullivan, the new commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, finally let the Storrow Drive Advisory Committee and the rest of Massachusetts know that he planned to build a temporary road 40 feet into the narrow Esplanade while he fixed the crumbling Storrow Drive tunnel between Clarendon and Arlington streets. So much for the jewel in the crown of DCR parklands, which is what he called the piece of land he proposes to destroy.

We predict this idea ultimately won’t happen. For one thing, a whole bevy of Esplanade advocates will go stand in front of the bull dozers. So will the editors of this newspapers and their whole families.

This unfortunate distraction has to be stopped, and we are confident that under the leadership of Mayor Menino and state Representative Marty Walz, it will be.

But it is only a distraction. There are more important things to consider: we have to get rid of the commissioner’s other unfortunate plan — his proposal to fix Storrow Drive but not change a thing except for putting in a little landscaping here and there.

That is an extremely bad idea.

A better idea would be to ditch the present-day Storrow Drive and go for one of the options in the B family. These are mostly surface road configurations that have not benefited from the close study that the plan for renovating the current tunnel has been given over about 12 years.

Here’s why it’s a bad idea to re-do the present configuration. It is probably more expensive. No one trusts the consultants’ estimates, since common sense says it has to be more expensive to rebuild the tunnel than it does to build a surface road or a slightly depressed roadway.

The time lines are also suspect. Rebuilding the tunnel has to take longer than building a surface road or a partially depressed roadway without a ceiling.

Everyone agrees the tunnel will not last as long as the other options, which adds ultimately to the cost. And, most important of all, a tunnel will be more costly to maintain than the B options. Why would we build another tunnel when we can’t maintain the bridges and tunnels we already have built?

The B options are cheaper, faster to complete and better in the long run for Boston.

So far, the advisory committees have been presented only with doomsday traffic scenarios associated with some B proposals. Predictions of egregious traffic snarls in 50 years did not take into account any improvements to other roads, new mass transit options, or congestion pricing, which will surely come to Boston eventually.

An even more egregious mistake is that the consultants approached the plans from only a traffic point of view. Move traffic at the cost of everything else is no longer appropriate for any American city.

It’s at times like this we wish our planners had a San Francisco set of mind.

San Franciscans faced replacing a portion of Route 101, the Central Freeway, which was damaged by the 1989 earthquake. After a few years of squabbling and doomsday predictions similar to those evoked by the consultants for one of the B options, they did the unthinkable. They tore down the freeway, which carried 90,000 cars a day, and replaced it with a city street, Octavia Street, with traffic lights at every intersection. It opened in 2005. Everything is just fine.

The situations are not exactly analogous. What is important to learn, however, is that no city in American can afford to rebuild roads as we did in the 1950s, when the decision to tear up the Esplanade for Storrow Drive passed the legislature by only one vote. We must find ways to calm traffic everywhere if we are to be pleased with driving when we are forced to or when we make a choice to do so.

Fred Salvucci suggested that another engineering consultant be hired to vet the conclusions that the current consultant has come to. That is a good idea. Better yet, is to engage the new consultant to work over all the B options with an eye to maintaining the entrances and exits to Storrow, calming the traffic enough to make drivers seek other routes and making a surface or slightly depressed option create a better entrance to the park.

Just as we junked Scheme Z in the Big Dig, we should junk Option A, rebuilding the Storrow Drive tunnel as it is now.