Historic Preservation – Belmont Citizens Forum

Profile in Belmont: Wendy Murphy

Historic Preservation, History, September/October 2024 Comments Off

Aug 232024

By Elissa Ely “What is that house?” Wendy Murphy thought the first time she saw the mansion at 661 Pleasant Street: elevated, magisterial, remote, uninhabited, yet somehow alive. “Is it haunted?” The William Flagg Homer House is neither inhabited nor haunted, though it is alive with architecture and art. As president of the Belmont Woman’s Club, Wendy became one of its protectors. Her decade-long tenure exceeds term limits, though not for lack of a successor search. “I’m like a general contractor,” she says ruefully, “and the problem with being productive is that no one wants to be that busy.” The [READ MORE]

Stewards Keep Ogilby Farm Traditions

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Newsletter, Plants, September/October 2023 Comments Off

Sep 012023

By Judith Feinleib Henry Ogilby thinks of himself, his siblings, and Mike and Hermik Chase as stewards of the last remaining farmland in Belmont, part of the Richardson Farm Historical District. They are stewards in the classical sense of the term—people whose code of ethics requires them to engage in responsible planning and management of resources. In this case, these resources are the land and houses that have been in the Ogilby family since the 17th century. For the last 11 years, the Chases have cultivated the land of Belmont Acres Farm where they grow and sell vegetables and keep [READ MORE]

Historic Clock Project Seeks Donations

donations, Historic Preservation, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Michael Flamang The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist is seeking funds and a qualified contractor to restore the historic clock in the church’s tower on the town green to functioning condition. In December, the Community Preservation Committee approved a grant application for the repair funds and included it in the projects to be considered by Town Meeting. (See “CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects,” in this issue.) There is a great deal of precedent in our area for cities and towns successfully using Commonwealth-designated Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds to implement this type of project in religious buildings. [READ MORE]

CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects

Construction and Housing, Environment, Historic Preservation, March/April 2022, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Mar 032022

By Juliet Jenkins The Belmont Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted to recommend funding seven projects totaling $2,058,554 for FY 2023, to be voted on at the annual Town Meeting, through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) current funding round. Following the CPC’s public hearing and vote on December 8, 2021, the proposed projects were filed with the Belmont Town Clerk and set for voting by Town Meeting in May 2022. Projects supported with CPA funding must create or preserve affordable housing, historic resources, open space, or recreational facilities. All CPA proposals are developed and created by Belmontonians, and each project directly [READ MORE]

Belmont Was Once a Town of Farms

Historic Preservation, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, September 2021 Comments Off

Aug 232021

By Jane Sherwin Until the mid-20th century, agriculture was a significant part of Belmont life and economy. Three hundred years ago, it would have been unusual to find a family in this area with no engagement at all in growing things. Even a shoemaker would most likely have a few chickens, or a milk cow, or a small garden for vegetables. The settlements on the land that is now Belmont go back nearly four hundred years. In 1630, Sir Richard Saltonstall led a group of families inland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to the area we now call Watertown, to [READ MORE]

Letters to the Editor July-August 2021

Environment, Historic Preservation, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Open Space Comments Off

Jun 252021

To the Editor: As a 40-year resident in Belmont I take exception to the tone of the article in the latest issue of the Belmont Citizens Forum concerning the treatment of the shore of Clay Pit Pond (“Clay Pit Pond Deforestation Damages Wetland,” Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter, May/June 2021), which attempts to blame the residents who perpetrated an “ecologically damaging assault” on the area. Rather, it seems to me, that these “miscreants” have called attention to the town’s lack of attention and mismanagement of one of our town’s greatest assets: an attractive body of water in the middle of our [READ MORE]

Belmont Once Had a Cooperative Market

Historic Preservation, History, July-August 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 252021

By Jane Sherwin Many people are aware that Belmont was a town of farms until the mid-twentieth century, but fewer may know that we also had a cooperative grocery: the Belmont Cooperative Society Market, which opened in 1911. The Market, the earliest commercial building in Cushing Square, was located on the southwest corner, where the Bradford development now stands. A second store stood in Belmont Center. In his wonderful Footsteps Through Belmont, the late Richard Betts, town historian, wrote that among other things the market sold spring water from a nearby well, and later, gasoline for horseless carriages. A 1905 [READ MORE]

Time to Fix the Town’s Historic Clock

Historic Preservation, History, May-June 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

May 042021

By Michael Flamang Since the invention of mechanical clocks in Renaissance Europe, town governments have installed clocks in prominent buildings in town centers to standardize time in support of commerce. In New England, many of the clocks that we see in historic churches on town greens were purchased and maintained by town select boards. In Belmont, in 1889, Town Meeting voted “that the selectmen be authorized to place a clock in the new Unitarian Church to be erected this year and the sum of $500 be appropriated for the same.” When the church was dedicated in 1890, the clock was [READ MORE]

Historic Reischauer House Demolished

Historic Preservation, January 2021, Newsletter Comments Off

Dec 312020

By Gary Wolf, FAIA Belatedly learning of the demolition of the Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House in Belmont was disappointing on two counts. First, because the residence/cultural center was under my radar. I had not known about it, even though my architectural practice was based in Belmont for four years, and I have worked on such nearby local landmarks as the Belmont Woman’s Club’s William Flagg Homer House. And second, because not only have I been active in historic preservation, but, even more specifically, I’ve been an advocate for preserving “the recent past”—buildings like the Reischauer House that date from [READ MORE]

Jeanne Widmer’s Ode to a Town’s Village

Construction and Housing, Historic Preservation, July-August 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jun 302020

Belmont resident Jeanne Widmer had two photography exhibitions featuring the Cushing Square development scheduled for this spring. The first, at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The second, scheduled at Belmont’s Beech Street Center, was cancelled outright. Artist’s Statement Ode to a Town’s Village was inspired almost three years ago when I first started taking pictures of a sprawling three- and four-story development in a relatively small, mostly single-story village in Belmont. While the demolished area was in serious need of upgrading, the massive scale, snail-like progress, and disruption of the [READ MORE]

How the Community Preservation Act Works

Construction and Housing, Environment, Historic Preservation, May/June 2020, Newsletter, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

May 032020

How the Community Preservation Act Works

Changes in Store for Future Planning, Town Meeting Votes By Elizabeth Harmer Dionne The CPA up to now In November 2010, 51% of Belmont voters adopted the Community Preservation Act (CPA), a state statute which allows communities to dedicate funds to acquiring and preserving open space and recreation land, historic resources, and affordable housing. Belmont property owners now pay a surcharge of 1.5% on the town’s annual real estate tax levy; residents who qualify as having low to moderate income according to state guidelines can apply through the Assessors Office for a full CPA surcharge exemption. Funds raised from this [READ MORE]

Belmont CPC Supports Four Projects

Arts & Culture, Historic Preservation, March/April 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Town Committee Meetings Comments Off

Mar 022020

By Margaret Velie This year, Town Meeting will be considering four projects for Community Preservation Act funding. By law, Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds are limited to projects for affordable housing, historic resources, open space, and outdoor recreational facilities. Last fall, the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) received seven preliminary applications for funding. Since then, one project was deemed ineligible, and two others were withdrawn. The committee reviewed the remaining four applications and is recommending all four for funding. Affordable Housing Feasibility Study for the Redevelopment and Creation of New Affordable Housing Units at Belmont Village The Belmont Housing Authority is [READ MORE]

Belmont Timeline

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Open Space, Parking, Sewers, Traffic, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

Belmont Timeline Featuring events significant to the Belmont’s history and Belmont Citizens Forum issues. 1654 The John Chenery house, 52 Washington Street, is built. The Chenery house is the oldest surviving house in Belmont. 1760 The Thomas Clark House is built on what is now Common Street. “Local tradition maintains that the Clark family witnessed the beginning of America’s War for Independence from the hill behind this house, seeing smoke and hearing the sounds of war breaking out on April 19, 1775.” —Joseph Cornish, BCF Newsletter, January 2011. It was moved in 2012, and finally demolished in 2014. 1805 “Ice [READ MORE]

20 Years of Historic Preservation

Construction and Housing, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter Comments Off

Jan 062020

By Sharon Vanderslice In the late summer of 1999, a dozen or so Belmont residents met in Town Meeting member Sue Bass’s dining room on Concord Avenue to discuss ways to increase transparency in our local government and protect the small-town atmosphere that had drawn us to Belmont in the first place. We had just lost a battle to keep out a massive development proposed by Partners Healthcare on the campus of McLean Hospital. This forward-thinking psychiatric institution was originally designed to offer patients a calm, nature-based space in which to heal. With the advent of pharmaceutical treatments, McLean’s board [READ MORE]

20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Environment, Historic Preservation, History, January 2020, Newsletter, Sewers, Water Quality Comments Off

Jan 062020

20 Amazing Years of the Belmont Citizens Forum

By Jim Graves As a founding board member of the Belmont Citizens Forum (BCF), who has been inactive in recent years, I am honored to share these thoughts on why the BCF has been so valuable and to applaud the individuals and supporters who have sustained the BCF for 20 years. Prior to starting the BCF, the founders worked to first improve, then oppose, and nearly defeat the development and zoning changes proposed for 238 acres of open space owned by Partners Healthcare and its subsidiary, McLean Hospital. Legal challenges by the BCF and supporters slowed implementation, and notably, [READ MORE]

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Lone Tree Hill, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Plants Comments Off

Nov 042019

Belmont Highlights Natural, Historic Treasures

By Mary Bradley The Belmont Historical Society hosted two events in September and October celebrating Belmont’s rich cultural and environmental history. Tracking the Wellington Hill Station through Time The Belmont Historical Society hosted an open house on September 15, 2019, to celebrate the completion of a series of repairs and restorations to the many-purposed Wellington Hill Station building the previous month. The station received a new cedar shingle roof and repairs to the decking and gingerbread trim, the interior plaster walls, and the lower wood sections. The roof was funded with Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and donations from the [READ MORE]

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Newsletter, November 2019, Open Space, Stormwater, Water Quality Comments Off

Nov 042019

Clay Pit Pond Progresses from Eyesore to Asset

By Michael Chesson Clay Pit Pond on Concord Avenue was once the site of Belmont’s largest industrial enterprise, a brickyard run by John H. and Robert A. Parry. The brothers bought 20¾ acres of land in 1888 on Concord Avenue and Underwood Street, with its valuable blue clay that turned an attractive reddish color when fired, and their yard produced 200,000 bricks a week. Just as the oil, steel, and railroad industries consolidated, the Parry brothers’ business in 1900 merged with the New England Brick Company, which owned three dozen other brickyards in the region. The firm installed new dryers, [READ MORE]

Michael Smith Honored by Belmont Historical Society

Historic Preservation, July-Aug 2019 Comments Off

Jul 152019

Michael Smith Honored by Belmont Historical Society

By Evanthia Malliris The Belmont Historical Society presented the 2019 David R. Johnson Preservation Award to Michael A. Smith, AIA, at its annual meeting this spring. Smith was nominated for his work on the rehabilitation and restoration of the Belmont Police Station Building as well as more than two decades on the Belmont Historic District Commission. “Mike brings a deep architecture knowledge, commitment to historic preservation, and a collaborative spirit to the Belmont Historic District Commission that has contributed significantly to many of the commission’s successes, including the adoption of two new historic districts, completion of a town-wide historic resource [READ MORE]

March/April 2019 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter & PDF

Arts & Culture, BCF Events, Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Environment, Historic Preservation, March/April 2019, Newsletter, Solar Power, Stormwater Comments Off

Mar 052019

View or download the March/April 2019 issue as a color PDF here, or read single articles below. Articles in this issue: Selectman Candidates Answer BCF Questions Belmont Annual Town Election to be Held Tuesday, April 2 Compiled by Mary Bradley Each year the Belmont Citizens Forum asks candidates for selectman about issues the town will likely face in the next three years. Below are candidates Jessie Bennett, Roy Epstein, and Timothy Flood’s unedited replies to our questions about traffic, the environment, development, and other topics. Read more. Eight Projects Recommended for Community Preservation Funds By David Kane, Stephen [READ MORE]

Selectman Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Air Quality, Bicycles and bike paths, Bike Paths, Board of Selectmen, Construction and Housing, Environment, Historic Preservation, March/April 2019, Newsletter, Open Space, Solar Power, Stormwater, Town Committee Meetings, Traffic, Water Quality Comments Off

Mar 052019

Selectman Candidates Answer BCF Questions

Belmont Annual Town Election to be Held Tuesday, April 2 Compiled by Mary Bradley Each year the Belmont Citizens Forum asks candidates for selectman about issues the town will likely face in the next three years. Below are candidates Jessie Bennett, Roy Epstein, and Timothy Flood’s unedited replies to our questions about traffic, the environment, development, and other topics. Each candidate was limited to 800 words total. 1. In response to McLean’s proposal to rezone parts of its former campus for housing, school, and R&D use, what would you recommend? Bennett: McLean’s proposed zoning changes do not meet [READ MORE]

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