Semper Fi! no more: Changes in Kittredge Square

From Semper Fi! to more sedate

It's with mixed feeling that we see the work being done at the corner of Highland and Millmont streets adjacent to Alvah Kittredge Park.  The scarlet and gold house always brought to mind the last lines of the last stanza of the Marine Hymn:  If the Army and the Navy / Ever look on Heaven’s scenes / They will find the streets are guarded / By The United States Marines.

Google Street View still shows the house in its former Marine Corps-colors glory.


Meanwhile up the street, the park itself is still in a stage of upheaval.  Check out Iseut's blog post to read about Chris McCarthy's work to gain funding for this restoration.  She also has pre-construction pictures.

Alvah Kittredge Square's second rebuild in 30 years

The Powahouse foundation has been poured.  Hopefully, there'll still be art for the Powahouse.  The neighborhood listserve tells that thieves coveting construction materials at the site were scared away Sunday last by the developer.  Yet again, Iseut's blog is always a good read:  Here are two posts on the Powahouse, one from June 2011, with a graphic of the design and another one from the previous year.

Poured foundation for the development at Kittredge Square

And, the director of Historic Boston thanks watchful neighbors and the BPD for preventing dumping at the rear of Alvah's house.  We are so happy that Historic Boston has taken responsibility for redeveloping the house after so many years of neglect.

The still derelict façade of the Kittredge House

In this post (with pics), Iseut writes about Historic Boston, Inc. turning the Kittredge House into condos.  In an apparent dig at the Centre Street neighbors' implacable opposition to Darryl Settles's plan for a bar/restaurant (for example), Iseut writes that "Many of us still haven't given up on the restaurant idea".  Having just now heard about the idea, we'll remain agnostic about it until we learn more.