Salem Urban Entrance Corridors
Salem’s Urban Entrance Corridors (Listed 2001)
Although many of the City’s finest collections of historic buildings, traditional streetscapes and landscapes are located along the urban entrance corridors of Boston, Bridge and North Streets these resources have very few, if any, protections and over the years these historic resources have been collectively blighted and compromised by multiple factors.
These resources continue to face risks from ill-conceived development but fortunately there are specific efforts being made by the City and property owners to maintain and improve the entrance corridors. Historic Salem has participated in multiple efforts to protect and improve these entrance corridors. HSI sponsored walking tours of Boston, Bridge and North Streets in 2003 focused attention on the historic and architectural significance of these entrance corridors and the ongoing threats to these historic resources. As with all of the Most Endangered Resources, Historic Salem participates in the design review and public comment processes for buildings located in these entrance corridors. Two buildings recently reviewed were the new Salvation Army building on North Street and the new CVS building on Essex Street.
Boston Street received attention in 2007 with new sidewalks and trees. In 2008 sidewalks, trees and historic lighting are being installed on North Street from the City line to the bridge over the North River. HSI provided comment on the Mass Highway Department’s plans for North Street improvements, including the need to provide historic lighting and to protect trees, as is now included in the project. Concurrently, signals are being added at North and Federal Streets and at the bottom of the West ramp on Bridge Street to accommodate the new courthouse project. Concerns about the impact of those roadway changes are discussed under the Courthouse Project.
When the Bridge Street Bypass road is complete between the Beverly Bridge and Howard Street in the fall of 2008, the City plans to turn attention to making major changes on Bridge Street under a master plan prepared some years ago. Implementation of this plan, with a heavy focus on streetscape rehabilitation, is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.
In recent years, an extensive building survey of Bridge Street was conducted, resulting in the designation of more than 400 contributing properties within a new National Register District. This designation, while emphasizing the historic importance of this neighborhood, provides no regulatory protection to properties within the District, with the exception of the former Children’s Friend and Family Services building (48 Bridge Street)*. However a study is underway by the City’s Department of Planning and Community Development and their consultant Rita Walsh of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) that might result in the eventual protection of the elements of the Bridge Street neighborhood that give it unique character. This study is looking at how Neighborhood Preservation Districts (NPDs) could be implemented in the City of Salem and is using the Bridge Street Neighborhood, as well as the Point neighborhood, as a case study. The result of this study, to be completed in September 2008, will be a map of potential Neighborhood Preservation Districts, a draft ordinance regulating these districts, and sample design guidelines for the two case neighborhoods. This must then go to the City Council, under a protocol delineated in the draft ordinance, for adoption and implementation.
In 2008 Historic Salem considered nominating the former Elks building on North Street as an Endangered Historic Resource. However at this time a proposal is being developed that HSI hopes will sensitively renovate this historic building, completing the renewal of the block on which it sits (adjacent to HSI’s offices).
As a result of the advocacy efforts of HSI the Samuel Pope House at 69 Boston Street was restored and moved to the SAVED list in 2007.
*In 2007, the Woodbridge House at 48 Bridge Street, the home of Children’s Friend and Family Services for many years, was for sale. A proposal brought before the zoning board would have significantly altered its interior, which Children’s Friend had faithfully maintained during its ownership of the house. Fortunately the house, believed to have been designed by Samuel McIntire, is protected by an easement held by Historic New England (formerly the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities) that protects both its exterior and interior historic features. The house was subsequently sold to a different buyer who is working with Historic New England to ensure that the interior remains intact, although the final plans for the house are not known.