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The Three - Deckers of Dorshester
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Boston Landmarks CommissionBoston Redevelopment Aut hori tY
Three-Deckers of Dorchester : An Archi tectura l His tor ica l survey
by
Ar thu r J . K r im
December 30, 1977
NorE: This is submit ted to the Mayor 's of f ice of Program Developmentin fu l f i l lment of ob l igat ions establ ished under a grant to the BostonRedevelopment Author i ty . This paper is par t o f a larger s tudy ent i i led"Dorchestery'Mattapan Preservation Study" which is administered by theBoston Landmarks Commiss ion and is funded in par t by the BostonRedevelopment Author i ty and in par t by the Massachuset ts His tor ica lCommission, Off ice of the Secretary of State, through matching grant-in-a id program for h is tor ic preservat ion of the Nat ional Park Serv ice,Depar tment of the In ter ior . Edi tor ia l ass is tance was prov ided by Judi thMcDonough, Rober t Burke, and Mat thew Kiefen. Research ass is tancewas prov ided.by Joan Richandson, Boston Univers i ty In tern.
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C O N T E N T S
P R E F A C EDemocratic Architecture
D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E T H R E E . D E C K E RThree-decker RootsStreetcar SuburbsCommunity of BuildersThree-Decker - Three Fami ly - Tr ip le-Decker
P E R I O D SPrototypes
l. Formative Periodl l . V ic tor ian Per iodl l l . Ea r l y C lass i c Pe r iodlV. Late Class ic Per iodV. Functional Period
Conclus ion
PRESERVATIoN RECOMMENDATTONS and OppORTUNtT tEs
A p p e n d i x l - T h r e e - D e c k e r B u i l d e r sAppendix l l - Three-Deckers lmageryAppendix l l l - Survey Methodology
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
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PREFACE
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A ca r w indsh ie ld v iew o f t h ree -decke rs above the h ' i ghway .
Southeast Expressway at Columbia Road.
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P R E F A C E
The three-deckers of Dorchester : you see them in the dr ive
cross ing the Neponset marshes in to Boston, ta l l and narrow wi th the i r
wooden porches peer ing above the Southeast Expressway (p. 1) .x You
see them again beyond the l imits of the downtown into South Boston,
wooden porches perched high above concrete walls. They l ine their
backs against the Red Line tracks to Ashmont and their fronts on the
sandy beach at Mal ibu. They r ise to meet the s teeple of Meet ing House
Hi l l and st retch out towards Mat tapan. The three-deckers are a large
part of the identity of Dorchester and define its sense of place.
What are these three-deckers? As architecture, they are curious
forms/ par t urban and par t suburban. They look l ike apar tments
transformed into houses, or perhaps houses overgrown into apartments.
They have the f lat roofs of the city, but the wooden walls of the country.
They appear as rowhouses t ransplanted in to the suburbs.
And the i r porches, f ront and back. T iers of porches, ga l ler ies of
porches, decks of porches, for s i t t ing down and look ing out , wi th
columns and ra i l ings on every f loor . Verandahs and balconies h igh
above the s t reet , grandstand p iazzas in the a i r . A lways there are
three porches in the back, one for each fami ly . In f ront , f ine decor-
ated porches wi th grand co lumns and fancy ra i l ings, somet imes one/
sometimes two, sometimes three stories high.
At t imes i t seems that a l l Dorchester is three-deckers, and indeed
a large par t o f i t is . Over f ive thousand stand today, the largest
co l l ec t i on anywhere . Rare l y a lone , o f ten i n pa i r s , usua l l y i n g roups ,
three-deckers form ent i re neighborhoods extending as far as the eye
x Photos were taken bv the author.
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can see. A hypnot ic rhythm of repeated forms: porches and bays,
shadow and l ight , deta i l and texture/ an endless array of three-
deckers, over the h i l ls and across the p la ins of Dorchester they ex-
tend, from South Cove to Neponset, from Andrew Square to Lower
Mi l ls , f rom Uphams Corner to Adams Vi l lage, f rom Columbia Road to
Gal l ivan Boulevard, f rom Boston Street to Blue Hi l l Avenue, f rom Ronan
Park to Frankl in F ie ld , f rom Popes Hi l l to Mount Bowdoin. Nowhere
else is there such a landscape of three-deckers. l t is one of
Dorchester 's g lor ies.
The three-decker is democrat ic arch i tecture. l t was bui l t to g ive
the average fami ly the benef i ts o f suburban l i fe whi le l iv ing c lose to
c i ty jobs. l t was nei ther tenement nor mansion, but ra ther good sol id
housing. l t was large enough to ra ise a host o f ch i ldren around the
dining room table, but small enough to keep a pot of f lowers on the
back porch.
The three-decker was af fordable, for the new fami ly who rented
the top f loor , for the owners who occupied the middle f loor , and for
the ret ined couple downsta i rs whose rent pa id the mortgage. l t was
at t ract ive l each f loor had i ts own par lor bay and own p iazza, i ts own
sta ined g lass and oak pantry / and i ts own v iew. This was the appeal
that dnew the fami l ies out on the t ro l leys in to Dorchester .
Today the three-decker is s t i l l democrat ic , s t i l l a f fordable, and
sti l l attractive architecture for those who want the benefits of the
suburbs wh i l e l i v i ng c lose to the c i t y - i nc lud ing the po rches !
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a
D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E T H R E E . D E C K E R
Three-Decker Roots
The roots of the three-decker l ie deep wi th in the t rad i t ions of
Boston, and are as ingra ined as the c i ty 's accents. l ts or ig ins can be
traced to the Colonia l wood bui ld ing t rad i t ion in such landmarks as the
Paul Revere House. Here the basic elements of the three-decker may
be seen in the i r or ig ina l form: a three-story wooden house bui l t on the
s ide-entry rowhouse p lan.
The basic architectunal characterist ic of the thr"ee-decker is i ts
wood frame construction. In most other American cit ies, the rowhouse
developed in br ick or s tone. ln Boston, however , the wood bui ld ing
technology brought by the sett lers remained the norm among colonial
craftsmen and was continued into the 19th century industrial period.
Thus, when the post-civi l war f lood of immigrants created a need for
mul t ip le- fami ly housing, new house types developed wi th in th is wood
bui ld ing t rad i t ion. The f i rs t areas of three-decker development were
South Boston and Roxbury, where the centra l c i ty 's f i re laws prohib i t -
ing wood construct ion d id not apply .
The three-decker fo l lowed the height s tandards set by the houses
of the Colonia l per iod; two f loors and an at t ic . This three-story
Colonia l f raming system, jo in ing large wood beams wi thout na i ls (mort ise
and tenon) , was easi ly t ransferred to suppor t the main f rame of the
new three-deckers. For the rest o f the s t ructure ( in ter ior wal ls , e tc . )
ba l loon f raming techniques wi th nai ls and studs were used; these had
been adopted by bui lders af ter the Civ i l War because of e f f ic iency and
- i v -
DEVILOPMENT OF THE THREE.DECKER
Three-deckers der ived the i r name f rom the three-story rear porches thatse rved the fam i l y ' s domes t i c needs .
46-48 Robinson Street , F ' ie lds CornerI 890- I 894
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reduced costs of const ruct ion. Thus the ant ique construct ion methods
of mort ise and tenon jo inery were cont inued by thr ee-decker bui lders '
in to the 20th century.
The narrow shape of the three-decker a lso is based on long t ra-
d i t ion, the town house p lan of E l izabethan England. Here the best
room/ the ' rpar lourr" faced the s t reet wi th the door set o f f to one s ide
and the k i tchen at the back. In Boston th is became the s tandard p lan
of the c i ty rowhouse, wi th i ts s ide-entry doorway and k i tchen e l l . In
the ear ly 19th century the fashionable houses on Beacon Hi l l were
designed wi th e legant bow f ront par lors , and th is p lan was adopted in
the nowhouses of the new south End by the c iv i l war . Thus, when the
f i rs t three-deckers were bui l t , they took af ter the fami l iar s ide-entry
rowhouse plan complete with parlor bay. Often two rowhouses would be
bui l t s ide-by-s ide as a double house, and th is bas ic form was adopted
by ear ly three-decker bui lders in construct ing s ix- fami ly houses.
The funct ional or ig in of the three-decker l ies in the pr inc ip le of
mul t ip le- fami ly housing and the so lut ions developed in Boston before the
c iv i l war . There were two obvious antecedents at e i ther end of the
socia l spect rum, each bui l t in the centra l c i ty and each conta in ing
renta l un i ts for severa l fami l ies. one was the apar lment house or
"French Flat i l that had been in t roduced to pol i te soc iety wi th the Hote l
Pelham in 1857. At the other ext reme was the tenement house, wi th
few domest ic conveniences whatsoever . These were s imply bui l t and
lvere ch ief ly occupied by the l r ish immigrants in the 1850,s.
The back porches are the tnue arch i tectura l innovat ion of the
three-decker , for i t is they that g ive i t the d is t inct ive character o f a
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South Boston-urbarrflat roof2 story porch
Roxbury - suburbanhip or gable roof3 story porch
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DORCHESTERSTREET CAR L INES1 9 1 8 o
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"porch house" (p. v) . The rear decks developed when the rowhouse
was d i v ided i n to th ree - fam i l y un i t s , one on each f l oo r . Thus , t he
t radi t ional k i tchen e l l had to be mul t ip l ied for each fami ly f loor , re-
su l t ing in the format ion of the " three-decker . ' ,
since the three-decker developed at the edge of Boston, between
the c i ty and i ts new suburbs, there developed two types of three-
deckers; those charactenist ic of the city with f lat roofs in South Boston,
and those character is t ic o f the suburbs wi th p i tched roofs in Roxbury.
Each area had i ts own set o f bu i lders, who carr ied the two types down
through Dorchester along the main streetcar routes; those from south
Boston a long Dorchester Avenue, and those f rom Roxbury a long Blue
Hi l l Avenue. The two three-decker forms commingled over t ime, each
borrowing from the other a roof or a porch, unti l in the end both
looked the same (p . v i i ) .
Streetcar Suburbs
The agent for d i f fus ion of the three-decker in Dorchester was the
stneetcar . The noted urban h is tor ian Samuel Bass Warner has ca l led
Dorches te r " t he fu l l f l ower ing o f t he s t ree tca r subu rb r r tand i n a ve ry
real sense the three-decker and the t ro l ley were par t and parcel o f the
same suburban landscape. Or ig ina l ly both were qui te independent of
one another , each developing separate funct ional ident i t ies dur ing the
Civ i l War era. By the turn of the 20th century the i r paths had crossed,
and Dorchester became the essence of the s t reetcar suburb (p. ix
a n d x i ) .
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Boston was among the f irst cit ies in the world to have a complete
metropol i tan s t reetcar system. Fol lowing the o ld country s tage l ines
that rad iated f rom the center c i ty , ra i lway technology was adapted in
the 1850rs, and by the Civ i l War these horse ra i lnoad l ines fanned out
to Bostonrs l imits, to Lynn on the north, Watertown on the west and
Quincy on the south. In Dorchester the most impontant route ran from
South Boston through Fie lds Corner to Lower Mi l ls , a long the fu l l
length of Dorchester Avenue, and through the f irst neighborhoods of
three-decker development. Other horsecar routes operated along
Boston, Hancock, and Bowdoin Streets, and from Roxbury to Codman
Square along Washington Street.
The Depression of 1873 halted further expansion of the horse
rai lroad system in Dorchester, and even caused the abandonment of
several l ines including the one on Freeport Street. With economic
recovery in the 1880's the car l ines were again extended. The new
routes provided vital cross town service that l inked Dorchester with
Roxbury and the South End, inc lud ing a loop f rom Fie lds Corner a long
Geneva Avenue to Upham's Corner , f rom r .oxbury a long Dudley Street
through Upham's Corner to Dorchester Avenue at Savin Hi l l , and f rom Edward
Everet t Square to the South End a long Massachuset ts Avenue. By 1889
other l ines opened a long Blue Hi l l Avenue connect ing the South End
wi th Frankl in Park, and Por t Nor fo lk wi th F ie lds Corner a long Neponset
Avenue .
Horses, whi le handsome animals on the s teeplechase, were inef -
f ic ient as mot ive power for metropol i tan t rans i t systems, and much
experimentation was conducted after the Civi l War to devise a new
power source for the horse cars. After several attempts with steam,
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SOUTH BOSTON
ROXBURY!\
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DORCHESTER NEIGHBORHOODSoN
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gas, and cable, e lect r ic i ty was per fected by the la te 1880rs us ing over-
head tno l ley wi res to power the cars. Again, Boston was among the
f i rs t c i t ies to adopt the new t ro l leys, which ran faster and cheaper
than the horse cars, and thus opened up whole new suburban areas for
development .
The meeting of the electr ic trol ley and the three-decker occured
about 1890. At this point both had been perfected; their combined
presence began to create a new landscape of the streetcar suburb in
Dorchester . Dur ing the 1890's new t ro l ley l ines were bui l t in to the far
reaches of practical service, from Fields Corner down Adams Street to
Adams Vi l lage, f rom Codman Square down Washington and Nor fo lk
Streets and from Lower Mil ls along River Street to Mattapan.
By the turn of the 20th century a new web of streetcar l ines were
cut across Dorchester creating a complete grid of trol ley routes l inking
every major corner wi th each other , f rom Uphams Corner a long Columbia
Road to Frankl in Park, f rom Frankl in Park down Talbot Avenue to
Peabody Square in Ashmont , f rom Mat tapan to Rosl indale a long Cummins
Highway, and the f ina l thrust down Blue Hi l l Avenue to Mat tapan.
These were the s t reetcar routes that d i rected the bui lder 's minds
and formed the three-decker neighborhoods of the early 20th century.
Dur ing rush hours, tno l leys ran every two minutes, and for 50 carr ied
passengers f rom Dorchester to every corner of Boston. This universe,
the t ro l ley and the: three-decker , lasted for a generat ion. Thei r era
f ina l ly concluded wi th the automobi le and the economic co l lapse of the
Great Depress ion. St i l l Dorchester t ro l leys ran for another generat ion,
as t rack less . t ro l l ey buses , un t i l t hey too were d i sman t led i n t he 1960rs .
- x i i
Today the ye l low MBTA buses run a long the o ld car l ines and
mainta in the fabr ic of the t r ip le-decker neighborhoods, whi le the Red
Line and the Southeast Expressway prov ide the modern t ranspor t l inks
from Dorchester to the rest of Boston.
A Communi ty of Bui lders
Since the bui ld ing of three-deckers was a compet i t ive bus iness
which d id not requi re large amounts of capi ta l , the bui lders themselves
tended to be drawn from the ranks of local tradesmen. Evidence sug-
gests the existence of a community of bui lders - an informal al l iance of
tradesmen and speculators who worked for and with each other, bor-
rowing and invent ing designs. l t is they who were most responsib le
for the l ively vernacular quali ty of the streetscapes of porches and
cornices that are the delight of Dorchester today.
While some of these builders were Yankee carpenters, most of the
three-deckers were constructed by newly emergent immigrant groups -
l r ish, Canadians, Jews and l ta l ians, the very people the t r ip le-deckers
were meant to attract on the trol leys.
Usual ly there were three ro les involved in the bui ld ing of a
three-decker ; the landowner, the bui lder and the arch i tect . Of ten they
would, in fact , be three separate men. Qui te f requent ly , however , the
bui lder would a lso own the land, des ign the three-decker , and con-
struct i t . Often the roles would be switched so that the same group or
ind iv idual would per form d i f ferent funct ions in d i f ferent ne ighborhoods.
Not surpr is ing ly , bu i ld ing three-deckers was most ly the work of men,
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but of ten women, widows and sp insters, would buy the land and d ic tate
the number and type of three-deckers constructed. And at least one
three-decker was designed by a woman archi tect .
There were no b luepr in ts or p lans for the ear ly three-deckers and
bui lders fo l lowed the t rad i t ional measurements and methods of const ruc-
t ion, repeat ing the basic rowhouse p lan that had been handed down
over generations. After the turn of the century, the three-decker
designs became more complex, requi r ing arch i tect rs b luepr in ts . But
these were s imply an outgrowth of the menta l p lans in the bui lder 's
head, of ten drawn in quick penci l sketches to sat is fy the Ci ty Bui ld ing
Department. There were few professionally trained architects, and most
men who gave themselves the t i t le were neal ly bu i lders turned designers.
Thus, the three-deckers were bui l t by a repet i t ion of successfu l methods
and forms, fo l lowing examples in the local ne ighborhoods, so that very
dis t inct ive three-decker types developed in var ious par ts of Dorchester .
Eventual ly , the s ty l is t ic ind iv idual i ty o f local groups d isappeared as
builders from different parts of Dorchester crossed each otherrs paths
and exchanged ideas and designs. At the same t ime, these local groups
themselves were absorbed in to a larger , more homogenous bui ld ing
communi ty . Thus, by the end of the F i rs t Wor ld Wan three-deckers
throughout Dorchester showed a great s imi lar i ty o f des ign.
N.B. Major groups of Dorchester bu i lders and the i r respect ive areasoperat ion are d iscussed in greater deta i l in Appendix l .
- X l V -
Three -Decke r - T r i p le -Decke r - Th ree Fami l y
Or ig in of the Term
The three-decker is a unique housing type character is t ic o f New
England c i t ies in the ear ly 20th centur"y . Genera l ly def ined, the three-
decker is a free standing, wood frame structure on its own narrow lot,
three s tor ies h igh, wi th one fami ly un i t on each f loor . Or ig ina l ly ca l led
" three-deckers, r r these houses were a lso known as three- fami l ies and in
very recent years, have been cal led ' r t r ip le-deckersr ' r a term unknown
to the i r o r i g ina l bu i l de rs .
The antique term reveals the origin and function of the form. The
three-decker is not simply a random term invented for the Dorchester
tr iple-decker. Rather, the roots of the word can be traced to
El izabethan England and the great naval warships bui l t to protect the
Br i t ish ls les. The most impress ive man-of -war , the ' rsovere ign of the
Seasr" launched in 1637/ was ca l led a " three-deckerr r in re ference to
the three decks of guns that sat above the water l ine. By the t ime of
the Amer ican Revolut ion the impress ive qual i t ies of a r r three-deckerr l
were appl ied in popular speech to anyth ing of great s ize or impor tance.
As a common f igure of Amer ican speech, ' r three-decker t r was qui te
natural ly borrowed to describe the new three family, wooden houses
evolv ing in New England c i t ies dur ing the la te 19th century. The f i rs t
t rue appl icat ion of the term, l ike the f i rs t three-decker , cannot be
prec ise ly dated. The ear l iest re ference is f rom Worcester in 1893,
impor tant because i t ind icates that th is Massachuset ts industr ia l c i ty
was an ear ly three-decker center , and more s ign i f icant ly because i t
occurs just a t the t ime when the f i rs t Dorchester three-deckers were
be ing bu i l t i n l a rge numbers .
. X V -
As an architectural tenm, the 'rthree-deckerrr has a certain appro-
pr ia te qual i ty . Most obv ious ly i t descr ibes the three-story rear porches
tha t s ign i f y t he th ree fam i l i es l i v i ng i n t he bu i l d ing . As i n t he r rdecks t l
o f the o ld Engl ish sa i l ing sh ips, the term a lso refers to the unique
wooden quali ty that defines the three-decker as a New England housing
type.
'rThree-deckerf i was the common term unti l quite recenfly, used by
both carpenter and scholar al ike. In the last decade the old term
f ina l ly gave way to the modern " t r ip le-decker . r r L ike everyth ing, i t
loses something in translation but the term is the one that many people
now understand to be proper for off icial reports.
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