LYNN — The Historical Commission honored the recipients of its Significance Awards this past Tuesday at the Council Chambers in City Hall.
Honorees of the 2020 and 2021 awards were celebrated this year. Typically, the commission holds this ceremony in June after the nomination period from March to May, but because of COVID-19 precautions, it was postponed until November.
The awards were given out in four categories. The Residential category award goes to a residential property owner who has saved and maintained a building rather than tearing it down. The Commercial/Nonprofit award, similarly, goes to a commercial property owner who preserved a historically significant property. The Public/Open-Space category award highlights what has been done to preserve a public building or an open space or to improve a public building or an open space, while the award in the heart-felt Devotion category is given to somebody who has shown dedication to history and the city.
“Every year we walk around and each of the commissioners will send their ideas,” said Carl Greenler, chairman of the commission, about the awardees selection process. “Then we all come down to vote and the majority is the winner.”
“We also get some input from the community at large, which we love,” added Calvin Anderson, one of the five commission members.
This year, the recipients of the Residential Significance Award were the Boston Machine Lofts for 2020 and the Stone House for 2021.
The Boston Machine Lofts, built in 1891 at 13-17 Willow St. two years after the Great Lynn Fire of 1889, used to be a shoe factory. The building is constructed of stone rather than the typical New England city brick and is an example of Romanesque Revival architecture. It was converted into 30 loft-style condominiums in 2004. Unfortunately, the Historical Commission hasn’t had luck getting in contact with the current building’s owner to inform them about the award.
The timeless Stone house, hidden in plain sight at 225 Walnut St., was constructed in 1854 for the prominent Judge James R. Newhall. The house overlooks the street from a stone cliff and appears to be largely unaltered on the exterior. It has a stone garage at the end of the driveway. Members of the commission felt that “it has the air of a classic Hollywood Hills residence, melding comfort with planned isolation.”
“It is a privilege to be here tonight,” said James Lyle, the owner of the house. “We’ve lived puttering around in that old house since the 1980s and, besides a few icy mornings on the icy driveway, we have enjoyed every minute of it.”
KIPP Academy (the former J.B. Blood Building) and 614 Washington St. received the Significance Award in the Commercial/Institutional/Nonprofit category for 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The Blood building is the epitome of a renaissance building, the Historical Commission said. It has served Lynn residents in different ways for nearly 100 years, until the KIPP charter school bought it in 2017, renovated it preserving the core, and built a tasteful addition, turning the building into a modern teaching facility.
“On behalf of the KIPP Lynn community, I am honored to accept the Lynn Significance Award for our 20 Wheeler St. renovation for our new high school KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate,” said Nikki Barnes, executive director of KIPP MA. “I remember working with the Lynn community to envision the historical J.B. Blood Building as a powerful space for our high schoolers to learn. KIPP is so proud to be a part of the Lynn community in all its diversity and strength and we are honored that our building is the place where our students begin as high schoolers and leave on a path to fulfilled lives.”
The Phelan family bought the building at 614 Washington St. in the early 2000s. The four-story brick building is a “little sibling” of the other flatiron in the city, the Vault in Central Square, and the world-famous flatiron building in New York City.
The Phelan family rehabilitated and preserved the building, adding an accessibility elevator, parking spaces and a lighted pedestrian promenade in Nathan Place. Some 18 months ago, the building was sold to a commercial property firm, but the Historical Commission felt that the Phelans did all the work to save the building.
The Historical Commission has bestowed the Significance Award in the Public/Open-Space category onto the recently renovated Lynn City Hall and Veterans Memorial Auditorium for 2020 and the newly dedicated Frederick Douglass Park for 2021.
Bob Matthias (2020) and Reno Pisano (2021) received the Significance Award in the Devotion category.
The commission decided to honor Matthias for the years he spent overseeing and taking care of the Grand Army of the Republic Hall and Museum “as best as the resources would allow.” The commission called Matthias “a compassionate and steady hand at the helm” of preserving the G.A.R. building and site, when many G.A.R. halls across the country fell into disuse or were demolished.
“I am humbled and honored to receive this,” said Matthias, who is now a trustee to the G.A.R. “It was a job that I had for many years and really I didn’t look at it as a job, but, sometimes, an adventure. I loved going there every day.”
Matthias said that he loved giving the tours at the museum and that people might be amazed if they choose to stop by.
Sculptor “Ray” Pisano was given the award for creating a significant set of works around the city that is meaningful to the community, including likenesses of Mary Baker Eddy, Jan Matzeliger and, the latest one, a bas relief of Frederick Douglass, which was revealed this year at the Frederick Douglass Park.
In his speech, Pisano went over the Frederick Douglass project: how Wendy Joseph, the new curator of the G.A.R. Hall and Museum, was always there to answer his questions; how he found a perfect image of Douglass on the cover of Tom Dalton’s book, and how State Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) organized the dedication of the park.
“I continue to praise the mural that is its backdrop,” said Pisano. “It needs to be recorded so the lovely work is never forgotten.”
In conclusion, Pisano said, “In all truth, in actuality, we are all cousins and I treat everybody like an old friend.”
The Lynn Historical Commission is a five-member body that fosters and promotes the identification and preservation of the city’s significant structures, landmarks, and sites. Anderson said that the mission of the commission is not to stifle businesses.
“We’d like to be brought for aesthetic advice,” he said. “We will never be standing in the way of progress, commerce or quality of life.”
Mayor Thomas M. McGee was present at the event to bestow the awards on the winners. He said that some very special buildings are being recognized.
“If you need character, we have it in our community,” said McGee.
