Fenway Studios

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Fenway Studios
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
The entrance to the building.
The entrance to the building.
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°20′50″N 71°5′28″W / 42.34722, -71.09111Coordinates: 42°20′50″N 71°5′28″W / 42.34722, -71.09111
Built/Founded: 1906
Architect: Parker & Thomas
Architectural style(s): Other
Designated as NHL: August 5, 1998[1]
Added to NRHP: September 13, 1978
NRHP Reference#: 78000473

[2]
Governing body: Private

The Fenway Studios are artists' studios located at 30 Ipswich Street, Boston, Massachusetts, now listed as a National Historic Landmark.

The studios were built after a disastrous 1904 fire at Harcourt Studios in which many artists lost their homes, studios, and work. Business and civic leaders promptly acquired the land, hired architects, and began construction. Architects Parker and Thomas designed Fenway Studios with north light for all 46 studios, 12 foot windows, 14 foot ceilings, and fireplaces in the end studios. The exterior was built with clinker brick in the Arts and Crafts style. In 1905 artists returned.

Numerous Boston artists and teachers worked in the studios, including Marion B. Allen, Lila Perry Cabot, Joseph Decamp, Philip Hale, Lillian Wescot Hale, Charles Hopkinson, Gyorgy Kepes, George L. Noyes, William Kaula, Lee Lufkin Kaula, Lillian and Leslie Prince Thompson, William Paxton, Marion L. Pooke, Edmund Charles Tarbell, and Mary Bradish Titcomb.

By 1974 ownership shares had passed to heirs, the studios were not being maintained, and they owed nearly $200,000 in back taxes. The "Artists for the Preservation of the Fenway Studios" was formed to save the studios, and in 1981 a mortgage paid for back taxes and building improvements. In 1982, after renovations were completed, the studios were converted into an early limited-equity cooperative. In 1998 façade structural issues were discovered, requiring emergency repairs costing $1.6 million, which required additional fund raising through the Friends of Fenway Studios.

As of 2007, the studios are currently home to 25 artists working in a wide range of media.

Front façade as photographed from across the street

Informational commemorative plaque affixed to the building

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fenway Studios. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
  2. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).

[edit] External links

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