Magazine Beach

On September 12th the Cambridge City Council voted to approve the Community Preservation Act committee’s recommendations to allocate $25,000 towards a historic structure report and roof repair of the Powder House at Magazine Beach. The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association has been advocating for this funding for the past several months. The CNA will now request a 2:1 match from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the guardians of the property. If DCR provides this there will be enough money to hire an architectural firm to study the Powder House and write a report about how best to preserve, repair, interpret and reuse the structure; and money to hire the North Bennet Street School Preservation Carpentry program to repair and reslate the roof. Work would begin on this now derelict 1818 granite structure as early as the spring of 2012.

Said CNA President Bill August, “the CNA is working towards the revitalization of Magazine Beach, Cambridge’s second largest park: fifteen green acres along the Charles River.” For further information and if you want to be put on the list for Powder House and Magazine Beach updates, contact Cathie Zusy at cathzusy@gmail.com.

Dear City Council Members,

Tonight you will be asked to approve the designation of CPA funds for various purposes. This includes dedicating $25,000 towards an historic structure report and the repair of the Powder House at Magazine Beach. I hope you will vote in favor of this appropriation. Below is my argument for it. The photos below are, however, perhaps, the strongest argument!

There is no question that repairing the roof to the 1818 granite Powder House at Magazine Beach is a good idea. It is a monumental structure that could be–if revived–the centerpiece of this 15-acre open green space along the Charles River, a heavily used, sorely needed urban park and natural refuge. The roof has been open and exposed to the elements for years. Repairing the roof will preserve the structure and an historic structure report will serve as a roadmap for future work on the building.

Why do this now? Because we have momentum. The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association has been able to forge alliances with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Riverside Boat Club, the Charles River Conservancy, and working together, we have organized four Magazine Beach cleanups since November 14, 2010.

Appalled at the condition of the roof at the Powder House, the CNA raised $1,900 in four days!, (including $1,500 from the Cambridge Heritage Trust) to do a temporary fix of the roof in December 2010. 

In April 2011 the CNA received a grant from the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund to work with the community to revitalize Magazine Beach. A survey of users, local residents and businesses; a plan for the park; and a funding proposal will be the products of this grant.

The CNA held a community meeting about Magazine Beach in April 2011, featuring presenters from DCR and the Cambridge Historical Commission. Over fifty community members and many local and state politicians attended to show their support for improving Magazine Beach that very rainy night.

On June 10th two instructors of Preservation Carpentry at the North Bennet Street School, along with representatives of the Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Historical Society, DCR and preservation architect David Torrey met at the Powder House to look at it inside and out and to see whether reroofing the structure might be an appropriate project for students at North Bennet Street to engage in. They are interested. North Bennet’s involvement in this project is a win win. North Bennet students would learn to stabilize a roof and reslate it for the cost, mostly of materials, greatly reducing the cost of this project WHILE ensuring top quality workmanship. (The North Bennet Street School has already worked on a number of DCR historic properties and DCR welcomes their involvement.)

In June 2011 David Torrey of Menders, Torrey & Spencer, developed a proposal to do an historic structure report of the Powder House. This proposal would review historical information relating to the Powder House, document the historic fabric of the building, and propose–with cost estimates–ways to adapt the building for a modern use. (Note: Frederick Law Olmsted converted the Powder House into a bath house in 1897.) This report would serve to guide the North Bennet Street School’s work on the Powder House and future revitalization efforts there.

The total cost for the proposed historic structure report is $23,000 and the estimated cost to repair the roof of the Powder House is $45,000. DCR has suggested that this project would qualify for a 2:1 matching grant. So the proposed CPA funding will provide essential seed money to stabilize and preserve the Powder House.

Please vote YES tonight and support the historic structure report and roof repairs for the Powder House at Magazine Beach. By partnering with our friends and neighbors, we are getting a lot of bang for our buck and work could start on the Powder House as early as the spring of 2012. Let’s fix the roof NOW!

Thank you for your consideration. I attach photos of the Powder House in its current state.

Cathie Zusy

Board Member, Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association

Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association, Inc.

17 Lawrence Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

 Project Summary:

Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, respectfully requests that $38,000 in Community Preservation Act funds be appropriated for historic preservation of the 1818 Powder House at Magazine Beach.  Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association (CNA) has been working cooperatively with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the property owner, toward restoration and potential reuse of the Powder House.  Of the total requested, $23,000 would fund an Historic Structure Report; the remaining $15,000 would be applied toward emergency preservation/stabilization/repair of the roof.

Project Site:

Built on Captain’s Island in 1818 as a state gunpowder magazine, the Powder House was redeveloped in 1899 as a bathhouse for Magazine Beach. In recent years used chiefly for storage, it is part of Magazine Beach and the larger Charles River Reservation, designed by landscape architect Charles Eliot.  On the National Register, this building is perhaps the most historically significant structure on the Cambridge riverfront. Parkland at Magazine Beach has been the subject of significant restoration investment in recent years, funded in large part by the City of Cambridge.  The pedestrian bridge linking the park to the Cambridgeport neighborhood is currently being rebuilt with state funding.

CNA and DCR are now exploring future uses for the Powder House.  Before a decision can be made for reuse, the building needs a comprehensive assessment and roof repair for emergency stabilization.  However, the building’s historical significance and state of serious disrepair warrant investment to stabilize and preserve it now.   

Proposal:

Requested funds would support two related priorities:

1.  Historic Structure Report & Conditions Assessment  ($23,000)

A qualified contractor acceptable to both the property owner (DCR) and the City of Cambridge Historical Commission will be hired to prepare a comprehensive report that will inform all subsequent initiatives for the Powder House, including preservation, repair, installation of interpretive markers, and adaptive reuse.  The report will be created in conformance with Preservation Briefs 43 and 18 developed by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. All work specified will comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.  The report will include:

• Building history (both developmental and social), including a construction and maintenance chronology.
• Identification of character-defining architectural features, including those elements that must be preserved and those that may be sensitively replaced or modified.
• Documentation of the building and site with a photographic survey.
• Measured drawings (plans and elevations) of the building in Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and CAD conversion of available historic drawings.
• Architectural survey and analysis of exterior envelope and interior elements, noting conditions and potential causes of deterioration.
• Assessment of structural integrity of the building and recommendations for remediation of critical conditions, including cost estimates.
• Assessment of water, sewer, gas and electrical utility access, with implications for adaptive reuse.
• Regulatory review will include zoning, state building codes, historical commission review, universal access, and any other relevant requirements, with implications for adaptive reuse.
• Preservation treatment and rehabilitation recommendations prioritized according to emergency, short-term, and long-term needs.

2. Structural stabilization/ roof repair ($15,000)

CNA and/or the Cambridge Historical Commission would enter into an agreement with DCR, under the auspices of its Partnership Matching Funds Program,  to assure that a qualified contractor is hired to repair the roof of the Powder House, in a manner that is historically appropriate and in keeping with the recommendations of the Historic Structure Report and applicable regulatory requirements for National Register properties.  The roof is in very poor condition (see photo at right, taken 6/10/2011), threatening to result in deterioration of other significant elements of the property.  Pending a full structural assessment, the preliminary estimate for the roof project (including structural stabilization and re-roofing with historically appropriate slate materials) is $45,000.   CNA has been advised by DCR staff that the $15,000 in CPA funding requested for this project is eligible to be matched two to one by Partnership Matching Funds from DCR.   

Contact:

Additional information will be forwarded as it becomes available.  Please direct questions to:

Cathie Zusy, Co-Clerk and Board Member, Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association

202 Hamilton St.

Cambridge, MA 02139

CATHZUSY@gmail.com

617-868-0489