From mansion's ruins, a future could rise

By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff, 9/3/2003

The surrounding pine groves gave the 133-year-old Pinebank Mansion its name. But the gothic manor hidden near the edge of Jamaica Pond has been neglected for so long that today the trees grow right through it.

The Pinebank was the only house Frederick Law Olmsted spared when he laid out Boston's Emerald Necklace, the stretch of open space that extends from the Fens to Franklin Park. But the seclusion that made the house so attractive to the father of American landscape architecture has also been the building's curse. A 1978 fire ended its use as a community arts center, and since then, its hidden location has discouraged would-be developers and allowed it to crumble, scarred by graffiti and trash, without much notice.

Now, however, neighborhood activists and preservationists are launching a last-ditch effort to save at least part of the Pinebank. Reluctantly giving up the idea of salvaging the whole building, they are pushing for public or private money to save the rear portion as a "historic ruin," where concerts and plays could be performed overlooking Jamaica Pond.

"It's the ones who love it the most who want it to become a historic ruin," said Michael Reiskind of the Jamaica Plain Historical Society. "If we mothball it again, I'm afraid we might lose it."

After years of debate, the Historical Society and two other prominent neighborhood groups finally agree on the historic ruin plan. But stabilizing the rear portion of the mansion and demolishing the rest could cost about $1 million at a time when Boston is grappling with its tightest budget in a decade.

Edward Newton Perkins, grandson of a wealthy China trade merchant, built the mansion in 1870. Perkins imported 10,460 molded bricks from England for his dream house, and he had the red-brick manse decorated with terra cotta plaques -- one of the first homes in America to feature that material.

In 1892, Boston purchased the Perkins property as part of its first park system. Olmsted envisioned it as a "refectory" where citizens enjoying a respite from the teeming city could get food and drink. His plan never materialized, because of the city's refusal to grant a liquor license. But in 1913, Pinebank became Boston's first children's museum. From 1936 until 1970, it was the headquarters for the city's parks engineers, and after that it was the home of an arts program that featured ceramics, drama, voice, and instrumental classes.

Since the 1978 fire, however, the Pinebank has mostly been used by vagrants and teenagers looking for a secluded spot to drink alcohol. Ragged clothes, food wrappers, and cracked CD cases cover the steps leading to the front door. Though the windows are boarded up and the doors sealed with concrete, there is ample evidence that humans often join the ravens and bats that call the building home.

"This has been taken for granted. Any other city would give its left arm to have this piece of history, and would restore it in a heartbeat," said John Iappini, who chairs the Jamaica Pond Association.

Albert Rex of the Boston Preservation Alliance agreed that the Pinebank is historically significant -- it has been designated as a Boston landmark. But Rex also has resigned himself to the fact that it may be impossible to save all of the mansion, only about 100 yards from the Jamaicaway but almost completely concealed by trees and a small hill.

"If it was in a different location . . . you might have the opportunity to deal with parking and other issues that would make [private development] financially feasible," he said. "Obviously, we'd like to see the building restored, but we have to be realistic about what could or will happen here."

Clear away the fallen bricks on the rear patio and cut back the brush, the groups now agree, and you could create a superb spot for concerts and plays, framed by two giant sycamore trees. Antonia Pollak, the city's acting parks commissioner, cautioned that creating a historic ruin would be expensive. But she acknowledged that if something isn't done fairly quickly, the Pinebank will be lost forever. "It's getting to the point where a decision has got to be made," she said.

Scott S. Greenberger can be reached at greenberger@globe.com.