The twentieth century was an epoch of vast experimentation and change. No where can this be seen more than in the design and construction of low-cost housing. The architectural heritage of Jamaica Plain has remarkable examples of the three phases in housing designed and built to be affordable to the working man.
Read MoreEgleston Square is a classic example of housing development following public transit lines. It also shows how the expanded capacity of the transit lines made possible public acceptance of increased density with the development of multi-family housing between 1910 and 1930.
Read MoreUntil the 1920's, according to a long time Jamaica Plain resident, the house faced Centre Street. The 1874 Boston City Directory suggests that the entrance to the confectioners shop was on Centre St. and the residential entrance on Eliot. The property was sold in 1873 to Anthony Hankey, although his brother Joseph evidently continued to live there until his death in 1880.
Read MoreIn 1846, the piano manufacturer, Chickering, purchased five of their shore lots where he built a summerhouse "Sunnyside." Francis Parkman bought the house and land in 1854, and the consequent story has been chronicled before. With the Jamaica Plain connection, the Goddard tale itself deserves retelling.
Since at least 1662, Centre St crossed Stony Brook over a wooden plank bridge near Heath Lane. That intersection is today known as Jackson Square, a familiar crossroads at Columbus Ave. and Centre Street, but no public record has been found to determine who the Square was named after.
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