Documenting Change since 2002

Meeting Street, #235 (built 1896)

One the last remaining historic homes on the Thayer to Brook Street block demolished for a new structure

Images of this Property

  • A two and a half story wooden clapboard home with pitched gable roof. Not many original details remain of the 100-year old structure since the ground floor ha been heavily modified to contain many restaurant businesses over the years. A pitched roof entrance off the front still featured a carved crest medallion with the date 1896 inscribed.
  • The block bounded by Meeting (north), Brook (east), Euclid (bottom), and Thayer (west) Streets with 235 Meeting Street circled in red — 1908 L.J. Richards Insurance Map, private collection

11 images: Press to view larger or scroll sideways to see more. Contribution from an L.J. Richards Insurance Map

About this Property

#Reason for Demolition

This was the only pre-1900 home left on the block. The bulk of the block — nine houses — were demolished in 2013 in favor of a new privately-developed student apartment building called 257 Thayer. This final hold out was surrounded by the new residence structure and under market pressure to be converted as well.

The building, from the outside, did not appear to be in terrible shape. It was occupied until its demolition by a ground floor restaurant business. In the tax records, the owner was listed as “Boutros Salo & Boghos LLC.”

This property loss is part of our essay about the erosion of the College Hill Historic District.

#Current Events

A Thayer Street District Management Authority meeting heard details about the plan to replace 235 Meeting Street in their November 2020 meeting. The developer Paul Boutros plans to construct 4-story building with commercial space for a restaurant on the first and second floors with the third and fourth floors containing four apartments each. PPS objected to a few of the design details and the architect went back and forth on a few plans. The original date of construction was Fall of 2021 but the building did not come down until August 2022. 1

#History

From the College Hill Historic District nomination form, Edward F. Sanderson & Keith N. Morgan, January 1976

235 Meeting Street. 1896. 2-1/2 stories; end gable; clapboard; 2-family converted to commercial use; carved panel in porch pediment; new plate glass windows on 1st and 2nd floor front; many windows blocked on sides; scalloped shingles in gable end.

  1. “Minutes of the Thayer Street District Management Authority Board of Directors Meeting.” November 10, 2020. http://www.thayerstreetdistrict.com/uploads/2/6/4/0/26402738/5-tsdma_board_meeting_minutes_11-10-2020_-_approved.pdf Accessed September 18, 2022. ↩