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Most Endangered Historic Resource:
Salem Jail Complex, 50 St. Peter Street (Listed 2000) Status–Signs
of Improvement
Dec 2007 Update: HSI continues to look
forward to the start of construction. The developer should soon be completing
the final steps needed to begin.
Historic Salem identified the preservation of this property as one of
its top priorities in 2004. In the past several years, significant progress
has been made in preparing the property for reuse. We were pleased in
2005 to be able to upgrade the status from Endangered to Signs of Improvement.
The original portion of the granite jail and the Federal period Jailer’s
House were constructed in 1811-1813. The granite jail was substantially
enlarged in 1884-1885 including the addition of the octagonal cupolas.
According to Bryant Tolles, Architecture in Salem, the Salem Jail was
one of the oldest correctional facilities in the country still fulfilling
its original function until it was vacated in 1991. Individually and
as a complex, the buildings located at this key downtown site have considerable
architectural significance.
Historic Salem has been involved in efforts to save the Jail and Jail
keeper’s house for over a decade, lobbying to have the buildings
transferred to the City, providing pro bono professional services, and
supporting an application for grant funds to stabilize the Jail keeper’s
house after it was damaged by fire in the summer of 1999. In 2000, the
complex was placed on Historic Salem’s and Preservation Mass’s
Most Endangered List.
In the spring of 2004, the City proposed that the property be transferred
from the City of Salem to the Salem Redevelopment Authority (SRA) because
the broader powers of the SRA are more appropriate for handling the
redevelopment of a complex redevelopment site such as the Jail. HSI
worked through the summer of 2004 with the Planning Department, the
City Council, and the SRA on the conditions to the transfer and the
redevelopment plan with the following objectives.
• Ensure that preservation priorities are taken into account in
any redevelopment plan
• Ensure public participation in the redevelopment process
• Engage in a process which is likely to result in a successful
outcome
HSI endorsed the transfer based on a cooperation agreement between the
City of Salem and the SRA, which requires the treatment of the “buildings
and site elements “in a manner consistent with the Secretary of
the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties”,
input from interested citizens, including the City Council, Historic
Salem, and the Salem Historical Commission. A Preservation Restriction
from the Massachusetts Historic Commission protects the property, and
Historic Salem has also provided recommendations for additional preservation
considerations.
At the end of 2004, the City engaged a consultant team to undertake
a Market/Feasibility study for the Jail complex. In the course of the
study there were several public meetings to gather community input into
proposed reuse plans. Public comment supported the preservation of the
properties as greatly significant to the community and identified the
desire for a degree of active public use. The study was completed in
the spring of 2005, and guided the SRA in preparing Requests for Proposals
from development teams.
Responses from development teams to the Requests for Proposals were
received in September 2005. After conducting interviews with four finalists
in October 2005, and evaluating the teams relative to the criteria in
the Request For Proposals, the SRA chose the development team assembled
by New Boston Ventures, a Boston based developer that specializes in
historic buildings. Architects for the project are the Boston firm of
Finegold Alexander & Associates.
New Boston Ventures proposed to locate seventeen condominiums in the
Jail building itself, renovate the Jail Keeper’s house into three
condominium units, renovate the carriage house for artist live-work
space (pending final structural review) and construct a new building
with residential condominiums on the southernmost part of the site.
In addition, a restaurant will be located in the 1884 service/kitchen
wing on the Bridge Street side, and an exhibit about the history of
the Jail will be located on the first floor and be accessible to the
public.
In 2006 the project team received approval of plans for the development
from Design Review Board, the Salem Redevelopment Authority, and the
Planning Board. Unfortunately, further structural analysis indicates
structural failure in the barn as well as the loss of much original
material. Current plans call for disassembling the barn and replicating
it, reusing any material that can be salvaged. Otherwise, the team’s
original plans remain the same. The development team and the SRA have
worked closely with representatives from Historic Salem, Inc. the Salem
Historical Commission, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission throughout
the process to provide input on preservation issues and design to ensure
that the elements of the historic buildings are respected and the new
construction is compatible with the historic buildings.
Construction is expected to begin by the summer of 2007.
Photos:
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3
Drawing: Peter Whitman,
1998
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