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Founded in 1944, Historic Salem Inc. is dedicated to
the preservation of historic homes and sites.

J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center and Impacts on Historic Resources: Priority project for 2008 and 2009

Elements of the Courthouse District:
Nominated as Potentially Endangered 2007

Background

Salem holds the distinction of being the site of the first court in our nation's history, receiving the commission under the new Charter for the Province of Massachusetts with a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 for the Salem witch trials. Salem Courts again played a significant historic role during the American Revolution with the removal of the Massachusetts General Court from Boston to Salem in 1774 under the King's orders in punishment for the Boston Tea Party. While the original buildings that figured in these events have been lost over time, today the Federal Street National Historic District still provides testament to the birth of our nation's court system with the dramatic collection of historic court buildings that line this monumental streetscape. In 1993, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held a special session in Salem to commemorate its 300th Anniversary and celebrate where the oldest court in continuous service in the western hemisphere began. The block is individually listed as a National Register District.

A new Massachusetts' courthouse is under construction on this block. The J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center will replace the existing use of two out of three of the remaining historic courthouses. While Historic Salem, Inc. has been very supportive of this project since its inception, its location in a nationally important historic district makes it extremely crucial that the project successfully addresses the needs of Salem residents, workers, and visitors alike.

The plans for the 190,000 square foot, 11 courtroom Judicial Center required that the sanctuary of the Baptist Church be moved to the western edge of the site for re-use as a Law Library, vacating two of the three existing courthouses, and reusing the Registry building for court functions once additional funding has been secured. Three historic residential structures on the site have been demolished to accommodate the planned new building. The plan also required reconstruction of the Federal Street intersection with North Street and the interchanges to Bridge Street, completed in 2008.

In 2007 "Elements of the Courthouse District" was nominated as Potentially Endangered based on the potential impacts that the Courthouse Project could have on its historic surroundings. At that time it was known that the Michael J. Ruane Judicial Center would be the largest development in the City of Salem since the expansion of the Peabody Essex Museum and would likely have a major impact on historic resources and visual character.

The original plans for the new court facility called for constructing an additional building as part of the court campus on Federal Street and potentially retaining the three historic houses in front of the new court building. It also called for reusing the two historic court buildings on Federal Street for ancillary uses to the new courthouse, moving the Baptist Church and using it as the Law Library and providing a slip ramp to minimize the impact on removing the east ramp of the cloverleaf. Lastly, it called for rehabilitating the Registry of Deeds in a later phase for use by Family and Probate Courts. By 2007, these plans had changed considerably. In the original nomination to the Most Endangered List, there were five areas specifically listed as concerns for Historic Salem, Inc.: the plan to vacate the historic court buildings; the risk of losing the three houses; the size of the proposed courthouse; moving of the Baptist Church; and the roadway changes on North Street.. Since that time the specific challenges that each Element of the Courthouse District would face have solidified and the status of each is addressed separately in this report. In 2008, a Memorandum of Agreement, which addresses each historic resource, was executed between the Division of Capital Asset Management and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
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2009 Updates

As the Courthouse Project impacts multiple historic resources, each is considered separately in the updates below.

Memorandum of Agreement

This project is being developed by the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM), a state agency, with state funds, and will affect properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. For these reasons, it is subject to review by the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) under Chapter 254 of the Massachusetts General Laws. Early in 2007 the MHC made a finding of adverse impact on historic properties. That finding required a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DCAM and MHC to identify the adverse impacts as well mitigation.

The MOA was drafted with extensive comment from many Interested Parties, including Historic Salem, Inc., over a period of more than a year. DCAM and MHC signed the MOA in May of 2008. The specific provisions of the MOA as it affects historic resources are described below in the update on each of the effected historic resources. While many parts of the MOA responded to comments from Historic Salem, Inc., there were a number of provisions that were not included. As a result Historic Salem, Inc. was unable to sign the MOA as being "In Concurrence," though invited to do so. The Salem Historical Commission, also invited to be a signatory, declined to sign as well. This does not affect the legality of the MOA, or Historic Salem, Inc.'s right and responsibility to comment as an Interested Party in the review processes described in the MOA going forward.

The Memorandum of Agreement is the governing document for the protection of historic resources affected by the project and continues to be important as each element of the project moves forward.
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58, 60, and 62 Federal Street - Lost 2008

In the summer of 2008, the historic domestic buildings at 58, 60, and 62 Federal Street were demolished. These three houses were the last historic residences remaining on the institutional side of the Federal Street National Register Historic Court District:

  • 58 Federal Street - ca. 1850 2+ story house with strong Greek revival profile, i.e. three pedimented dormers and substantial Greek revival entrance
  • 60 Federal Street - ca. 1818 Also known as the Lydia Cook House, constructed for David Crowell, cordwainer
  • 62 Federal Street - ca 1900 Colonial Revival Style

Historic Salem, Inc. initially supported retention of these buildings on the site, primarily because the houses, which are listed as contributing buildings to a National Historic District, could provide a transition in scale from the very large new Courthouse to the similar sized houses found on the other side of Federal Street and across North Street as Federal Street continues in the McIntire Historic District.

However, the final plans for the Judicial Center did not include these three houses and called for their removal. Once this plan was presented and accepted by the MHC, Historic Salem, Inc. endeavored to ensure that these buildings would be moved to appropriate locations in an effort to preserve them, even if not within the context of the Federal Street Historic District. As required by the MOA, DCAM undertook a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for buyers to move and preserve the houses. Historic Salem, Inc. actively worked with the City and with DCAM to seek potential buyers for the properties. However, several recommendations made by Historic Salem, Inc. with respect to the RFP process that might have made the RFP process more successful, including extending the response time, were not accepted by DCAM nor required by MHC. Unfortunately, these houses have now been demolished.

To the best of our knowledge, these were the first intact, structurally sound historic buildings in downtown Salem to be demolished since the early 1970's "urban renewal" period.
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Historic Court buildings - Potentially Endangered (2007)

The entire block that comprises the Courthouse District is in a National Register District called the Federal Street Historic District. Aligned in a row on the north side of Federal Street, the three Essex County courthouse buildings form a visually exciting and historically significant streetscape. Individually, the buildings are noteworthy examples of architectural styles commonly employed in public building design from the mid-19th to the mid 20th century, and as an assemblage, are truly extraordinary.

The 1841 County Commissioner's Building is one of the most outstanding Greek Revival style civic buildings surviving in New England. The Superior Court was initially constructed in an Italian Revival style structure in 1862, then was remodeled between 1887 and 1889 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. While most of the interior of the Commissioner’s Building has been removed or irrevocably altered, the interiors of the Superior Court Building are of particular architectural significance. Of these, the Law Library is of the very highest quality and rarity.

While the original plan called for reuse of these two buildings as part of the courthouse campus, as the project progressed, the reuse of these buildings was not included, and they were declared surplus property, slated to be left vacant and "warm mothballed". The 1909 Essex County Registry of Deeds building is scheduled for re-use once the Ruane Judicial Center is complete - though that project is not yet funded.

Without a clear plan and schedule for their reuse as civic buildings, Historic Salem, Inc. feared that these magnificent public buildings might lie dormant and neglected for a period of time after being vacated with the additional risk of losing them to private, rather than public, use.

At Historic Salem, Inc.’s urging, the MOA required DCAM to fund the Salem Superior Courthouse Re-Use Study Feasibility Report. This study, completed in 2008, provides architectural analysis of reuse possibilities, cost estimates, and evaluation of the feasibility of a number of potential alternative uses. In preparation for this Study, Historic Salem, Inc.'s Preservation Committee toured these court buildings numerous times and provided DCAM with a list of historic features recommended to be preserved, regardless of future use, for inclusion in the Study. In particular, the preservation of the Law Library and the quality of the interior spaces, where intact, were stressed as a high preservation priority.

Historic Salem, Inc. reviewed and commented on the draft version of the Reuse Study Feasibility Report. The preliminary conclusion of the study was that an institutional use, or a mix of institutional and office space, would be the most economically viable for a future developer. Historic Salem, Inc. supports these findings, although ideally, the buildings would have continued to have court functions housed in them.

At Historic Salem, Inc.’s recommendation, the MOA also required that the Reuse Study Feasibility Report be first be used to poll state agencies to see if any have interest in these buildings as office space. Inclusion of this stipulation in the MOA meant that the process of polling state agencies could begin before the courts vacate the buildings; hopefully minimizing the time the buildings sit empty. This polling took place in the summer of 2008, and one response was received from Salem State College.

If for any reason a reuse plan with Salem State is not successful, the Report will inform interested developers of potential uses of the spaces. Reuse by private entities would be undertaken with preservation restrictions placed on the buildings and governed by the Memorandum of Agreement. Reuse of the court buildings by state agencies would be subject to additional review under Chapter 254 and might require an additional Memorandum of Agreement.
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Visual Impact and Scale of New Courthouse

The new Courthouse was cited in the 2006 Nominations to Most Endangered: Sense of Scale

The new courthouse building will have a significant visual impact on Salem's downtown, the Federal Street Historic District where the historic courthouses are located, and the McIntire District and will be highly visible from the North Street Overpass, North Salem, and the MBTA train station. Under the MOA, Historic Salem, Inc. provided comments on the preliminary design as well as at the 30%, 60% and 80% design phase completion.

In the spring of 2007, a plan and schematic images for the J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center were presented to the public. At that time Historic Salem, Inc. supported the massing and aesthetic features proposed. We also supported the planned reuse of the Baptist Church at the western corner of the site.

Then, when 30% design was presented to the public in March 2008, many of the elements that made the building "work" had been changed, leaving instead a massive, contextually unsympathetic box that would have been completely out of scale and context with historic downtown Salem. Historic Salem, Inc. and many other community groups including Mayor Driscoll and Representative Keenan expressed dissatisfaction with the design of the building. As a result of the negative reaction representatives from the Interested Parties met as a working group with DCAM and the architect to attempt to address the major, common concerns of height (92 feet – twice the height of any building around it), material, fenestration, detailing and massing.

The 60% design stage included substantial changes and improvements to the Bridge Street façade. This included a regularization of the fenestration; a reduction in the perceived scale of the building by delineation of the base, middle and top of the building; and a greater articulation of details adding texture and interest to the building. Some of these changes carried to the North Street façade, though Historic Salem, Inc’s comments at the 60% and 80% stage continued to voice our strong concern that the North Street façade was too massive for the neighborhood scale. In both the 60% and 80% design stages, the majority of the changes to the Federal Street elevations were refinements of details presented at the 30% stage.

The 80% design stage was presented in December 2008. As the design phase of this project concluded Historic Salem, Inc. felt that despite the large footprint and height of this building, the design of the exterior and perceived scale had been somewhat reduced. The exception to this is on North Street where the building will loom over the neighbors, pedestrians, and roadway.

In any design process there have been differences of opinion on important aesthetic considerations; however we feel the architects have responded to many of the Interested Parties comments to achieve a satisfactory design. When the project is completed we hope that architect’s intent that the glass wall facing Federal Street as a background to the Entry Pavillion and Law Library/former Baptist Church is realized and that in completion of the details of the Entry Pavilion the grand nature of the building, and the context in which it stands, is met. Ultimately the success of this project will depend greatly on the level of detail, materials selected and construction craftsmanship.
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Roadway Changes - Potentially Endangered McIntire Historic District (2007)

The proposed plan for the Judicial Center required substantial changes to the North Street/Bridge Street interchange. Construction began in the spring of 2008 and resulted in the elimination of the ramps on the East side of North Street (nearest the court buildings) and the moving of the Church to the corner of Federal and North Streets to accommodate the new courthouse. Because of this change, an extensive set of new lights on North Street was installed to allow traffic flow to Bridge Street via a greatly expanded ramp on the west side, which terminates in another new light on Bridge Street.

Historic Salem, Inc. has been concerned about the visual impact of the intersection as well as the potential impact on traffic in the McIntire District. The roadway changes added traffic signal mast arms and six traffic lights spanning this important City entrance. This visually divides the residential section of Federal Street and the McIntire Historic District, from the civic section of Federal Street.

This new intersection has the strong potential to slow traffic entering and leaving the downtown on North Street, resulting in even longer traffic backups than exist currently. When this type of situation exists, motorists turn down side streets to avoid the delays. Increased traffic on Federal, Essex and Chestnut Streets and the associated side streets would cause increased levels of pollution and vibration that can harm the materials and structures of the historic buildings.

Historic Salem, Inc. recommended analysis of alternatives to the plan that might have less impact on historic resources. Instead, the plan remained largely unchanged from the initial proposal in November 2006. The MOA attempts to address the issue of potential adverse impact by calling for a baseline survey of conditions prior to construction of the new ramp system, followed by another survey at the completion of the project. Comparison of these two conditions would indicate if mitigation is needed, at which point MHC and DCAM would develop and implement a plan. During the consultation process for the MOA, Historic Salem, Inc. requested that the effects of increased traffic be monitored upon completion of the roadway changes, before completion of the Courthouse project as a whole, which would identify negative impacts several years in advance. This recommendation was not supported by the City of Salem, and was not included in the final MOA. As a result any mitigation that may be required will not take place until after a new traffic study is conducted after the completion of the courthouse.
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Baptist Church (Recovering 2009)

Founded in 1804 the First Baptist Church in Salem is one of the oldest in the country. Built in 1805 and remodeled in 1850, the Church once had a commanding view of the North River from atop a small hill. Historic Salem, Inc. supported the relocation and the reuse of the 1909 Baptist Church Sanctuary, as stipulated in the MOA. While Historic Salem, Inc. would prefer that the current Law Library, with its magnificent space and furnishing continue to serve as the Library for the courts, we appreciate the efforts of DCAM to preserve this historic church.

Historic Salem, Inc. has commented on the proposed design of the new Law Library as part of the review process stipulated in the MOA and we support the plans for the interior of the building. However, the siting of the building has been of concern to Historic Salem, Inc. that supported situating the building perpendicular to the street, as is the precedent for similar historic buildings, particularly its neighbors on Federal Street, rather than at an angle to Federal Street.

Historic Salem, Inc. reviewed the specifications for relocating the Church Sanctuary. This process required careful schedule coordination in order to move the building without harm while excavating for the new Judicial Center foundation. We are pleased to report that the Church was successfully moved in January of 2009 and appears not to have suffered damage from the move. We look forward to the proposed interior and exterior renovations.
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Last Updated: July 28, 2009