The Carriage House
for the Arts
Roxbury/Dorchester, Boston MAThe Carriage House for the Arts is a living artwork, driven by the priorities of historical education, environmental justice, and community-led development in Boston’s Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods. The project is led by a coalition whose training and expertise span architecture, ethics, aesthetics, and history. As a coalition, we hold that a relation to time as extended duration is imperative for encouraging recognition of the ravages of climate change and inspiring practical mitigation of its impact, including its disparate impact on communities already ravaged by histories of racial discrimination and social marginalization. In the interest of crystalizing historical and ecological change, the project’s design and construction prioritizes the adaptive re-use of the Joseph Hubbard Carriage House, which has weathered the social and environmental change of Roxbury, Boston since its construction in 1893.
Located in the historic Gaston-Otisfield area in Roxbury, Boston, the Joseph Hubbard Carriage House was first represented on fire maps in 1890. While Dr. Joseph Hubbard clearly used the space to house the carriage and horses necessary for house calls, later residents included Blue Hill Avenue shopkeepers who used the building for storing extra goods, and a mid-century innovator who replaced the building’s original sliding barn door with the more modern motorized rolling garage door. This seemingly innocuous update, as we now know, destabilized the then approximately 70-year-old structure. Despite that structural modification and the strong roots of an American elm and Ailanthus (aka ‘ghetto palm’), the building still stands.
The Carriage House for the Arts recognizes how the history of the building and its residents are interwoven with the rich history of Roxbury and Boston. The adaptive re-use and community-engagement project promotes reflection on this history, recognizing that how we relate to the past catalyzes our imagining possible futures. Once used to store vehicles, the house itself will become a vehicle for creative collaboration, community gathering, and education.