Benjamin Fox was an English-born architect, engineer and builder, and is credited as the designer and builder for both of the Pondside buildings. A century later he seems largely forgotten—I have not even been able to get birth or death dates—but he has left his mark on the area through a handful of interesting, thoughtful buildings that still live.
He practiced in Boston in at least the first two decades of the 20th century with offices first in the [now-demolished] Devonshire Building and later on Exchange Street. His known work falls largely into two typologies: large brick warehouses, and stand-alone brick and brownstone apartment buildings. Of his warehouses there is at least (maybe at most) one remaining, an unremarkable (but active) building on Richdale Street near Porter Square.
A handful of his warehouses were in the canal area of East Cambridge between First and Sixth Streets, now all gone. There is record of one also on Kneeland Street near South Station, also demolished.
Many of Mr. Fox’s residential buildings, on the other hand, have survived the 20th century and still make beautiful, useful contributions to the city. Beyond Jamaica Plain he built extensively in Brookline and the Fenway, and seems to have dealt specifically in the larger, less-dense apartment buildings being built for the upper class at what were then, in the era of streetcars, the fringes of the city.
What follows (in the next post) is by no means a comprehensive list of his existing work. As always I welcome input from anyone who has information I don't. The process of "finding" a Fox building is typically following a lead (or a hunch) and then trying to confirm it through varying methods and tools. Without that starter it is really a crapshoot. That said, as I have seen more and more of his buildings some consistent traits have emerged that have proven helpful in finding more.
Most significant of these are the relatively broad and narrow unit floorplans. As opposed to the typical “railroad” apartment or the triple-decker, Fox’s apartments maximize the front and rear faces, locating all of the windows where light is most present. The squarish units, with peninsular rear stairways that jut into a parking courtyard (or alternatively an alley-way), make a distinctive footprint in an aerial photo. Compare, for example, this aerial photo of various, similar apartment complexes along and near Comm Ave in Brighton to that of Pondside, or this L-shaped cluster of Fox buildings in Brookline.
Perhaps this was Mr. Fox’s signature, his marketing niche in the still-expanding city. In a 1908 Globe article trumpeting the planning of the second Pondside building, this layout strategy is called “the modern type of apartments”.
“The long, narrow dark hall so evident in many apartment houses will be eliminated, all of the windows either having front or rear exposure to the sun and air, every room being an outside one.”
The article goes on to levy the building with superlatives like “the finest of its kind” and “one of the most important improvements” in Jamaica Plain, with a view “unsurpassed in beauty”. Whether or not that language was courtesy of the journalist, the developer, or Fox himself is not known.
Sources:
Boston Daily Globe 1872; Nov 3, 1908; ProQuest Historical Newspapers Boston Globe (1872 - 1927) pg. 12
City of Boston, Inspectional Services Departments
