Developer demolishes Black Heritage site

Yawu Miller

In its past life, the two-story federal style brick building in a dark courtyard off Phillips Street served as the home of a prominent black abolitionist and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Last month, the roof and the second floor of the building were demolished as a developer began the process of turning the early 1880s home of John P. Coburn into high-priced housing. The demolition came as a shock to preservationists who have long heralded the stop as one of 14 on Beacon Hill’s Black Heritage Trail.

Coburn, who was born in Boston, helped found the country’s first all-black military company, the Massasoit Guard.

“The John P. Coburn House is an essential site on the Black Heritage Trail,” said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director of the Museum of Afro-American History. “There are few places in the entire country where such a coherent and powerful story unfolds in the historic structures built, owned and lived in by African Americans.”

Developer Eric Stevens told reporters last week that the building was not salvageable. Although he reportedly applied for a permit for renovations to the building, Stevens says he began the demolition after he found that the building was structurally unsound.

Because Stevens obtained a permit for renovations, and not demolition, the city’s Inspectional Services Division ordered him to stop the demolition. But because the building — which is accessible through a narrow alley — is not visible from a public way, Steven’s renovation is not subject to review from the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission.

That means Stevens is under no legal obligation to preserve the Coburn House or re-build the structure to historical specifications. Erin Kelly, a preservation advocate with Preservation Massachusetts, said the building was nominated one of the ten most endangered sites in Boston.

“The significance we saw was two-fold,” Kelly said. “John Coburn was a very significant figure on Beacon Hill during the 19th century. And the building was one of the few that was representative of architecture in the early 19th century. It was a surviving example of early federal style on Beacon Hill.”

A worker at the site of the Coburn house said the building was likely erected by ship builders in the early 19th century. The worker said an elderly woman had lived in the building until approximately two years ago.