ARCHIVES OF LEAD STORIES
January 20, 2005
Dudley activists mark Dartmouth
renovation
Yawu Miller
When Gloria Fox describes the Dartmouth Hotel, she can’t
help referring to the four-story Second Empire edifice as the
Nubian Notion building. The purveyor of African-themed gifts,
concert tickets, books and the like has been the building’s
most notable tenant for nearly 40 years.
The store’s distinctive orange and black signature colors
provided visual relief from the thick coat of battleship gray
paint that has covered the building for the last few decades.
Over the last year, those layers of paint have been stripped off,
the has building gutted and restored to its 1871 glory and A Nubian
Notion is now back in business.
Last week black elected officials, Mayor Thomas Menino and Dudley
Square business boosters joined the Nuestra Communidad Community
Development Corporation to celebrate the re-opening of the historic
building.
“We felt there were a set of crown jewels here in Dudley,”
said Nuestra board President Paul Deere. “We felt it was
important if you were revitalizing this area, to work on the gateways.”
Standing next to the sand-blasted limestone Paladio Hall —
also developed by Nuestra — the Dartmouth Hotel building
gives the southern gateway to the square a decidedly Victorian
look. When finished this spring, the building will contain 25
studio and 20 one-bedroom units. Six units are to be set aside
for artists.
A second phase of the renovations will add an additional 20 units
in a building being constructed on the site of the Nubian Notion
annex.
Two units have been set aside for handicapped tenants and 30 will
have project-based Section 8 subsidies. All of the units are set
aside for people making less than 60 percent of the median income.
Nuestra drew on 15 different funding sources for
the $19 million renovation of the building, including state, federal
and city agencies as well as foundations.
The added housing units are seen as a way to breathe life into
the Square, which empties after stores and office there close
at 6 p.m.
In addition to the new residential spaces, the first floor retail
spaces have been enlarged. A Nubian Notion, which took a loss
when its business was shut down last year, is now re-opened and
ready for business.
The restoration of the upper floors of the building, and the removal
of the gray paint, have accomplished one of the longstanding goals
of the Dudley Main Streets association, which has long advocated
for upper-floor renovations.
While the vacancy rate for first floor retail space in Dudley
has been low in recent decades, buildings like the Dartmouth Hotel
have remained dark and pigeon-infested, giving the area a haunted
house look. The Ferdinand buildings, recently taken by eminent
domain, are the last remaining vacant landmarks in the square.
“Dudley Square Main Streets is elated that another of our
spectacular National Register properties has been retained and
given new life,” said Main Streets Executive Director Joyce
Stanley. “This beautiful marble Second Empire building is
an example both of what Dudley Square was and what it can be.”
While congratulating Nuestra, Stanley also issued the CDC a challenge,
calling for local businesses to be given precedence over national
chains.
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