Masonry Magazine March 1979 Page. 24
PINE STREET INN TOWER
continued
The city's vital fire alarm system was out of commission. The cost of the building exclusive of the fire alarm apparatus was $81,000.
After the Fire Department moved out in 1951, the building served as a warehouse and factory, but was not adequately maintained and fell into disrepair. In the early 1970s the building was abandoned.
Damage to the tower was severe due to vandalism and lack of maintenance. In sections of the parapet where wythes had been removed, water seepage between the 4-inch yellow brick veneer caused bulging, as much as 3 inches in some places.
The Pine Street Inn received funding to renovate the buildings from the Massachusetts Department of Community Affairs through the Boston Housing Authority. One of the stipulations for the money was that the historic Fire Headquarters building was to be restored to its original appearance and structural integrity. Several local citizen groups had also applied pressure to prevent the Pine Street Inn from even moving into the area, and the restoration of the tower was one item that helped to mollify them. The Inn was committed to saving the tower.
Existing Condition of the Tower
Because of the ravages of vandals and New England weather, the tower had deteriorated badly. Large sections of the top parapet threatened to crumble and fall to the ground. Cracks ran up the corners, and the brick corbels below the low roof seemed to defy the laws of gravity by remaining in place.
The parapet around the top of the tower is 2 feet thick and about 3 feet high. On top of the parapet are eight 4-foot piers. Vandals had removed all of the copper flashing around the inside of the parapet and the water had deteriorated the brickwork. As the brick became loose, vandals had picked them out and thrown them off the tower.
In some sections of the parapet two wythes had been removed. The resulting porous surface acted like a sponge and allowed the water to completely penetrate the wall. The outside 4-inch veneer had bulged more than 3 inches in some locations. One of the piers had been stripped so that it resembled an upside down pyramid. At the base of several others, the mortar had disintegrated to the point where brick could be picked out by hand.
Water had penetrated the piers that support the high roof, causing bulging and twisting. Several of the piers had split open and one had a one-inch gap running up its narrow face. At the low roof the copper flashing had also been removed allowing water to penetrate down into the large corbeled arches below.
Some of the cap stones weighing several hundred pounds had been pushed off their piers. A few of them had fallen on the building below and had broken large holes in the roof.
Below the low roof are the distinctive and dramatic corbels and arches that appeared to be hanging off the tower. The mortar at the top of these corbels had completely disintegrated and only the weight of the brick above the arches appeared to be holding this part of the tower together. The tower's southeast corner corbel was completely shattered and many large cracks ran vertically.
An extensive repair job was avoided when it was discovered that lightning which had damaged one of the corbels had not penetrated beneath the outside veneer. Masons carefully removed the exterior layer of brick, and examination showed that the force of the lightning had not harmed the back-up brick.
24 MASONRY/MARCH, 1979
Workmen remove the deteriorated north wall of Building #3 at the fourth level as part of the rehabilitation of existing structures that will house the Pine Street Inn. Three former warehouse/manufacturing structures adjacent to the main tower building will be interconnected to provide areas for the range of services that Pine Street Inn will offer.