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Metropolitan Boston » Core Boston » South End » South End Industrial District » Tent City, Leighton Park

Tent City, Leighton Park

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1986–1988, Goody, Clancy and Associates. 130 Dartmouth St.
  • Tent City, Leighton Park (Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith)

In the now gentrified world of the South End, it is difficult to realize that Tent City came into being through the efforts of advocates of affordable housing who protested the proposal for a parking garage on the site. Although it took two decades of lobbying and fundraising, the Tent City Corporation was instrumental in the building of this mixed-income development. Composed of various housing options, an eight-story apartment house and town houses are grouped around an interior landscaped court. Although the 269 units occupy a large area, variety in massing, texture, and color relates the complex to its urban environment—from the red brick row houses of the South End to the bland facades of Copley Place (BB40). A parking garage, now serving both residents and the public, was built beneath the complex.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Back Bay Station
Southwest Corridor Park
Copley Place
Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel
John Hancock Tower

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Tent City, Leighton Park", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-SE32.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 144-145.

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