Jamaica Plain loft a warm hideaway
It's hard to believe that a century ago, the Mission Hill and Roxbury sections of Boston were home to more than a dozen breweries.
Today, one of the most prominent reminders of the area's beer-making legacy is the American Brewery Co. building at 251 Heath St. It's an ornate, late 19th-century brick building with grand arched entryways, arched windows and a quirky cone-topped tower.
The place was converted into a 79-unit condo complex in 2006, after years of sitting shuttered at the bottom of Mission Hill at the Jamaica Plain border. Inside, the building is just as cool as you'd expect it to be, at least judging from condo No. 505, which is now listed for just under $750,000.
Designed to look industrial and retain the feel of the old beer factory, the condo has high ceilings on the first level, and it leaves everything exposed like an anatomy model from science class: The old brick and wood walls are left uncovered like muscle, while the pipes and the air ducts run along the ceiling and walls like the circulatory system, and the steel beams and heavy wooden supports stand like the place's skeleton.
Technically the condo is a loft — with the kitchen, dining and living area on the first floor — but it seems more like a loft with a separate bedroom upstairs. This is because the fifth-floor condo technically has three levels, as there's a small open office at the mezzanine. A partially suspended steel staircase anchors the home, and draws you up to its top-floor bedroom that feels like an old cabin hideaway.
Despite being made of brick, wood, and metal, the condo is surprisingly warm and bright. Four skylights and several floor-level arched windows light up the first floor, and seven windows illuminate the bedroom.
“It's like it embraces you with all this light,” said Frank Celeste of Gibson Sotheby's International Realty when showing the condo this week. Plenty of storage space and two bathrooms make the home feel bigger than its 1,507 square feet. And the modern kitchen is kept away from the rest of the first floor with its butcher-block peninsula. Bamboo floors cover the first level and fluffy white carpeting covers the top.
The place could be converted into a twobedroom, Celeste said, adding, “There's a lot of flexibility, depending on how you live.”