Search Results for: 309 walnut st

Gorgeous Wellesley homes recognized for historically sensitive renovations

July 10, 2018 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

The Wellesley Historic Commission (WHC) last week awarded plaques to homeowners who completed historically sensitive renovations of two of Wellesley’s proud older structures. The homes themselves, 51 Glen Rd., built in 1721 and 309 Walnut St., built in 1900, seemed to glow right along with the delighted families at the praise heaped upon them by the WHC. The plaques read: “The Wellesley Historic Commission commends you on your outstanding home renovation and expresses its appreciation of your efforts to preserve our town’s historic character.” The plaque was signed by Grant Brown, Chairman (no relation to The Swellesley Report Browns) and Lawrence McNally, Vice Chairman.

51 Glen Road, in pictures

51 Glen Rd., Wellesley — Gary Vanasse and Angela Sousa share 51 Glen Rd. with Vanasse’s sons Nicholas, 17 and Andrew, 13. The boys attend Buckingham Browne & Nichols school and have a very sweet 3rd floor set-up that includes their bedrooms and a teen hangout room for video gaming. Vanasse and Sousa are expecting a baby in October to help fill the 7 bedroom, 4 bathroom 5,000 square foot house. Sousa led me on a tour that touched on four centuries without ever leaving the house. “As we worked on the house, we had to remember at this point the walls are horsehair plaster, then over here they’re not.” she said

“When we were first looking at it my stepson said, ‘Angela this place is so old it could be haunted. We can’t move in to a haunted house.’ So we saged the house before we moved in.” Problem solved. That’s how Sousa rolls.

For the record, there’s never been any suggestion of paranormal activity detected at the house. The sage ceremony, a ritualistic way to cleanse a place of negative energies or influences, was more of a family bonding activity than an actual spirit shoo-ing.

The for-real part has been the trials and tribulation of a major renovation. At one moment Sousa concedes, “We bit off more than we were expecting. We didn’t fully understand the level of renovation and the amount of time this would take.” But at the next moment Brown, Sousa, and I are all swooning over the original fireplace tile and the rich look of the hardwood and original moldings, and the gracious flow of the house and the size of the rooms. For a moment, all the work and construction challenges are forgotten as we revel in the beauty of the results.

You’d have to be nuts to tear down 309 Walnut St.

Next I stopped in at 309 Walnut St. to check in with Luke and Zemira DelVecchio and their 5 kids, Agnese, 11; Isaiah, 9; and Miriam, 6; who attend Schofield Elementary School. There’s also Mark, 3; and John Paul, 8 months — you’ve still got time to prepare yourselves for them, Schofield.

Luke’s got serious Wellesley chops having grown up in town on Apple St. He’s done the Triple Wellesley: Hunnewell Elementary, Wellesley Middle School, and Wellesley High. Then for good measure he went for the quadruple and did his undergraduate at Babson. Luke and Zemira are our former neighbors, and they swear they didn’t move out of the neighborhood because The Swellelsey Report was just getting too loud. And even if the’re telling a little white lie, as you can see we just follow them wherever they go. There’s no escaping The Swellesley Report.

I walked into the kind of party atmosphere that’s always happening in a house with five kids. “Hi!” said one as I walked in, waving so exuberantly he fell off the sofa. No tears though, because what good would that do when in two seconds another “crisis” will surely crop up, eclipsing his own? I barreled right in and inserted myself into just another day in paradise with an active family living life in a house that was built to take it in 1900, then renovated in 2017 to take it some more. The six bedroom, 4.5 bath 4,500 square-foot house graciously absorbed me into the controlled chaos.

We’ve posted about this house before, back when contractor Jim Mealey first bought the place in an online bidding process. As he got going on the restoration he was treated as a mini-celebrity. People stopped and thanked him for what he was doing as he worked to bring the house back from years of neglect.

Here are a few pictures:

309 Walnut St. Wellesley — General contractor Jim Mealey ([email protected]) bought 309 Walnut St. in 2015 an online bidding process. The house, which abuts the Warren Recreation Center, had stood empty since 2012.

The Wellesley Historical Commission isn’t done yet. They have plaques to hand out to two more homes. Those addresses have not yet been made public.

Here’s what you missed over the summer in Wellesley

September 5, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

The temperatures say summer, but with Labor Day behind us and a school year stretched out in front, we have to admit it. The grasshopper days are over. Here’s what you missed in Wellesley if you were traveling and enjoying yourself, unplugged and unworried. We stayed on top of things for you. It’s what we do:

1) Local reporter (me) almost hit by car in Wellesley

Our top-read story over the summer concerned my near-flattened experience on Wellesley Avenue. Fortunately I wasn’t struck, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on the driver’s part. My experience certainly struck a nerve in town, and comments about similar close calls poured in. Readers also wrote in to express great relief that I squeaked through…aw, thanks guys. READ MORE

2) MBTA cut down hundreds of Wellesley trees

Anybody who takes the commuter rail hasn’t been able to miss the tree removal work that MBTA contractors have done. We got an email from a chagrined reader who characterized the work as a “horrible hack job” and noted that although “Our property doesn’t abut the tracks, we feel badly for those who do.”

I went down and took a look. Indeed, it’s not pretty. READ MORE

3) Wellesley mourns Robert J. Hinchliffe: Devoted family man, WWII infantryman, longtime town leader and volunteer

Wellesley lost one of its Greatest Generation heroes. As his obituary read, “Bob loved Wellesley and Wellesley loved him, choosing him to lead the parade twice, as the recipient of the Distinguished Service and the Veterans’ Honor awards. He was one of the half dozen longest serving Town Meeting Members in town history…” and the list goes on. Truly a pillar of the Wellesley community. READ MORE

4) Gorgeous Wellesley homes recognized for historically sensitive renovations

The Wellesley Historic Commission (WHC) awarded plaques to homeowners who completed historically sensitive renovations of two of Wellesley’s proud older structures. Among them: 51 Glen Rd., built in 1721 and 309 Walnut St., built in 1900. READ MORE

5) Wellesley dog photobombed by woodland creature — this you’ve gotta see. SEE IT HERE

6) The ant bikes came marching one by one into Wellesley

Wellesley wasn’t among the more than dozen communities selected to take part in a dockless bike rental system involving the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, but such bicycles have nonetheless started to roll into town. Ant Bicycle’s signature green bikes have been popping up all over the place… READ MORE

7) Wellesley Municipal Light Plant offers full internet service for commercial customers

The Wellesley Municipal Light Plant (MLP) on Monday, July 30 made a recommendation to its Board to offer internet service to commercial entities in town as the next step toward moving the program from pilot to permanent status… READ MORE

8) Wellesley mom gets Ambush Makeover on Today Show

Tiffany Zides, an already hot Wellesley mom, entered New York City as her usual self and left as one of “two great girls” plucked from the Today Show throng at Rockefeller Center to get an Ambush Makeover by fashionistas Louis Licari and Jill Martin. READ MORE

9) Wellesley neighbors facing real uphill battle over rehabbed house and yard

Here’s what can happen when a buyer snaps up the cozy Cape abutting your home, cuts down a few dozen trees, and brings in truckloads of soil. READ MORE

10) Is humble Wellesley news site (us!) an enemy of the people?

The call to take up words and defend the very bedrock of journalism came from no less an institution than The Boston Globe. We answered, with aplomb if we may say so ourselves. Before we knew it we found ourselves on the New York Times op-ed page. Yep, that’s what we did with our summer. READ MORE

11) Historic John D. Hardy house to go under review for tear-down

What makes this 132-year-old building historically significant is that it was the home of noted Wellesley civic leader John D. Hardy from its completion in 1896 until his death in 1924. Its association with Hardy is an important factor making it among the most historic houses in the Belvedere Estates/Wellesley Country Club area, and therefore Wellesley. READ MORE

12) Will Wellesley College ban dogs on Lake Waban?

As usual in these situations, two issues loom large: dog waste and unleashed dogs. READ MORE

13) Best of Wellesley Business Buzz:

Linden Square:

Code Ninjas is coming into the space formerly occupied by Massage Envy. The computer learning center will welcome girls and boys ages 7-14 to learn to code by building their own video games.

Work continued at Door No. 7. The new chef-driven business from the operators of The Cottage is slated to open soon.

Wellesley Square:

The venerable Page Waterman Gallery, founded in 1917, moved from its Church Square location to 592a Washington St., where its headquarters and restoration studio have been located since 1983.

Red Apple convenience store peeled out. No replacement business there yet.

Orangetheory Fitness, a chain that specializes in 60-minute cardiovascular and strength training workouts has started up its first classes at 56 Central St.

Earlier this summer Le Vernis Nail Studio moved into the former 2nd Time Around space at 574 Washington St., upping the number of nail salons in town to well over a dozen.

Smith & Wollensky steak house opened at the very beginning of summer in the former Blue Ginger space.

Coming soon: Fiorella’s Express, a fast casual Italian eatery at the former Susu Bakery location.

Wellesley Square at Beclare retail spaces:

CouCou, a stylish kids’ store opened in August

Laer Realty Partners added Wellesley to its list of approximately two dozen offices located mostly in Massachusetts

Pucker Gallery expanded beyond its Newbury Street location in Boston. The gallery offers international modern and contemporary art.

Agnes Vision moved over from Washington Street, and La Mia Moda Boutique made the switch from its temporary Linden Square digs.

To look for soon: Barber Walters barbershop

Fiorella’s Express, a fast casual Italian eatery at the former Susu Bakery location.

Wellesley Hills:

Papa Razzi closed for renovations in July and has celebrated its re-opening with a larger bar area and a refreshed menu, and expanded parking. (They’re hiring, BTW.)

Mark’s Pizza was torn down to make way for that expanded parking. The pizza shop’s website says there are plans to re-open in a new location soon, perhaps at the former Zoots spot, but we haven’t heard much lately on this…

Real estate firm Realty Executives took over the Forest Street space in between Wellesley Variety and Deluxe Pizza.

White’s Bakery & Cafe is coming to Wellesley in the former TD Bank location in Playhouse Square on Washington Street. Expected opening in Fall 2018.

Wellesley contractor turns down the chance to tear down

December 2, 2015 by Deborah Brown 4 Comments

It’s become the norm around Wellesley that houses in the $600k – $1.2 million range will be bought up by a developer who will then read the building its last rites and send in the executioner, er, bulldozer who will then plow it into House Kingdom Come, if there even is such a place. It’s an interesting philosophical question, actually. Do all torn-down houses go to heaven? After all the work they do sheltering us, welcoming us, and providing us with a sense of place, they should.

We’ve had our fun tracking the trend in our Wellesley Teardowns, Before and After posts, all the while acknowledging the fact that these things happen in deep-pockets communities such as Wellesley where there’s virtually no buildable land in town, but a great desire to buy in, damn the expense.

You know where this is going. There is a house in town. It is old. There was an ill-advised addition tacked onto it at some point. It has stood empty since 2012. A licensed contractor just bought it from Bank of America for $677,000 in an online bid process. But this isn’t just any old contractor. This is Wellesley resident Jim Mealey, a married father of two kids in the school system. He has already purchased and preserved a few houses in Wellesley (70 Washington St., 12 Abbott St., and 12 Roanoke Rd., to name a few), all of which he rehabbed maintaining the original houses’ character. And by gum, he’s going to rehab that yellow 3-story, 6 bedroom, 4 bath Victorian on 309 Walnut St.

He plans to restore 309 Walnut by allowing its refined Victorian sensibilities to shine again – on the outside this means fixing windows (good-bye casements!), restoring the stonework, repairing the roof, and painting. On the inside it will mean keeping original woodwork, restoring the original floor plan where possible, and updating the baths and kitchen with classic fixtures in mind. Built in 1900, it predates the abutting former Warren School, which is currently used as the Wellesley Recreation Department. The plan is for the restored and revitalized house to be on the market in 2016.

16 College Rd., Wellesley — 16 College Rd., headed for a tear-down.

He’s not a purist, though. In the interest of full disclosure, Mealey does plan to tear down a house next year in town to make way for new construction. That house, located at 16 College Rd., is a 1946 Colonial that sustained damage last winter and is unfortunately not worth saving for a host of reasons. However, Mealey is sensitive to building a house of the scale and type that suits the lot and the area and therefore, the new home planned is an Arts & Crafts style, not the typical New Colonial that is sprouting its multiple triangle roof-lines all over town, because that Colonial style house would not fit the neighborhood.

Mealey has had a great time getting right down to it at 309 Walnut St. He’s already ripped out all the overgrown bushes and fielded questions and comments from neighbors and passersby. “Tear it down!” shouted out a passing driver/heckler. Why, he wonders, when he can put in $250K – $300k and sell it for what the market will bear in 2016.

As for us, we still have our recurring nightmare that our cottage is the last one standing in Wellesley. In our dream, it gets torn down as we sleep. A mob of developers, realtors, and neighbors pick it apart by hand, piece by piece, carry us out, and force us to rebuild and install coffered ceilings, whirlpool baths, and a wine cellar. It’s just a dream…it’s just a dream…

Wellesley Police log: Break-ins, alleged OUI, check fishing suspected, taxi driver gets paid

January 16, 2020 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley, Mass., police log for the week of 1/6/20-1/10/20:

Arrests

On January 10, 2020 at 1:55 a.m. Officer Pino was dispatched to the area of Washington Street near River Street for a report of a disabled motor vehicle. Upon arrival he not a Ford SUV with significant damage to the driver’s side of the vehicle. The operator of the vehicle stated he struck a curb. Officer Pino noticed a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the driver as he spoke, his eyes were glassy and when asked stated he had consumed a few beers in Boston. Officer Pino noticed debris in the roadway and on the sidewalk east of River Street in Newton. The operator stated he did not recall hitting anything other than a curb. Officer Pino noticed that a parking meter had been struck and the wall over the Charles River. The driver was traveling west on Washington Street, crossed over into the eastbound lane of travel, struck the curb, parking meter, wall and continued west until it came to rest just after River Street. The driver agreed to take some reasonable tests of balance and coordination to determine if he was able to safely operate a motor vehicle. He was unable to successfully take these tests. He was taken into custody, transported to the station, booked in the usual manner, afforded all rights and later released on personal recognizance.

On January 10, 2020 at 8:42 Officer Cunningham served a warrant issued by the Dedham District Court for an arrest. The suspect was located at his place of employment in Natick. He was taken into custody and transported to Dedham District Court.

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Incidents

On January 7, 2020 Officer Kane spoke with a male reporting party from a business on Walnut Street who stated a subcontractor had $1,500 worth of equipment and paperwork that belonged to the company that had not been returned. Officer Kane spoke with the subcontractor and learned the equipment had been returned to another employee and was able to get the subcontractor to turn in the reports and paperwork that were due to them.

On January 7, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. Detective Dunajski responded to a past breaking and entering on Edmunds Road where a door was forced open and several items were missing from the residence. There were several drawers in the bedroom that had been opened and gone through as well as the closet. The incident is under investigation.

On January 9, 2020 at 1:10 a.m. Officer Pino spoke with a taxi driver who had two male parties exit the taxi without paying for it. They had attempted to pay with a credit card that was declined. Officers located one of the male parties and payment was made.

On January 10, 2020 at 8:37 a.m. Officer Hughes took a report for a possible check fishing incident. The report is incomplete at this time and no further information is available.

On January 10, 2020 at 2:12 p.m. Officer Cunningham was dispatched to Weston Road for a report of a past breaking and entering into a residence. A glass door had been smashed and drawers in a night stand and dresser were opened and gone through. The reporting party did not believe anything had been taken. The incident is under investigation.

More: Past Wellesley Police logs