August 4, 2024

In the closing days of its just finished 2023-24 session, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed House Bill 4700, An Act authorizing the commissioner of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to convey certain parcels of land to the city of Lowell. The parcels to be conveyed are the former Superior Courthouse on Gorham Street and the former Lowell District Court on Hurd Street. Both buildings have been vacant since March 20, 2020, when the new Kiernan Justice Center on Jackson Street opened and consolidated all court functions in the city.

Although this act carries a “House Bill” label, nothing gets through the legislature without a united effort so State Senator Ed Kennedy and Representatives Rady Mom, Vanna Howard, and Rodney Elliott all deserve credit for making this happen.

Here’s what this bill does:

• It authorizes the state, acting through DCAMM (Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance) to convey both the District Courthouse and the Superior Courthouse to the city of Lowell for $1 each.
• It authorizes the city of Lowell to then sell or lease the parcels. Any proceeds from the sale are to be split evenly between the city and the state although the state may reduce its share to 40 percent to facilitate the sale to a third party.
• It further authorizes the city to create a “special revenue fund for the purpose of effectuating the redevelopment of the parcels.” Funds from the sale and any appropriations by Lowell may be placed in this fund and used in relation to the redevelopment of the parcels.
• The transfer of ownership of these parcels is to occur within 180 days of the passage of this bill, however, the DCAMM commissioner may extend that deadline.
• If the city does not acquire either of both parcels, DCAMM may sell or lease them in the usual manner of selling or leasing state-owned property.

A press release from Senator Kennedy’s office quotes City Manager Tom Golden as saying with relation to the District Courthouse that “this property will be an economic development driver and strengthen our community through creating affordable homeownership opportunities.”

This and other comments made in the past suggest the city is far along in planning for the District Court parcel. Presumably that will involve demolishing the building which, in my view, would be OK from a historic preservation standpoint. Here is some history of that building.

Lowell District Court Historical Overview

In the context of downtown Lowell architecture, the District Courthouse is a relatively new building with its oldest section (the one closest to the Lower Locks parking garage) being constructed in 1945. That late start was because the original “police court” in Lowell opened in 1837 in the city’s “market building” in what is now the Align Credit Union offices at 40 Market Street. (It’s across from Brew’d Awakening and, for anyone 60 or older, is remembered as the Lowell Police Department headquarters before the JFK Civic Center was constructed.)

In May 1924, the legislature passed “An Act to provide accommodations for the District Court of Lowell.” Pursuant to that bill, Middlesex County (which owned and operated the courthouses back then) took two parcels on Hurd Street totaling 17,000 square feet.

Through the years, there were two major additions to the Lowell District Court. In 1945, Middlesex County acquired five parcels along Williams and George streets to compile sufficient land for a small addition to the original building and to also create a significant surface parking lot behind the structure.

In 1967, the state legislature enacted a bill to expand the size of the Lowell District Court. Pursuant to that legislation, Middlesex County took by eminent domain one parcel on Hurd Street and a contiguous parcel on Williams Street (both on the Central Street side of the existing structure). On this space the new addition was constructed. This portion of the building housed the Clerk’s Office and the Fourth Session courtroom.

Although the original 1924 section of the District Court had a few architectural flourishes, the new sections maximized functionality and minimized cost and, if anything, detracted from the exterior aesthetics of the original building. Nothing inside the complex is particularly noteworthy from an architectural perspective and the various additions created a mazelike interior that would make any reuse of the existing building a great challenge.

Because this parcel is in the recently enacted MBTA Communities Zoning District, I don’t believe that there will be any onsite parking requirements for a new residential structure on this lot. That should not be of concern to anyone since the city’s 960-space Lower Locks Parking Garage is just across the street.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but perhaps the redevelopment of the District Court parcel will jumpstart future plans for the former UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center which has been used as an emergency shelter for migrant families for more than a year. While that is a vital use, I assume it won’t be needed for that purpose indefinitely. At some point, that building, originally a 351-room Hilton Hotel, will find another use that benefits the city and the downtown.

Superior Courthouse Historical Overview

Finding a new use for the Superior Courthouse at 360 Gorham Street poses a much greater challenge than does the District Court. That’s primarily because the building has considerable historical significance, both inside and out, so demolishing it and replacing it with new construction would be more difficult. However, repurposing the building for some other use is immensely complicated by the interior design, which works great for courtrooms but not so well for anything else.

Middlesex County purchased the Gorham Street lot in 1849 for $38,000. The building was designed by Amni Burnham Young, whose previous work included Boston’s Custom House and additions to courthouses in Worcester and Cambridge. It was constructed of red brick and was completed in 1850. The local media called it Romanesque Revival-style.

Because Lowell continued to grow and, in the second half of the 1800s, was an international leader in the textile industry, the amount of litigation coming from the city exploded and a bigger courthouse was needed. But rather than add on to the back or the sides of the 1850 structure, the County Commissioners chose to move the existing building 60 feet backwards and built a new structure in the space on Gorham Street just vacated by the old building.

To move the three-story red brick building, workers dug underneath and propped it up on heavy wooden beams supported by 800 jacks. Other jacks, placed perpendicular to the side of the excavation, pushed the entire structure backwards. The building moved one inch each hour. According to a contemporary newspaper, “. . . so little is the movement perceptible that work goes on in the registry of deeds office just the same as usual.” The project took four years to complete with the new building being formally dedicated on September 12, 1898.

Besides having an entirely different architectural style, the level of the new building’s floors did not match those of the old building. In an age when handicap accessibility was never a consideration, the three step rise from one floor of the new building to the same floor of the old would not have been a concern. But today, handling the elevation difference requires a series of space-gobbling ramps that leave the building accessible but less functional overall.

But the floor elevation differential is not the only reuse challenge. There is an elevator that was added in the 2010s, but it only services the first and second floors of the building. To get inside requires traveling the long erector-set inspired ramp that runs along the front of the building from the parking lot. There is a massive amount of space in the basement and on floors above the second level, but these are accessible only by stairs.

The list of challenges continues: There is no fire suppression system in the building. The courtrooms, though majestic as courtrooms, do not easily convert to office or residential uses. (It would make a terrific museum or city archive, but no one has the money for such a conversion and for subsequent operations.)

Which is not to say that I advocate the immediate demolition of the building. I think the best use right now is to mothball it – meaning to button it up so that it is protected from the elements – and take a long view of its potential reuse. In the 1960s, no one in Lowell could envision the then-vacant mill buildings as having any potential for reuse, so many of them were demolished in Urban Renewal projects. But by the 1990s, the surviving mills had been adapted to other uses with 98 percent occupancy and developers longing for other mill buildings to reuse. Looking into the future from where we now sit, when interest rates drop and real estate development revives as it inevitably will, more and better uses for the Superior Courthouse will emerge.

That approach requires a degree of patience that Lowell’s current political environment may lack. As we’ve seen with the urgency of many to demolish the Smith Baker Center, historic preservation is not valued by some on the city council.

My guess is that the city will acquire the Lowell District Court property as soon as possible, but will leave the Superior Courthouse with the Commonwealth. Even if the building is eventually demolished, that won’t happen quickly and the cost and effort of carrying and maintaining the property in the meantime will be substantial and likely not something the city will want to take on voluntarily.

It is worth noting that there are several smaller parcels across Elm Street from the Courthouse. These include the “juror parking lot” on Elm Street, and some smaller lots on Chapel and Auburn Streets. The juror lot is likely big enough for a new multifamily residential building and the other lots could accommodate new one- or two-family homes, but I don’t believe the development potential of those lots is enough to justify a developer in taking on the entire project. Nevertheless, these other lots could be separated from the Courthouse parcel and sold separately. However, the new legislation doesn’t seem to allow such a piecemeal conveyance to the city so it might be up to the state to accomplish that.

Homeless encampments and the law

One possible reuse of the Superior Courthouse that has been kicked around is as a comprehensive facility for the city’s unhoused population. This seems particularly attractive to some given the issues that have arisen with homeless encampments on the nearby South Common.

In a previous newsletter that addressed the city’s dealings with homeless, I wrote that the law in this area might gain clarity with a pending US Supreme Court decision in the case of City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. Since that newsletter was written, the Court has issued its decision. By a 6 to 3 vote the Court held that a local law that prohibited camping on public property by everyone did not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment as a lower level appeals court had found.

While this decision may be seen by some as creating some clarity in how to deal with tent encampments, the reality is that demolishing tent encampments by itself only forces the residents of those encampments to go elsewhere. Several weeks ago in a Lowell City Council discussion on how homeless individuals were disrupting the operations at the Owl Diner and other businesses in that part of Appleton Street, Police Chief Greg Hudon explained that the uptick in incidents of vagrancy in that location was caused, at least indirectly, by the Council’s prior directive to the police department to crack down on incidents of vagrancy in the vicinity of Jay’s Food Store at 166 Gorham Street. Greater police enforcement there simply displaced the same individuals to Appleton Street. The police chief’s common-sense message was that you can’t police or arrest your way out of this problem.

Which is not to say there is no way out of the vagrancy problem. Addressing its root causes is the only rational approach, however, that is both expensive and glacial in its ability to show results. Our societal inability to provide ample affordable housing, effective substance abuse treatment, effective and consistent mental health treatment, and meaningful ways of addressing domestic and sexual abuse all contribute to the current situation. Putting more resources into those areas and effectively using and coordinating those resources seems our best hope of addressing the vagrancy problems that continue to plague certain parts of the city.

Upcoming Events

Several Lowell history tours have been scheduled, all are free and do not require advance registration:

On Sunday, September 8, 2024, at 11am at Tyler Park, I will lead a walking tour of the Tyler Park Historic District. This walk is hosted by The Friends of Tyler Park.

On Sunday, September 15, 2024, from 10am until noon, the Lowell Cemetery will hold a Portrait & Mausoleum Tour. This is a self-guided tour of the various mausoleums within the cemetery, offering a rare opportunity for visitors to see the inside of these structures. Additionally, portraits of many of the decedents will be on display alongside the mausoleums in which they are interred. Lowell Cemetery is hosting this event in partnership with Lowell Historical Society, Pollard Memorial Library, and Whistler House Museum of Art.

On Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6, both beginning at 10am from the Knapp Avenue entrance, I will lead the traditional walking tour of Lowell Cemetery. The same tour is offered on both days, lasts 90 minutes, and will tell the stories of some of the fascinating people buried in the cemetery.