House wide open

I caught the tail end of the open house yesterday at 603 Nunn Street in Northside. This newest Land Trust house is a beautiful Craftsman-style house that feels bigger than its 1,300 sq. ft. The open kitchen and dining room span the length of the house down one side--living room on the other side of the handsome wooden staircase. Light pours in from every direction.

Empowerment had an open house at the same time on a property next door, also placed within the land trust for permanent affordability. A total of four lots on what had been a very troublesome patch of vacant land are being developed for home ownership.

The Northside neighborhood conservation district was created in 2004. It was one of my first Council votes; I'd served on the committee for it as a planning board member. It limits the size and scale of houses and makes design recommendations as a way to retain the look and feel of the old neighborhood. I think it's working the way we hoped. As you can see from the pictures Ruby took during the NCD process, there was room for improvement on many levels.