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This Old House


Clairescurtains
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The PBS show This Old House has done several restorations in the Boston area over the years and since we are going to be in Boston next Oct I would love to see some of the things they have done. Outside of course since these are private homes. Does anyone know of a tour guide that could accommodate us? :confused:I might be able to get several people to join in if we can find a good tour guide.

 

I have tried a search without any success.

 

We have been to Boston several times and spent several days there doing the usual things and thought this might be interesting and different. :)

Edited by Clairescurtains
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These are private homes, most set back from the street (i.e. not much visible), and in neighborhoods/towns fairly distant one from the other. Seems a bit invasive, and none too practical, to turn them into some sort of pseudo Hollywood celebrity homes tour.

(and having grown up in Harvard Square, with tour buses passing all the time, I can speak to the depth of contempt we had for tourists pointing out the windows at us as they rode by)

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But just FYI, grab a map (and maybe a guide to Boston pronunciation), because over the years, the show has done projects in and around Boston in:

Dorchester, Charlestown (2), Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, East Boston, Milton, Cambridge, Belmont, Arlington (2), Winchester, Brookline, Watertown, Newton (3), Lexington (2), Concord (2), Acton, Carlisle, Essex, Weston, Woburn, Reading, Billerica, Westwood, Wayland, and Salem, among others, and further out in Brimfield and on Nantucket and in Manchester, New Hampshire.

That makes "several" by anyone's definition.

Edited by VidaNaPraia
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The PBS show This Old House has done several restorations in the Boston area over the years and since we are going to be in Boston next Oct I would love to see some of the things they have done. Outside of course since these are private homes. Does anyone know of a tour guide that could accommodate us? :confused:I might be able to get several people to join in if we can find a good tour guide.

 

I have tried a search without any success.

 

We have been to Boston several times and spent several days there doing the usual things and thought this might be interesting and different. :)

 

That is an interesting idea but I think you are going to be just driving through traffic all day. I drive by one of the houses frequently in Wayland when I go see my sister. It was a huge project called Kirkside from 1991. Pretty house at a very busy intersection so depending on the light cycle, you can look at the fence for a minute or two.;) I have been by the houses in Winchester, Woburn, Lexington and Concord just because I live in the area. Really not much to see since they are all private homes.

 

I know you say you have done the "usual things" in Boston. Are you talking Freedom Trail and Faneuil Hall? Have you gone to the Museum of Fine Arts? You might want to see what traveling exhibits will be there when you are in Boston, we saw a beautiful Chihuly exhibit a couple of years ago. Kennedy Library is also another option.

 

Have you been out to Lexington and Concord? You could rent a car and visit the historic sites out there and also a This Old House or two. Salem is another good place to visit, especially near Halloween. Rockport is a small fishing town with some nice little restaurants. Plymouth and or Plimoth Plantation is another option, though seeing the rock is very unimpressive.

 

Lots of things to see within an hour or so of downtown Boston.

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@reallyitsmema--you got me to thinking about how best to see a variety of interesting, impressive architecture in a fairly compact neighborhood setting relatively close to Boston.

Brattle Street in Cambridge (walk from Harvard Square T)

Belmont historic district (walk from purple commuter train T station) Nearby Belmont Center has restaurants and some shops

Arlington Heights (to Park Ave by bus and walk the hill, the TOH Italianate is nearby)

Salem, as mentioned (by T commuter train) architecture and Peabody Essex Museum

Newburyport.(by T commuter train) architecture, shops, restaurants

 

Most of these, as well as the other suggestions you made, can be previewed on YouTube.

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Well, I guess our replies were not what you wanted.:rolleyes:

Yeah, but you told it the way it is--- maybe an hour of driving between places for a 30 second drive by of an obscured house.....at 100 dollars an hour, to go by the rates for any of the regular 'suburban' tours listed.

 

OP, have you been to the very unique Gardner Museum?

http://www.gardnermuseum.org/home

Edited by VidaNaPraia
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Yeah, but you told it the way it is--- maybe an hour of driving between places for a 30 second drive by of an obscured house.....at 100 dollars an hour, to go by the rates for any of the regular 'suburban' tours listed.

 

OP, have you been to the very unique Gardner Museum?

http://www.gardnermuseum.org/home

 

 

The Gardner Museum is a great suggestion.

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These are private homes, most set back from the street (i.e. not much visible), and in neighborhoods/towns fairly distant one from the other. Seems a bit invasive, and none too practical, to turn them into some sort of pseudo Hollywood celebrity homes tour.

(and having grown up in Harvard Square, with tour buses passing all the time, I can speak to the depth of contempt we had for tourists pointing out the windows at us as they rode by)

 

This just seemed a little [a lot] snarky to me. Along with the comments about getting a pronunciation dictionary and a map.

 

I will be perfectly fine with my own ideas in Boston, just thought that PBS and the show This Old House had already made a spectacle of these homes and peaked the interest in seeing them in person.

 

The last visit to Boston we saw the racing boats in dry dock which was quite interesting to me.

I am sure the Chihuly exhibit was amazing. We have some of his artwork here and I have been by his home/studio in Seattle so have enjoyed his art before.

Edited by Clairescurtains
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This just seemed a little [a lot] snarky to me. Along with the comments about getting a pronunciation dictionary and a map.

 

I will be perfectly fine with my own ideas in Boston, just thought that PBS and the show This Old House had already made a spectacle of these homes and peaked the interest in seeing them in person.

 

The last visit to Boston we saw the racing boats in dry dock which was quite interesting to me.

I am sure the Chihuly exhibit was amazing. We have some of his artwork here and I have been by his home/studio in Seattle so have enjoyed his art before.

 

I didn't find Vida's post to be at all "snarky", but maybe that's a regional thing. The comment about a map was for you to find the locations on your own (this can be researched from the shows and local real estate finder apps; I've located a few on google maps, though haven't driven by them) and the pronunciation guide was for when you ask for directions. (In Maine, the town of Vienna, Maine, is pronounced "Vi-anna" and Calais is "callous").

 

As someone who owns a 190 year old home, I have been a fan of the show for decades, but I feel the show is more about the love for historic buildings and how to treat them properly, than about the houses themselves. I don't feel the show has "made a spectacle" of the homes, and would respect the privacy of the owners, who may or may not be the ones who contracted with PBS to do the show.

 

If you are interested in historic architecture, the northeast is full of thousands of old homes that are preserved, renovated, and cared for just as well, or better, than the ones on This Old House. Nearly every little town in the Boston area has homes that date from the colonial era, and can be detected on your own while walking the town if you know the clues.

 

Boston is a beautiful walking city, chill out and enjoy.

Edited by chengkp75
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I also didn't see any "snarkiness" (is this a real word?) in Vida's posts. Vida provides a lot of great info re: Boston here.

 

I mean, get real. You start a thread looking for information from locals and then when they give it to you and you don't like what your hear for whatever reason all of a sudden people are "snarky"???:rolleyes:

 

Go online on your own, google all the info you need on the houses and then knock yourself out searching for them.:rolleyes: Have a fun day...............

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... the comments about getting a pronunciation dictionary....

Well, even Charlie Rose massacred the pronunciation of a certain Massachusetts town on national morning TV a week or so ago, and I'm sure I wasn't the only listener who winced. :-0

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Well, even Charlie Rose massacred the pronunciation of a certain Massachusetts town on national morning TV a week or so ago, and I'm sure I wasn't the only listener who winced. :-0

 

I hope it was Hyannis that he mispronounced. That can be funny.

 

Friends of mine bought a This Old House many years ago and had to build a high fence and put up No Trespassing signs to keep out the tourists.

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Just rereading this thread and it occurred to me that October is the month to do Salem or Concord. Salem is all decked out for Halloween and is accessible by T train from North Station. The House of the Seven Gables is a lovely "old house" destination. Concord would be most easily accessed by rental car and could include not only the Battle Trail, but also the Concord Museum, Alcott House, Emerson House, and Walden Pond.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you are visiting Boston in October and you will be here for "the day" then Salem would be great!!!

 

From the Boston Aquarium you can take a water shuttle straight to Salem Harbour...then walk salem and take in some historical sights then catch the water shuttle back to boston and a water taxi over to the cruise terminal.

 

The posters before me have the traditional Boston tone...it's the norm around here, and I get how you may have read "snarky" in it. Please understand that true Bostonians get teased and beat up all the time for our accent but then those same people come to our region just to butcher our towns names. Pronunciation is the key to a happy vacation in many parts of the world, not just Boston.

 

As far as driving by peoples homes, please reconsider, they do live there with their families, they did not buy the house in hopes to have to entertain tourists. Besides the fact they are not labeled as This Old House homes, nor are they on a register anywhere to find. A cab will look at you like you have 5 heads if you ask BTW...

 

Boston has so much more to offer, just ask we can help you plan something you haven't yet done....

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