Preserving and Reusing Boston's Architectural Infrastructure

"We don't usually think of infrastructure as architecture. But in Brighton at the edge of the Chestnut Hill reservoir, back in the 1880s and '90s, our forbears created two of the city's remarkable buildings for the sole purpose of pumping water. They cared that much about the quality of the civic world."

"So there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that you can't imagine us building this kind of building so well today. The good news is that at least we've got enough sense to preserve what we have. Chestnut Hill is today returning to life and use after a commendable restoration."

"The two pumping stations - sometimes collectively known, as in the game of Monopoly, as the Water Works - have been converted into condo apartments. Architect Graham Gund, working with developer Edward Fish, has created spacious units, many of which look through the original great arched windows out over the reservoir park."

"The most dramatic of the interior spaces won't be condos, though. They have been saved to become a museum of the old Boston world of steam and water. A private group, calling itself Metropolitan WaterWorks Museum Inc., hopes to open the museum by the end of 2009."