FORGING A NEW IDENTITY FOR THE BEEHIVE

Author(s):    Robert Preer, GLOBE CORRESPONDENT Date: April 6, 2003 Page: 4 Section: City Weekly

 

For 65 years, the giant beehive-shaped brick kiln on Victory Road was the heart of Dorchester Pottery Works, producing untold numbers of jars, flower pots, and fine tableware considered collectibles today.

 

Idle since 1979, the kiln last Tuesday evening was re-born as - of all things - an art gallery. The building's new owner, Bay Cove Human Services, considers it an experiment and is open to other ideas from the neighborhood.

 

"Our mission is not the arts, it is helping little children," said Bay Cove president Stan Connors. "But we feel like we are a part of the Dorchester community. We would like to figure out a way to make the kiln a part of the community and to show it off."

 

Bay Cove, one of Boston's largest social service providers, purchased the kiln - one of only four beehive kilns still standing in the United States - and an attached warehouse four years ago. After renovation, the warehouse is now a preschool and offices.

 

Seven works donated by the Dorchester Arts Collaborative, plus a collection of pottery produced by the kiln over the years, were set around the outside of the solid brick structure, which is 10 feet high and 22 feet in diameter.

 

Invited guests, including residents of the surrounding Clam Point neighborhood, as well as local history buffs and arts enthusiasts, walked around and through the kiln, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

"It looks interesting - the paintings against the rough industrial background," said Rosanne Foley, president of the Dorchester Arts Collaborative's board of directors. "The lighting is amazing."

George Henderson, a potter from New Haven, founded Dorchester Pottery Works in 1895.

He chose the site, just off present-day Morrissey Boulevard near Linda Mae's restaurant, because of its proximity to the Old Colony Railroad, which carried raw materials in and finished products out.

 

The Pottery Works was perhaps best known for its hand-decorated cobalt-blue-on-grayish-white dinnerware decorated with scrolls, grapes, and blueberries. The pottery is highly prized today.

The business closed in 1979, after a fire swept through the complex. It was partly repaired but then left vacant and eventually became a gathering place for youths.

 

"Every window in the warehouse and the kiln was broken," said Connors. "The kids used them for target practice. Pigeons lived in the building."

 

Meanwhile, the Clam Point Civic Association stepped in to try to save the kiln. The group failed in its efforts to raise enough money to purchase the structure, but it did succeed in persuading the City of Boston to declare it a historic landmark, which prevented a developer from leveling the kiln.

 

In the late 1990s, Bay Cove Human Services was straining in its Fields Corner location and looking for new space. It raised $3.2 million for the warehouse/kiln renovation.

 

Connors said the agency is still considering the future of the kiln and welcomes suggestions from community organizations. "It seems to lend itself to gallery space or an arts function of some kind," he said.