By Reporter Staff
VietAID has filed plans to replace a single-family home at 190 Bowdoin St. between Dever and Olney streets with a 4-story, 33-unit apartment building in which all of the suites will be rented to people making no more than 60 percent of the Boston area median income.
The building will comprise mostly one-and two-bedroom units, but with 4 three-bedroom units, according to the filing by the non-profit group. Eight of the units would be rented to people making no more than 30 percent of the Boston area median income – with half set aside specifically for people coming off homelessness.
The rest would be split between tenants making either 50 or 60 percent of that level.
The filing with the Boston Planning Department calls for 12 parking spaces.
VietAID says it would call the building Hollins Park, in honor of the Hollins family, from whom it bought the house and its 0.4-acre site in 2024 for $1.2 million.
In addition to its own money, VietAID says it will use state and Boston housing funds, state low-income housing tax credits, and Section 8 and similar housing vouchers to help build and maintain the building. The non-profit already manages six mixed-income buildings in Dorchester.
The house to be razed dates to 1810, making it one of the oldest houses in Dorchester, but VietAID says that extensive renovations and additions over the decades means that very little of the original construction remains, although the Boston Landmarks Commission will have to decide whether the existing structure warrants landmark status.
“Subsequent alterations to the building include some fairly substantial renovations that have obscured much of the design, materials, workmanship, and feeling of the ca. 1830s iteration of the house. … The result is a building that has little remaining material from its early 19th century roots, despite being one of the oldest extant dwellings in the neighborhood.
The Dorchester Historic Society notes three additional known extant Federal era houses in the vicinity, at 150, 162, and 182 Bowdoin Street. All three exhibit major alterations – including potential recent fire damage at 182 Bowdoin – but may be better examples of early 19th century construction.
VietAID says the new building is designed to blend in with the surrounding architecture: “There is a strong presence of [three-deckers] in the neighborhood showing a mix of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival stylistic influences. The Project is designed to reflect and complement the patterns of height, siting, and architectural character of the surrounding residential structures and contribute to a cohesive community feel.”
