[MassHistPres] Request for quotations to complete NR nomination Hancock Village

[Greer Hardwicke]

Please see the attachment for full request and deadlines.

Proposals due February 13, 2015





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Request for Quotations

for

Consultant Services to complete

A National Register Nomination

for Hancock Village in Brookline and Boston


The Department of Planning and Community Development is seeking quotes to complete a National Register (NR) nomination for Hancock Village, a residential complex located in the Town of Brookline and the City of Boston.

Background
The first and largest garden village housing development in Brookline, Hancock Village (1946-1949) stands as testimony to an extraordinary collaboration amongst the Town of Brookline, the City of Boston and the Boston-based John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company to provide both housing and employment for returning World War II veterans.  The housing complex represents an important convergence of garden city planning ideals, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) housing principles and practices of the 1930s and 1940s and the newly allowed ability of insurance companies to own and develop real estate.  Several nationally-prominent designers and firms were involved in the project, among them project manager Gustave Ring, architect Louis Justement, Olmsted Associates, and the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company as well as the Town of Brookline and the City of Boston.
The garden village development, which straddles the Brookline-Boston line, consists of 789 two-story attached town houses in superblocks interspersed with open lawns and access roads, the majority of which are located in Brookline.  A shopping center complex, developed at the same time as the housing complex, is located entirely in Boston.

Hancock Village was a post-war continuation of the housing development formula established by FHA for insurance-mortgaged properties. Two of the men involved had deep roots in Washington, D.C.:  Gustave Ring, developer of Colonial Village and Arlington Village garden apartment complexes, both in Arlington, Virginia and both NR-listed; and Louis Justement, a prominent architect specializing in the design of apartment housing and author of New Cities for Old.  Ring's complexes in Virginia had established the model for rental apartment-garden village apartments starting in the 1930s.  Justement's firm, Justement & Koening, worked on many large-scale residential projects around the country and he served as chair of the AIA's Committee on Urban Planning from 1946 to 1949.

The development of Hancock Village reflects the new method of real estate financing after WWII. Previously, insurance companies were restricted from owning real estate, but after changes in state legislatures across the country, insurance companies became involved in large-scale development. Hancock Village is the earliest documented project of its kind in Massachusetts. It also represents Brookline and Boston's commitment and the Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company's investment to accommodate returning WWII veterans in a new and welcoming housing development.

Retaining a high-degree of integrity of  location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, the Hancock Village Area meets Criteria A, B and C of the National Register at the state (if not national) level.  The development also included a shopping center built between 1948 and 1949. The commercial complex has been extensively remodeled and does not retain a high degree of architectural integrity.

Project Information
Consulting services are being sought to complete a National Register nomination form for the Hancock Village property(in both Boston and Brookline) for submission to the Massachusetts Historical Commission and ultimately to the National Park Service.

Preservation staff within the Department has already accumulated a significant amount of information and data, which is identified in the attached Schedule A.  Along with favorable Certified Local Government decisions issued by both the Town of Brookline and the City of Boston, inventory forms have been completed.  Further, staff has conducted - extensive preliminary research and will provide the Consultant access to its files, including - copies of letters and memoranda from the Olmsted office as well as digitized photos plans from the Olmsted files.  The Planning Department also has information on the role of insurance companies in real estate and veteran housing development together with a list of veterans' housing in the United States and biographical information for Gustave Ring and Luis Justement.

Preservation staff will be available to provide additional background information on Hancock Village, explain the existing documentation, and respond to basic questions.  However, it should be understood that the Consultant shall be responsible for preparing the application.

Deadline
The aforementioned deliverables must be submitted to the Planning Department within twelve (12) weeks of the notice to proceed.

Submission to Planning Department
Interested respondents shall submit a response which includes:


1.     Identification of the personnel to be assigned to the project; fully burdened hourly rate(s), and, if more than one person, the specific tasks that each person shall be assigned and the hours per task.

2.     Total cost of staff time.  Please note that the total cost should reflect the fact that an extensive amount of work has already been conducted.

3.     Total reimbursable costs

4.     A total cost

5.     Commitment to complete the work in 8 weeks from the notice to proceed.

6.     Include experience in preparing a complete National Register application

7.     An estimated amount of time that will be required of staff

Responses are due by noon on February 13, 2015 to:

            Greer Hardwicke, Preservation Planner
            Brookline Department of Planning and Community Development
333 Washington Street
            Brookline, MA 02445
            ghardwicke at brooklinema.gov<mailto:ghardwicke at brooklinema.gov>

Responses may be submitted electronically.

Questions may be directed to Greer Hardwicke, by e-mail or at 627-730-2089.

The Town of Brookline reserves the right not to reject all responses.
in the existing documentation, and respond to basic questions.  However, it should be understood that the Consultant shall be responsible for preparing the application.















Greer Hardwicke, Preservation Planner
Office of Planning and Community Development
Town of Brookline
333 Washington Street
Brookline,  MA  02445
(617) 730-2089
ghardwicke at brooklinema.gov

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