The structure at 2101 Winter Street was, according to its Facebook page, built in the 1920s. It was an industrial building of some sort. In 2005 it was converted into art studios with 75 art studios. Over the years, the area has been developed into a complex of artist studios in 14 buildings, which include former grain silos, now known as the Silos. It feels like a classic case of postmodern reuse of a place’s industrial past for a bourgeois present, which one can find in just about every city and town in America at this point. I used to live in such a creatively reused building in Easthampton, Ma. My home was formerly a factory for the Stanley Home Tools company. Massachusetts was full of factories and mills that got converted to other uses in the post-industrial period. Mass MoCA located in the massive former Sprague Electric Company facility is a weirdly typical example of this trend. I wrote about Pioneer Works in Brooklyn back in 2014—another post-industrial reuse for the sake of art. Winter Street fits squarely in this trend.
One thing about these building is that they are old, built before modern fire-proofing, and susceptible to various disasters that more modern buildings avoid via conforming to more modern building codes. This is not to say they aren’t retrofitted to be safer—they are. But Winter Street suffered a serious fire on Tuesday the 20th. It was pretty bad, but the building is still standing and is habitable.
The fire appears to have been arson aimed against the studio of photographer Jack Potts. He believes it was set by someone with a grudge against him. The suspect was identified by name in a Facebook post, but since no one has been charged, I won’t name names. Potts studio was devastated and he was not insured. He is in bad shape.
And there was smoke damage throughout the building. I went by to look at the damage on Thursday and could still smell the lingering smokey odor. Workers were present in hazmat suits cleaning up and running drying machines to deal with the water damage, presumably from the fire department’s pumps.
Many artist’s studios suffered smoke damage. There were exhibits on the first and second floor that were damaged. I don’t know how bad the damage was inside most artists’ studios. The HAA has set up an emergency relief fund for them. Among the artist who have studios in Winter Street are Cary Reeder, Vincent Fink, Kevin Peterson, Monica Vidal, and many others. Arts advocacy organization Fresh Arts has its headquarters there (I have a fond memory of attending a screening of Cocksucker Blues there).
A GoFundMe has been set up for Potts. According to the fundraiser, Potts’ gear was stolen and then the thief set the fire that destroyed his studio. Photo equipment is very expensive; I’m sure Potts needs the all the help that can be provided. Potts was quoted in the Houston Chronicle: "I've got enough to stay afloat for a month or two, but that's about it.”
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Hey Robert, thanks for writing this. My studio is upstairs on the east end of the building and I have smoke and soot damage to my work, supplies and equipment. I don't know the full extent of it as I was only able to pop into my studio briefly the day of the fire. Everyone sustained, at a minimum, smoke damage. Their is a steep learning curve for us, where do we even begin? From my standpoint, _everyone_ is going to have to completely empty their studios to allow crews to clean each individual studio. On my corridor, their is structural damage, not enough for the building to collapse but significant enough that some will have to vacate their studios. I don't know if mine is one that is "ok" to stay in or not but I am planning to move out for now. I love my studio and WSS but because I have health issues I don't feel comfortable staying in an old building that's been charred, clean up or not. I think the primary thing the artists need (aside from Jack Potts and two neighboring studios who lost everything) is temporary storage space that we can have our stuff moved to and begin the process of cleaning/remediating. Our landlord has offered a small space for storage, which is great, but I feel like we need a huge warehouse where we have room for this overwhelming process.
Also, we are required to have liability insurance on our studio spaces and many are learning that liability does not cover the contents of the studio. Thankfully I have an add on called "Inland Marine" that covers the contents up to a certain amount. I am _hoping_ that my work can be cleaned up and good as new. Time will tell.