On Saturday Oct. 3, a full crowd of residents, officials, and community representatives gathered on the front lawn of the Phillips Brooks Memorial Reading Room (12 Hamilton St.) – a long-shuttered neighborhood landmark close by Wolcott Square in the Readville section of Hyde Park.

They were there to mark its deed transfer (which had taken place the day before) from Blue Hill Community Church (BHCC) to Historic Boston Inc. (HBI), and the start of a new chapter for it.

The single-story wood frame structure had been conveyed by Ellen F. Stetson to the Blue Hill Evangelical Society (which had its chapel on the neighboring lot) in July of 1897 for $1, with a deed restriction that the premises be maintained as “a free and public reading room and library.”

The building went on to serve as a branch of the Hyde Park Public Library, and then Boston Public Library (BPL) until 1956, after which it was made available for other public uses. In 1991, the Evangelical Society sold it – along with its chapel (215 Neponset Valley Pkwy.) – to Blue Hill Community Church (BHCC).

The building fell into disrepair, and in 2022 BHCC proposed tearing it down and replacing it with a six-unit apartment building. It required zoning relief, there was a community review process, the deed was researched by abutters, and Stetson’s restriction was discovered.

This pushed open the door to everything that would lead up to the Oct. 3 ceremony.

It started off with overtures to public officials, including an unanswered request to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) for its advisory opinion of agreement with the restriction. The Hyde Park Historical Society (HPHS) – having been made aware of the situation – also unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with the BHCC to engineer a transfer of the property.

However, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services did decide to pause the project until the deed was clarified, which led BHCC to file in Land Court for relief from the restriction, and the abutters to counter file for its enforcement. The court, in turn, referred the matter – deemed a public benefit donation – to the AGO, which determined that it was, in fact, enforceable.

At that time, the HPHS also brought what was happening with the reading room to the attention of Historic Boston Inc., and the non-profit – which specializes in redeveloping at-risk historic buildings to benefit their neighborhoods – offered to assist once the deed issue was resolved.

HBI then reached out to BHCC, and much of the subsequent negotiation/coordination involved aligning not only what the church wanted, but what the neighborhood wanted, what the AGO (which would sign off on any transaction) would allow, and what the HBI Board would approve.

Last year, HBI also applied for CPA funding. It received $500,000 in August and added $85,000 of its own to purchase the reading room from BHCC. The AGO-approved sale closed on Oct. 2.

BHI’s immediate goal is to prevent further damage to the building, and it has been raising funds to replace the roof, restore the windows, and repair the front steps before the winter. Its ultimate goal is to find an appropriate use and tenant for it, and to eventually transfer ownership.

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“It has to be something that supports the community in keeping with the original Ellen Stetson restriction,” HBI Director of Real Estate Development Tony Lopes said of how it could be used. “What do we see in a public library today? We see community events. We see gatherings. We see workshops, classrooms, things along those lines. We see kids with programs. So, if it mirrors something that we see in a public library today, it would be within this restriction.”

Lopes noted that determining a use and tenant for the reading room would be community driven, and that any input would be tempered with what is financially feasible and sustainable. He added that a typical HBI redevelopment project can run five years or more, depending on the situation.

During the pre-ceremony open house, the interested and curious wandered up to and through the open front door to be greeted by a strong musty odor, water-stained walls, a damaged ceiling, and the main room’s fireplace and now empty bookshelves, which hinted at the reading room’s “good bones” – words that were murmured by more than a few as they passed through.

“You always had in the back of your mind what was going to happen to it because of the historical significance of it, and how much it played a role for the kids, as well as the parents who grew up in this area – how much of an influence it was,” lifelong Phillips Brooks area resident and former patron Dave Rea mused as he stood in the vestibule – likely for the first time since the building was a branch of the BPL – and envisioned things as he remembered them.

The crowd assembled soon thereafter, and key participants stepped to the podium: BHCC Pastor Johnson Samuel led the group in prayer, District 5 City Councilor Enrique Pepén (who had paused the proposed development as ONS Director and then, as City Councilor, chaired the Community Preservation Committee that cleared the money for the sale) made remarks, and Frank O’Brien (a community advisor/actor in every aspect of the process) displayed the deed.

HPHS President Mimi Turchinetz (who had made HBI aware of the reading room) hosted the ceremony and singled out someone in the crowd. After attending that first community meeting, Jacqueline Jones had looked up the deed, discovered the restriction, and followed up. “If she had not done that, we would not be here,” Turchinetz said, referring to Jones as “the catalyst.”

As the event wound down, Jones shared her thoughts. “I am so pleased with where we find ourselves. I know that we have a lot of work to do. This building is a mess, but it has potential to be what Ellen Stetson envisioned for the future. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to maintain that over the years, but I think we’re at a place where we can do it, but we need support.”

For information, or to offer input regarding the Phillips Brooks Memorial Reading Room, contact the Hyde Park Historical Society (www.hydeparkhistoricalsociety.org, or leave a note at the front desk of the Hyde Park Library) or Historic Boston Inc. (www.historicboston.org).