“It’s curious how a development acquires a new name in its transformation from a manufactory to a residential address. For the handsome block-long building between Wareham and Malden streets on Albany Street, Cresset Development has focused on a time when the South End was emerging, just as it is seeing a rejuvenation today by new residential and commercial development, further enhanced by a vibrant arts community.
By the mid-19th century, land in the South End had been reclaimed east of Harrison Avenue from the tidewaters, and railroads crisscrossed the city. Row houses and factories began dotting the new streets. And so the building’s name is the 1850, described in its marketing material as “history with an attitude.”
The five-story brick building had housed the Allied Bolt & Screw Company for more than 40 years until it relocated to Canton six years ago, and from the late 1880s to 1926, the Everett Piano Company produced fine musical instruments on this site. John Phillips Souza was among its clients. In between, it was a warehouse.”