" The Roxbury section of Boston and one of the oldest areas of the city dating back several hundred years in recent years Roxbury has gone through a period of serious neglect. As a result there are many architectural diamonds in the rough scattered throughout the neighborhood. Right now let's go on a walking tour of the area and take a look at some of these homes. The first house we want to look closely at is right next door to our little project on the corner and it's a wonderful example of late nineteenth century very important urban house. If you look at some of the features. Right along the street beside here. You'll notice that this was built with a lot of care. Probably architect designed probably somewhere between 1875. And 1890. And it has. That kind of accessories if you will that you would only find on a high class house that's siding to the original siding is. -- Probably a full dimensional. You know virgin lumber this is good wood. Thirty years of neglect no maintenance then you're down to bare wood but still solid and noticed that it was treated with what we call Corning courses. Again this is a feature that design wise goes back to the Georgian houses and would find the -- it. Whoever's going to restore it and there is this good news attached to this at least can put the front porch railing back on -- there's still a sample of the shape of the balusters quite an usual. There's a lot of work to be done here though and as I understand it this houses recently been bought by. I contracting firm that's doing a lot of business in this neighborhood and they're gonna restored and turn into professional offices this was the original front entry porch. Posts are gone but still you can see that ventilated cornice line above the porch. If you keep on going up top you'll see that some of the important parts like the -- in the planter kind of wobbling in fallen but is still salvageable as are so many of the houses in Roxbury. The last quarter of the nineteenth centuries well represented architecturally in blocks like this in the heart of Roxbury were prosperous Boston merchants work. Destined to build important houses for themselves like this kind of probably -- late 1870s. Very gothic influenced. House with its original slate roof in place. And of course much of the detailing in the bracket adding I mean look at those dormer look at all of the saw work that's been put into the into into the design of this. And if you look closely you can tell that all of the siding on this house's asphalt. Siding from the thirties and forties and made to represent break the good news is that this product preserve the original work that's underneath it. And if you look across the street a terrific example of what was clearly a shingle style house probably from the 1890s. I mean look at those gable end of the gam browse with the balcony said in and look at the gambrel. Over at the far end where you can. I underneath that society you still see some of the original shingle work is still in place. This was an elaborate piece of architecture that already starts to show you the change the shift in the neighborhood from single family grand residences. 22 family houses in this case -- probably been converted to perhaps as many as six families occupancy. At the beginning of the twentieth century Roxbury became popular working class community lots of Irish Jewish Italian family settling right here in the middle of town working jobs in the city they took over these gracious middle class victorians these colonial -- and shingle style house is with styling and details that on today's real estate market would make them charming sought after classics if it weren't for the degree of neglect."

" Roxbury we see today is a community finally on his way to recovery from a it was a pretty rough period through the 60s70s. And well into the eighties. Just in the last fifteen years and community development organizations have banded together with the city in a drive not just urban renewal but for residents driven renaissance and hold. What caused the decline is a pretty complex question. But starting in the fifties with the trend of the white middle class to flee the inner city into the suburbs of."

" Leaving a lot of urban real estate on the market boom the lower income African American Hispanic -- But misguided banking practices sixties -- a lot of new homeowners in this area and we have to default on their mortgages and abandon the property. Urban -- to. Bank's redlining area -- houses on an almost daily basis. And illegal dumping on vacant lots leaving the community vicious cycle of poverty and crime for more than two decades. The 1985. Houses like the Shirley eustis house of former colonial governor's mansion survived the wrecking ball of urban renewal next to a momentous agreement between the city of Boston and the -- is where."

" Neighborhood initiative residents galvanized themselves in an effort to keep the power in the neighborhood. Today they tackle problems like illegal dumping crime and urban decay a way of -- community elected committee. The number of Rex is becoming smaller each year is more and more people discover the advantages of restoring some of these final houses that are just a stone's throw from the center of town. The one behind me looks almost too far gone for hope but. Indeed there's somebody will come along brave enough to tackle it and it's available for the city just for a few dollars in back taxes. The good news here Iraq's very though is that there hasn't been a great deal of gentrification not too many people are being displaced by the renewal restoration of these homes."