By Anqi Zhang

Just returning from her bike tour dealing with a dispute over a historic house in Spring Hill, Somerville, with a large 18-foot, 12-panel, stained glass window, Brandon Wilson was short of breath while speaking on the phone with The Somerville Times.

As Executive Director of the Somerville Historical Preservation Commission (SHPC), Wilson resonated with residents who were upset when they were informed that the developer who bought the house, located on Benton Rd., decided to remove the stained window for the new layout.

The “gorgeous” window belongs to the whole neighborhood, and residents are making efforts to save it, not only for themselves, but also for future generations, Wilson said. To maintain such preservation consciousness towards historic properties circulated and passed on, Wilson and the SHPC staff remain committed to their missions daily, “protecting historic properties, collecting photos and documents, and raising awareness of Somerville’s history as a community.”

Despite the various activities and education events that have been canceled since the pandemic, Wilson came up with an idea aiming to reach out to Somerville residents of all ages, integrating historic resources into their life. This is the “I Spy Somerville” series, a campaign encouraging residents to discover things that they may have otherwise neglected in their neighborhoods – those historical and beautiful objects and properties.

Every week or so, Wilson releases a theme through SHPC’s media accounts, on Instagram and Facebook, and their newsletters. Participants take reference from example photos, begin their searching, and submit photos with basic background information. The winners get the honor to have their works shown on SHPC’s media platforms.

When thinking about the themes of the challenges, Wilson tried to highlight things that have existed in the city for more than 30 years, or 50 years in some cases. Past themes included finding vintage oddities or curios from the past in Somerville, long-standing businesses and historically designated properties.

As a direct outcome of the pandemic, Wilson hopes that the campaign could give people a focus and add some fun while they are strolling or biking around the community, while breathing fresh air outside. Trying to attract participants of all ages, the campaign also encourages senior citizens who have to stay at home to do online searching and submit photos.

Having received the photos from participants, SHPC is consolidating a digital interactive map labeling all the interesting and historical objects from “I Spy Somerville” entries. With the ongoing digital map, Somerville residents “can visit and/or learn more about the features identified by their fellow residents,” according to SHPC’s newsletter.

“I grew up in New York City, and I love New York and such,” Wilson said. “But it wasn’t until I left New York that I began to appreciate things about the city that I had not paid any attention to before.” Thanks to a book called Beyond the Neck: The Architecture and Development of Somerville, Massachusetts, she started to see things she was not aware of in her twenties.

Those old buildings in Somerville have character, Wilson stated. The architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries had a lot more details, craftsmanship, and variety. You can hardly see those on buildings nowadays, except for very expensive ones, Wilson said.  

Changes and discoveries are good, but “you also need some kind of grounding. You need to feel as if the sand is not totally shifting below you,” Wilson said. “I think people appreciate having some things that they can just count on being there.” No matter if it’s trees, houses or memorable structures, under those historic objects that the city develops and evolves, in the meantime maintaining its originality, she said.

“Some people think of historic preservation as something that’s just for people that have a lot of extra time and money. And that’s really unfortunate because that’s really not what it’s all about,” Wilson said. “You can do preservation in protecting resources regardless of how much money you have.”

Mystic Water Works in Somerville is nominated by the 2020 Preservation Awards held by Preservation Massachusetts. SHPC encourages readers to vote for the historic building, which is a stellar example of a re-use project converting an early 20th-century structure to the provision of critical affordable and ADA-accessible housing for senior citizens. Voting will close at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. Cast your vote here.