VILLA MICHELANGELO

Built 1919 Renovated 2001

1 Michelangelo Street, Boston, MA

Residential: 71 Units of Elderly Housing For The Frail Elderly
Commercial: Freedom Trail Visitor Center
Owner: VILLA MICHELANGELO, INC.
Financing: HUD grant
Property Management: Metro Management Company

Property Manager: Carol Santoro

Phone : (617) 723-9595 Fax : (617) 723-9994

Villa Michelangelo is a smoke free building.

This property consists of 71 units for low income elderly residents with commercial space for the North End Health Center, Action for Boston Community Development and the Freedom Trail Visitor Center.

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

Adjacent to historic Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, the Michelangelo School, built in 1919, had been vacant since the late 1980s. The city conveyed the Georgian Revival school building to the newly formed Villa Michelangelo, Inc., in August 1999, for conversion into 71 units of housing for the frail elderly.

The project was a joint venture of Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., East Boston Community Development Corporation, Inc., and North End Community Health Committee, Inc. Villa Michelangelo budgeted more than $7.7 million for the housing conversion project, $5.5 million of which came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUCD 202 program for elderly housing, with additional funding from city and state HOME funds. The Massachusetts Historical Commission awarded the project a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund for masonry and window repair.

Villa Michelangelo allocated space in the school’s assembly hall annex for use as the Freedom Trail Visitor Center, which includes a visitor information desk, a display on the history of the North End, and public restrooms. Development and operation of the visitor center was a collaboration among several public and private non-profit historical and tourism organizations.