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Three-alarm fire destroys controversial Brookline house, sends smoke across region
By adamg on Fri, 07/26/2013 - 10:13pm
House ablaze. Photo by Brookline PD.
71 Spooner Rd.
The house - and the neighboring and older 81 Spooner - had been tied up in litigation for years, with neighbors fighting plans by its owner to carve a new lot out of the property. It reached the Supreme Judicial Court in 2008 and 2011. See the comments for more.
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Comments
Site of contentious litigation
This address has been in the courts for about eight years now. Twice it's gone to the SJC, more recently on a challenge by abutters to its subdivision and development. Here's that one.
Looks like the neighbors on either side are a mother and son who weren't happy with #81's plans to subdivide and sell new lot #71 to a developer. They've been suing for zoning violations because the subdivision created too much density (edit: arguably, of course). Also looks like some other abutters were upset as well...there's still a live action in the Land Court.
Here's hoping all parties are safe and sound enough to have a chuckle at their own expense for the legal bills they must have incurred in eight years.
Property in litigation for 8
Property in litigation for 8 years and is unoccupied bursts into flames...house is no longer standing as of tonight, but I have a feeling there will be more court appearances.
On-Scene At Spooner Rd.
This is right down the street from us (prob. about 500 yards as the crow flies). Heard BrFD saying flames were at least 50-60 feet, and my neighbor reported seeing embers as near as two houses down from us (the houses are very close together around here). I saw engine companies from Brookline, Boston, Newton and Cambridge. Brookline Tower 1 was still raining a lot of water on the scene as of about 30 mins ago - I also saw a Boston tower unit.
FDs were fighting the fire from both Spooner Rd. and Crafts Rd. - someone had a really large fire truck in their driveway on Crafts.
All of what the poster above said is, so far as I know, correct. I would add only that if you look up the names of the parties involved in the litigation, you will recognize them and realize that money is not one of their concerns.
This house has, to my knowledge, never been occupied because of the above-described litigation. It had (obviously) fallen in to bad shape, and was an eyesore that was detested by everyone in the neighborhood. Few will be upset to see it gone (it appeared to have almost if not fully collapsed) - almost all would be surprised to find out this was an accident. I'm thinking that this has not been lost on the officials, as I saw at least two unmarked state police cruisers on the surrounding streets, which struck me as quite unusual for a local house fire in a town that has very substantial police resources.
Sorry that I was not able to get any pics - the smoke was too heavy and that particular area is heavily wooded notwithstanding the building density. There was also just too much fire apparatus and when I got close enough to see what was left, the police had begun shooing people away.
So, yeah
Didn't want to say it myself -- not really my neck of the woods, and also not where you'd expect a cut-and-run insurance fire -- but yeah, sure makes sense that they'd investigate it.
Thanks for the background, guys!
Added links to two of the SJC decisions on the house.
It would not surprise me a
It would not surprise me a bit if this is not about insurance, but rather, is just about making the house disappear. We're talking about a street where every house goes for well, well over a million dollars, in a neighborhood where very well-known, wealthy, but (mostly) low profile people live.
For reference, the globe reported today on Theo Epstein's house (ok, he's not really low profile) going on the market for $3.65 M - that house is about 200 yards away on the next street. He is not nearly the wealthiest or best known person around here.
I heard the live feed on the
I heard the live feed on the Brookline Police scanner when the fire started, and they were looking for a 6'4" man with no shirt running from the vicinity, based from a witness account. That may explain all the police cars blocking every perimeter and officers looking all around for someone. This morning (about 6:00AM) the investigators found a sweatshirt nearby the house.
Fire location
Last night I was working at my workshop near broadway station. I could smell the fire all the way over there. The southie fire crew even sent out a truck to see if something was burning near the T. The smoke was so strong is smelled like my building was the one burning.
Something tells me this will
Something tells me this will be investigated more quickly than the recent obvious arson fires in Somerville that officials keep telling us not to worry about.
Looks like it was a beautiful
Looks like it was a beautiful house. The Brookline Assessor's Office has a photo of it ( http://apps.brooklinema.gov/assessors/propertydeta... if that link doesn't work, you can go to the Assessor's database and type in the address: http://apps.brooklinema.gov/assessors/propertylook... ).
Built in 1900. 10 rooms (including 6 bedrooms) wit 5 bathroom. Despite it being an eyesore (according to the neighbors, it was assessed as being in good condition).
10,000 sq ft of land. Split into 2 lots of 5,000 each, that does change the density (speaking as someone living in a neighborhood of 5,000 sq ft lots)
The Tab points out that it's
The Tab points out that it's actually 71 Spooner.
81 Spooner is not the house that burned
It was the house on 71 Spooner that burned down. It was built in 2005.
Thanks, fixed
Same legal issues, though, since it's the newer house the owners of 81 built.