Edgeworth Painters — Southwest Malden, Pearl St to Medford St

The City describes Edgeworth as the southwest section of Malden, home to Devir Park, Callahan Park and Macdonald Stadium, and the original home of Converse All-Star sneakers; the Converse Rubber Factory once ran at the bottom of Pearl Street. St. Rocco's Feast has been held there every August since 1929.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission's 1980 survey of Malden calls the opening of the Edgeworth district after the railroad arrived the major event of the city's early industrial years. With rail lines and a Malden River navigable to the town center, the area drew Boston Rubber Shoe Co. (1853), a chemical works, a flint-paper plant, the Edgeworth Tannery and a naval ordnance depot. By the time of that survey, little of the industrial corridor was left standing.

Housing filled in around and after the mills. The same report says much of the Edgeworth area southwest of the center was developed with modest 1920s two-family houses, with multi-family buildings extending along Medford Street. Census Tract 3412, which takes in Pearl, Presley and Medford streets and Highland Avenue, bears that out: 53.9% of its 2,855 units date to 1939 or earlier, the median year built is 1938, and two-unit buildings are the single largest category at 34.8%. Owners occupy 48.1% of homes, which means a little over half of households rent.

Two front doors, one exterior

A stacked two-family has two households but one set of walls, so siding, trim and porch work usually means agreeing on scope and color with whoever owns or lives in the other unit. If you own the whole building and rent one floor, plan exterior days so your tenant still has a way in and out.

Lead is the default assumption

In Tract 3412, 74.6% of homes were built before 1980, so original paint on a 1920s house should be treated as lead-containing until a test says otherwise. Federal rules require a certified firm and lead-safe methods when paid renovation work disturbs paint in pre-1978 homes, rental units included.

Repair before color

With a 1938 median year built, many houses here are close to a century old, and sills, porch floor boards and stair treads of that age can be soft. Paint will not hold on rotted wood, so finding those spots early tells you how much carpentry belongs in the scope before anyone picks a color.

A pocket of newer construction

The tract isn't all old: 467 units, or 16.4%, went up in the 1990s, and 11.0% of units sit in buildings of 50 or more. In buildings that size, hallways and exteriors are generally the responsibility of the owner or association rather than one resident.