South Weymouth Painters — Columbian Square, Pleasant Street & Columbian Street

Two individually listed National Register properties face the square. Old South Union Church at 25 Columbian Street stands at what its nomination calls the civic core of the village. The Fogg Library of 1897–98, a stone building with a green slate roof and limestone trim, was paid for by a $50,000 bequest from John S. Fogg, a Weymouth banker and shoe manufacturer, and its nomination describes Columbian Square as one of the most historically significant areas of the town.

We did not find a historic district or area survey covering the houses around the square, so this page sticks to what the census shows rather than describing streets it can't document.

Census Tract 4222.02, which takes in the square and nearby Pleasant Street, has 3,373 housing units. About one in five predates 1940, but 42.3% were built in the 1960s and 1970s combined, and 84.1% were built before 1980. Only 5.2% are from 2000 or later. Just over half are single-family detached houses, while 14.7% are in buildings of 10 to 19 units. For town-wide context, the master plan records that Weymouth added about 21,000 residents between 1945 and 1960 and that Route 3 opened through town in 1956.

Sorting out what's on a 1960s or '70s house

A house built in this period may still have its first-generation siding, trim and interior finishes, or a patchwork of later replacements. Before an exterior quote, it helps to know whether the walls are original wood, later vinyl or aluminum, or a mix, since only some of those surfaces get painted.

Lead is still a question before 1978

With 84% of the tract's homes built before 1980, a large number may carry paint layers applied before the 1978 federal ban on lead in residential paint. Testing tells you where it is, and lead-safe methods apply wherever painted surfaces are disturbed.

Mid-size multi-unit buildings

Buildings of 5 to 19 units make up 23.1% of the tract's housing. The census does not say which are rentals and which are condominiums, but in either case hallways, stairwells and exterior trim are controlled by the owner or the association, so that work is arranged through them rather than by individual residents.