Last updated on December 8, 2025
As construction continued at the former site of Doyle’s, the remaining facade of the restaurant stood at the corner of Washington and Williams streets. The hope was that it could be incorporated into the new structure — but as construction progressed, it became apparent that keeping the remaining structure was not safe.
Lee Goodman of WaterMark Development said the remaining structure was on temporary shoring poles as the construction crews attempted to remove and replace the wall framing along Washington Street.
“However, as we got closer to the corner it became unsafe to work under. The engineer and the site crew expressed fear of the building collapsing or wind blowing the exterior walls over on to the sidewalk,” said Goodman. “Once this was explained to me, I felt we needed to remove the remaining 30-feet of walls at the corner of Williams and Washington to avoid anyone getting hurt.”
Goodman said that prior to any demolition, all remaining historical pieces were removed and documented by JP Architectural Salvage, and are being stored to be rebuilt or reinstalled.
The plan was always to selectively demolish the wall framing and rebuild the façade, and renderings of the new structure do not show the exact façade as was there and never did, said Goodman. The Boston Planning & Development Agency (now Boston Planning Department) approved the design being built.
Goodman provided more specifics about the project about the crews attempt to salvage the front corner exterior walls.
“The initial plan was to lower the entire floor system to make the building ADA compliant but keep the walls in place. However, during the Boston Water and Sewer approval process which happens post-[Planning Department] approval, we were required to transfer all load down beneath the Stony Brook culver – this required us to install a micropile and structural slab system along the Stony Brook culvert edge to protect the pipe which carries the underground brook. This required removing the entire back half of the building to get the rigs in.”
