Our Lady’s Guild House, a lodging house for single women in Fenway, is being renovated into an 86-unit affordable housing property, after years of rent increases and evictions.
The project is overseen by the Fenway Community Development Corporation and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, who bought the building in October 2023. The aim of the project is to rehabilitate the building and transform units into more attractive, livable spaces while keeping prices low, said Richard Giordano, senior advisor for special projects at Fenway CDC.
As part of the renovation, some rooms will be upgraded into bigger spaces, and kitchens and bathrooms will be added, Giordano said. This will reduce the total number of units from 140 to 86.
The renovations will also make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, in addition to replacing the entire electrical system and renovating the elevators, Giordano said.
Our Lady’s Guild House is historically female-only, but after renovations, it will let in non-women too in order to comply with anti-discrimination laws, he added.
“As a public charity run by nuns, [Guild House] was designed for women,” Giordano said. “We are sort of grandfathered under that use until we change the building. Once we do, we have to have it open to anybody.”
Giordano said construction will not begin before January 2026, as they still need certain approvals, permits and financing. He estimated renovations would not be done until mid-2027.
Before the current renovation efforts, the building’s management had been the subject of criticism.
About 14 years ago, the owners of Our Lady’s Guild House, known as the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, increased rent prices for residents, Giordano said. Management then began to force long-time residents out of the house and brought in students who could pay higher rents.
“There are, unfortunately, only a handful of original residents who are still there,” Giordano said. “We guarantee them permanently affordable for life housing.”
The Mayor’s Office of Housing helped fund Fenway CDC and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs’ purchase of Our Lady’s Guild House, Gretchen Kellogg, housing development officer at the MOH.
Despite designs for the renovation not being “solid,” the Mayor’s Office of Housing approved the funding on a basis of need for affordable housing, Kellogg said.
“From our perspective, what’s important is that we don’t lose affordability,” said Kellogg, adding that affordable housing is one of Mayor Michelle Wu’s priorities.
Kellogg said that although the numbers are not “final,” the building is expected to have units offered at a price of 30% and 60% of the average median income.
City Councilor At-Large Henry Santana wrote in a statement that renovating the building as affordable housing is a “vital step to maintaining the much-needed affordable housing stock in Boston.”
Santana wrote that affordable housing is necessary to foster “community stability” and allow people to “put down roots” and engage in local economies.
“Housing is a human right,” Santana wrote. “Without it, families often struggle to meet basic needs, leading to increased stress, poorer health outcomes, and diminished educational opportunities for their children.”
