Welcome to Torn Down Tuesday where we feature buildings in Cambridge that have been demolished. Today we highlight the building that once stood where the Fresh Pond Mall is located today: 541 Concord Ave, the Prest-O-Lite industrial complex.
Businessmen Carl Fisher, James Allison and P.C. Avery started Concentrated Acetelyene Company (later changed to Prest-O-Lite) in Indianapolis in 1906 with the plan to manufacture portable cylinders containing compressed acetylene.
The cylinders would allow drivers of motorcycles and automobiles to operate headlights on their vehicles via a sparking switch.
The company invented this technology before the use of electric lights, which were pioneered by Cadillac in 1912. In 1920, the Prest-O-Light Company obtained a permit to build a plant in Northwest Cambridge. The complex would include 13 buildings with the purpose of producing acetylene for use their line of products.
Bordered by Concord Ave and Alewife Brook Parkway, the site was originally marshland and later owned by the New England Brick Company. Construction for Prest-O-Lite was carried out by John T. Scully Co. builders, a company that had completed large projects for companies such as Simplex Wire & Cable Company and lumber dealer E. D. Sawyer. Like many industrial buildings of Northwest Cambridge from this period, the buildings were of an extended form and low scale.
North Cambridge was composed of prime agricultural land during the colonial period, while West Cambridge began as a swath of grazing land before evolving into a fringe industrial area during the 19th century. Up until the mid-twentieth century, much of the area was still composed of industrial or commercial properties.
Prest-O-Light operated in North Cambridge for over three decades without major incident. However, at 1:15pm on the day after Christmas 1952, an explosion of 200 gas cylinders rocked the neighborhood and shattered windows up to half a mile away. It was reported that the multi-colored flames rose 200 feet over the building and the ensuing smoke was visible from 20 miles away.
Just a few years after the massive fire, the Prest-O-Lite complex was razed in 1959 to make way for the Fresh Pond Shopping Center, which was developed in 1962. Check out our Instagram post to read more about the Fresh Pond Shopping Center!
Sources:
Krim, Arthur J. Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Report Five: Northwest Cambridge. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1977.
https://www.firstsuperspeedway.com/articles/prest-o-lite
https://www.firstsuperspeedway.com/sites/default/files/Prest-O-Lite.pdf
https://cambridgehistory.org/research/cars-in-cambridge-by-doug-brown/