Boston Mayor Thomas Menino recently visited the Women's Education Center at Rosie's Place, which Chapman is building next to the organization's South End headquarters.

The mayor, a long-time supporter of the sanctuary for poor and homeless women, toured what had been a derelict apartment house before Chapman gutted and transformed it with a new roof, windows, partitions, and finishes, as well as new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Each of its four floors now contains two classrooms, an office, and a bathroom. The mayor also inspected the foundation for the rear stair and elevator tower, which will connect the education center to the headquarters, and called out to the concrete formworkers below.

The Women's Education Center is Chapman’s third major project for Rosie's Place. In 1999 we built a 150-seat dining room and entrance lobby for its headquarters at 889 Harrison Avenue, and in 2006 we demolished a four-story townhouse at 47 Thorndike Street and replaced it with a building twice as large but identical in design for Rosie's staff and its Women's Craft Cooperative.

published 09.30.2009