Gentrifying fire traps

"Triple Decker'' (porcelain, glaze, underglaze, oxide wash), by KEVIN SNIPES, in the show "Human Moments: Ann Agee, Sana Musasama, Annabeth Rosen,  Sally Saul, A&A and Kevin Snipes'' at Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, on March 21-April 25.

Of course, in this part of the country when we hear of "##triple-decker'' we think of those wooden, three-story, firetrap buildings in poorer sections of our cities and smaller mill towns. Back in the day when more people used space heaters, they often went up in flames, with death and injuries resulting. (I well remember the news reports of such fires virtually daily in the winter on WBZ radio, in Boston.)

The surviving three-deckers remain ugly, but in some gentrifying neighborhoods, especially in Boston, Yuppies have moved into them.

-- Robert Whitcomb