One of Boston’s most outspoken advocates for the region’s historic buildings, Matthew Dickey has been a familiar face for years. His Instagram, @streetscapecurator, is a testament to storytelling-as-a-public service done right. And it’s so much fun. His visit to the Boiler Room for a longer conversation led to Matthew’s own story of his upbringing just off of Route 66 near St. Louis and how the “Americana” curios associated with it helped form his fascination with architecture. Along the way, the subject of how to properly order a sub was broached, along with “album-side” listening, preservation, and then a deep, deep dive in what’s been happening architecturally in both JP and greater Boston.

After attending the November 2025 B/A/D Talk, we were curious about its origin story. So we invited Paul Reidt (President) and Karla Monkevich (CEO) of Kochman Reidt + Haigh Cabinetmakers to join us in the Boiler Room to tell us more about this long-form discussion series, including the power of drawing, storytelling, travel, bliss—there was so much!

B/A/D Talks (Building, Architecture and Design) are the first of their kind in the Boston build-design community, established back in 2014. 

For a boombox or mixtape story, Karla gave us the Desert Island Music Collection, which is music to listen to if stuck on a desert island, a list she’s been working on for years. Starting with Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “Mermaid Avenue,” the list also included Marvin Gaye, and then a series of "first" albums by the likes of Sinead, REM, and the Beastie Boys.

Paul’s music experience was extraordinarily exotic, as he shared the time he had to argue for music to be played, at all, in their mill shop. This ended up involving a consultant, interviews with many of their trade partners, staff, a psychologist, and a retreat to the Cape!

Iris Marcus, expert finisher and leader in the industry, stopped by the Boiler Room to talk shop and music. We’ve been fortunate to have worked with Iris over the years on numerous projects, with most recently, a preservation job salvaging painted treads original to a Beacon Hill brownstone, what we call the FLATS. The clients wanted stained wood matching their floors. We brought Iris in for woodgraining (“faux boix”) the treads, making them look like stained walnut. 

Iris also shared with us her origin story involving having to petition to study the trades in high school because “girls weren’t allowed to study the trades,” carving her own path to her career, close encounters with celebrities, as well as leaders in the industry, and so much more.

Of course, she also shared her boombox story, which was very much a story of music on job sites, the first time we actually covered music on sites! 

Clients Sarah and Josh Muncey were once new clients, starting ten years ago and since then have been ongoing clients as part of our estate care. Their home is featured on our website as the PARAGON. 

Sarah and Josh shared what it’s like being a KCB client, stretching all the way from before they bought the house, to the long middle of a complete renovation of an amazing historic home, to the sweet beautiful end.

Sarah is co-president and chief innovation officer of Neighborhood Villages, an early education and care nonprofit in Boston. Josh is a real estate agent with his own firm, The Muncey Group/Compass. They both are deeply committed to the community of Jamaica Plain, along with other causes that we love, including affordable childcare, stronger communities, and home ownership. We wanted to make sure that we got time to discuss The Welcome Home Fund, “a program that provides down payments for 1st generation homebuyers of color,” (taken from Josh’s website).

Sarah also shared her amazing boombox story, which included something we haven’t covered yet on the pod: the “fade out.” We already have Josh’s boombox story in a previous episode. 

Julie Murphy, expert seamstress and owner of Designer Draperies of Boston, sat on a panel with Kevin last May at the Luxury Home Design Summit titled, “Unfiltered Insights: What Works (and What Doesn’t) in B2B Outreach for High-End Design,” along with Taste Design’s Patti Watson and Dustin Hayes as moderator.

We had Julie into the Boiler Room to revisit the panel and to hear her origin story that led to Designer Draperies of Boston. Julie also shared with us her Boombox Story that transported us to a playground in Dorchester, where the main concerns had to do with having enough double-D batteries to make it through. We ended the sesh with a very cool “good news” share from Julie that made this episode unexpectedly great. 

Original Date of Panel at the Luxury Home Design Summit: May 21, 2025 | “Unfiltered Insights: What Works (and What Doesn’t) in B2B Outreach for High-End Design”

In our second installment of “AKA” or “Ask Kevin Anything,” Kevin fields three questions sent in by you! 

For this episode, Kevin talks about how social media posts have had an impact on what is considered “quality” work in carpentry. This led to a “hot take” involving priming.

Technology and AI was the subject of the next question, and this had to do with the construction schedule. 

Lastly, there’s a hiring crisis when it comes to the trades. Kevin reflects on how times have changed from 15 years ago to today when it comes to hiring carpenters. 

Do you have questions for Kevin? Head over to our Instagram, @cradockbuilders, and share your questions in our AKA form in the bio.

We're re-releasing an episode in which good friend and partner on numerous projects architect J. B. Clancy cited making his first mixtape as part of why he became an architect. OMD's album, "Architecture and Morality" also played an important role. Building science, beautiful design, and historic preservation also come up, as well as that moment where J.B. Clancy realized that he wanted to get to know Kevin better. Here's our original write-up:

Architect J.B. Clancy, of ART Architects, holds the record for guest spots on Boiler Room panels. Along with his work on the SUNFLOWER, an historic stick-style Victorian, J.B. shares a love of Jamaica Plain, the neighborhood in Boston that Kevin has called home most of his life. Cue: “The Renaissance of Jamaica Plain,” a panel discussion we put on during Design Week 2022. J.B. debuted “Setting the Stage: Jamaica Plain Architectural History” for this event. Since then he’s been fine-tuning his presentation, including expanding it to all of New England. This is one amazing episode, where we talk to J.B. about his original presentation and the architecture of Jamaica Plain and more. He also shared his mixtape story, which unexpectedly revealed the origins of his interest in becoming an architect. For anyone who finds music and the curation of playlists an important part of their lives, this will really hit hard. 

Original date of event: 4/26/22

Media partner: New England Home

We’ve started a new series, “AKA” or “Ask Kevin Anything.” And wow, did our listeners deliver! From Kevin’s most difficult issue concerning running a business and then the mantra Kevin uses during dark times to how Kevin goes about creating goals for the future, to a technical question involving external wall material, we had a nice range of subject matter for this first episode, along with many more questions we’ll address in future episodes. 

Follow the link in the bio for our AKA form if you have a question or would like Kevin to comment on something. 

While I haven’t been able to work with Interior Designer Georgia Zikas yet, she’s been a familiar face for years. At this past Luxury Home Design Summit, we bonded over a presentation involving what Summit presenter Seth Cohen calls “Applied Positivity.” Georgia approached us with coming on the pod to discuss this in more detail, especially with how Cohen employs “hope” as a design construct. We also brought up his approach to curiosity as “the most honest form of optimism.” 

Georgia’s origin story of how she became a designer allowed for us to explore further this topic in unexpected ways. Notebook culture—writing things down—creativity, and client questionnaires came up, along with so much more. We also got to Georgia’s music story, allowing us to travel back to classic rock on the Cape for bonfires on the beach, Bonnie Raitt, Air Supply, grunge—the list is long!

Original Presentation: “Designing With Purpose: The Power of Applied Optimism to Maintain Resilient, Visionary Businesses in Uncertain Times” by Seth Cohen | The Luxury Home Design Summit | May 20-22, 2025

On October 29th, we hosted the New England Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in a Boiler Room panel discussion titled, “Preservation vs. Performance: Renovation in the Modern Era.” 

Builders Stephen Payne of Payne | Bouchier and Nick Schiffer of NS Builders, along with Kevin as moderator, took part in a conversation that was so timely, with just the right amount of technical detail and controversy, that we’ve decided to devote an entire podcast episode to it. The audience participation was invaluable here. What an amazing night. We hope to capture more of these panels live so folks who missed them can tune in.

Special thanks to our sponsors: Boston Glass Group, Lavallee Systems, and US Green Insulation, along with our courtyard sponsor, a Blade of Grass. 

Original Presentation: “Preservation vs. Performance: Renovation in the Modern Era” | October 29, 2025