By Marie Szaniszlo
The Boston Herald
BOSTON — A gentle “pack rat” who stuffed his Back Bay brownstone with mounds of clutter had his home condemned yesterday a day after firefighters couldn’t get inside to investigate an oil leak.
The owner, 73-year-old Herbert Hamilton, had to crawl through the debris Monday and out the back door of 32 St. Stephens St., a block from Symphony Hall, authorities said.
“He’s a nice guy, but he’s a pack rat,” said Jeff Maccora, a 27-year-old neighbor, pointing to a mound of debris behind Hamilton’s building, including an old Volkswagen covered by a brown tarp and surrounded by plastic cat-litter cartons. “It’s an eyesore, but it’s his property. I don’t know what you can do.”
Firefighters responding to an oil leak shortly after 6:30 p.m. Monday decided to force their way into the building when no one answered the door or the phone, police said. But they were stopped by stacks of debris behind the door.
Firefighters went to the rear of the building, where the debris reached nearly to the top of the first floor of the three-story building. After opening the back door, they were able to shout to Hamilton inside, police said, and he emerged by “crawling through debris and then out the back door.”
“Apparently, he comes out about once a month, stacks the boxes outside his home when he goes out and puts them back inside when he returns,” said Steven O’Donnell, director of community outreach at the Boston Inspectional Services Department. “I understand his health is OK; he’s just a bit embarassed about the situation.”
Police said Hamilton was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation and could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Inspectors hope to get inside the house today to determine if there is an oil leak, O’Donnell said. A condemnation hearing is scheduled for March 9.
Brynja Valdimarsdottir, who lives two doors down from Hamilton, said he had “at least seven” outdoor cats.
“They’re always in the trees,” she said. “The first time I saw them, I thought, ‘Are those monkeys?’”
Douglas Quill, a 21-year-old Northeastern University student, described Hamilton as a “very sane, very gentle man” he first saw “on the steps one day, cleaning out a mountain of junk.”
“He gave me a stainless-steel light, and we got to talking about photography,” Quill said. “He’s lived in the area longer than most of these college students. I think he deserves to be treated fairly.”
Copyright 2010 Boston Herald Inc.