"Going to make the greatest entrance to the greatest inner-city Italian community in the country." That was Frank DePasquale's promise to Boston.com last October about the Cross Street block he was rebuilding. The same story said he was on the construction site every day. It also described him paying for something else: the North End Historical Museum's new home on Prince Street.
A year later, one of those projects is open and the other is close. Walk Hanover Street from the Greenway to Prince Street and you pass both ends of a single person's investment in the neighborhood. At the bottom is a grey, modern building that has people arguing. Near the top is an 850-square-foot room telling four centuries of North End history. The same restaurateur sits behind each one, and that makes 2026 the year a private patron has shaped both how the North End remembers itself and how visitors first see it.
The Museum on "Little Prince"
The North End Historical Museum opened in July at 3 Prince St., on the short stretch between Hanover Street and North Square that the Boston Globe says locals call "Little Prince." WBZ NewsRadio reported on August 22 that the museum had been open for more than a month. The building sits right on the Freedom Trail, a few steps from the Paul Revere House, St. Leonard Church, and the Peace Garden.
The space used to be a gutted ground-floor condo. According to the Globe, all it had when DePasquale bought it was exposed brick and electrical wiring. Tom Damigella, president of the North End Historical Society, had wanted a permanent home for the neighborhood's history for years. "We've got the Paul Revere House, we've got the Old North Church, we've got history pieces here and there," he told the Globe. "But we're trying to put it all in one place."
The hard part was size. Damigella's own question was "how do you tell 400 years of stories in 850 square feet?" His answer was Trivium Interactive, the Boston design firm whose clients have included the Museum of Science. Because the room can't hold much, the museum relies on screens:
- Touchscreen timelines that run through the neighborhood's history
- A hands-on "Flavors of the North End" projection wall, pasta and cannoli included
- QR codes under the displays for visitors who want more detail
- Interactive photo exhibits on the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 and the Great Brink's Robbery of 1950
What matters most for a neighbor is the range of the story. Damigella told the Globe that the North End's history doesn't stop at 1776. Before the Italian families most visitors think of today, the neighborhood was home to Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants, and before them, Irish immigrants. If your family has been here for generations, or you moved in five years ago, this is the first place under one roof that tells all of those chapters together.
The Lease That Made It Possible
The arrangement behind the museum explains how this happened in 2026 and not some other year. DePasquale, owner of DePasquale Ventures, bought the Prince Street condo and gave the historical society a rent-free lease. He also paid for the initial buildout. The society was incorporated as a nonprofit in 2010, so the July opening came after roughly 16 years of trying.
DePasquale's own explanation goes back to where he started. He opened his first North End restaurant, Trattoria Il Panino, in 1987 with 20 seats, and he now owns more than a dozen. "It's my turn to give back to this neighborhood," he told Boston.com.
The Block at the Bottom of Hanover
Go back down Hanover to Cross Street and you reach the second project. The block at 60–80 Cross St., between Hanover and Salem facing the Rose Kennedy Greenway, was home to Martignetti Liquors for years. Universal Hub reported in November 2024 that DePasquale had bought it for $8 million.
The plans have changed as the project went along. When the Zoning Board of Appeal approved it in November 2024, the proposal included a cooking school run with a culinary institute in Italy, a two-story restaurant and cafe overlooking the Greenway, and Italian clothing and furniture stores. By October 2025, Boston.com listed different tenants. They were La Scuola, a culinary school partnered with Dolce & Salato in Maddaloni, Italy; a Neapolitan cafe; a jewelry store; a women's handbag and shoe store; a baby shoe store; and a travel agency. At the time, 14 culinary students were in Boston on six-month visas getting ready for the school to open. The proposal that went before the North End/Waterfront Residents' Association also included three apartments and roof decks. Treat all of these as plans. No tenant list or opening date had been confirmed in reporting as of early October.
The neighborhood process shaped what went up. The residents' association backed the amended proposal by a 16–8 vote at its September 2024 meeting at the Nazzaro Community Center. Residents of a neighboring condo building on Salem Street raised concerns about light, Greenway views, and fire-escape access. In response, DePasquale dropped a planned third floor. The zoning board then approved the project on the condition that architect Anthony Pisani work with the Boston Planning Department on the exterior. That included possibly adding design elements that better match the neighborhood's brick look to what was mostly a glass design.
The Facade Debate
On September 23, NBC Boston described the building as nearing completion. Its grey, contemporary exterior has drawn mixed reactions. Visitors the station interviewed called it "modern" and "an assault to the eyes." Others were happier with it. Anthony Radzikowski, owner of Ernesto's Pizza, said, "This building was an eyesore for years. And now, from block to block, it's beautiful." City Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy said projects like this one are "making the neighborhood better."
The zoning code pulls in two directions here. NBC pointed out that Article 54 calls for design that is compatible with the neighborhood's "façade treatments, building materials, and design," but the code also discourages new buildings that fake a historical look. DePasquale's only public response was that people should wait until the building is finished before judging it. NBC was still waiting for the city to say whether the building as built differs from the approved design.
The two projects make opposite bets. On Prince Street, an old brick room uses new technology to tell a long, mixed immigrant history. On Cross Street, a new modern building is meant to introduce the neighborhood's Italian present to everyone coming off the Greenway. Both come from the same benefactor, and both will shape how newcomers understand the North End before they reach a single cannoli counter.
What the Public Projects Are Doing Meanwhile
The private projects stand out because of how slowly the public ones are moving. The city's project page for Christopher Columbus Park and Long Wharf improvements still lists the work in the design phase, with completion "to be determined." The renovation of Langone Park and Puopolo Playground on Commercial Street is marked completed, with no new work scheduled. This year, the biggest changes to the neighborhood's public face came from a privately owned museum lease and a privately rebuilt block.
The Rest of the Fall on Hanover and Salem
The streets between the two DePasquale projects are changing too, at the usual North End pace.
- Pinsa Piazza is set to open November 1 at 210 Hanover St., the former Taranta space. Owner Charles Terrill told Boston.com it will serve Roman-style pinsa with a 72-hour fermented crust and specials like baked ziti. A breakfast concept, not yet named, will run from the same space, though not all day as earlier reports said.
- Tre Monte Restaurant and Bar at 76 Salem St. was reported closed on July 16. Its phone was disconnected and a real estate sign was in the window. The report couldn't confirm whether the closure is permanent.
- The outdoor dining season ends October 31. In 2024 and 2025 the city permitted compliant sidewalk patios in the North End but no on-street dining, and its 2026 program guide said it intended to keep those policies.
Before You Go to Prince Street
- Address: 3 Prince St., Boston, MA 02113
- Hours: Tuesday–Friday 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday 10:30 a.m.–7 p.m., Sunday 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Monday
- Admission: $10 for adults; $8 for seniors, military, and students with ID
- Parking: The museum says there's no on-street parking on either side of that section of Prince Street, so plan to walk.
The Saturday hours run until 7 p.m. That leaves time for a late-afternoon visit, then a walk down Hanover to see what Cross Street looks like with the scaffolding coming down.
The team at Moving Greater Boston keeps an eye on North End blocks like Cross Street and Little Prince as they change. If you'd like to know how a new building or a new neighbor affects your own street, get in touch, and we'll give you a straight local answer.
