Born Into Antiques

By Irka Perez

On the corner of Charles and Boylston street right in the heart of the city of Boston, there’s a quaint antique store called Bartevian Inc. A floor-to-ceiling display window with the words Bertevian Inc reveals an array of stuff, from clothes to jewelry, to old posters. If you look closely enough, you’ll see a woman sitting behind a counter surrounded by more things, 102-year-old Pat Bartevian. 

Bartevian owns the store and the building it’s located in. She used to manage it with her late sister, Priscilla. The store was opened by their father Robert Bartevian in 1910, only 10 years before the sisters were born. 

“My sister and I grew up in the store,” said Bartevian while she sat behind her usual spot behind the counter. She and Priscilla spent most of their childhood at the store with their father, so Bartevian has always been surrounded by antiques. “I grew up in this, to me it’s natural.” 

The people behind the counter

Before taking over the store, Pat and Priscilla lived and worked in Hollywood, where they were known as the Hickory sisters. “We’d go to different places and sing or dance, or act, or whatever [our manager] wanted us to do,” said Pat. 

Once their father was nearing the age of 104, the sisters left Hollywood and returned to Boston. “He said, ‘You know you girls had enough time playing, so you come home and take over the business’” said Pat.  

They returned to the store in the mid-1960s’, and looked after it as a team until Priscilla, unfortunately, passed away from cancer in 2006. However, Pat never had to do it alone thanks to Bob.

“Bob is very helpful, he watches out for me and if he sees that something needs to be done he tells me,” He is an artist and a longtime friend of Pat’s. 

“He was looking for a place that he could have as a studio, and I said ‘well why not come here?’ and so he came,” she said. Besides helping Pat around the store, Bob has his studio there. It’s located on the mezzanine floor inside the store, where he can work at peace but still be able to yell-talk with Pat if either of them needs anything. 

The Items

Inisde Bartvien Inc, in Every direction you look you’ll be met by at least 50 items piled next to each other. The high ceilings and mezzanine floor above make the store feel bigger. 

When you enter, there are four crystal counters shaped in an L form along the front and back walls of the store. Dog figurines, crystals, pentagram rings, and clutch bags fill each of the counters. 

Old t-shirts, vets, and scarves hang from one of the walls; mirrors and empty frames hang on another one. 

The items at Bartveian Inc aren’t your average donated and preloved items that make up most thrift and antique stores today. More than two-thirds of the things at the store are there on consignment and belong to people, mostly elders, who cannot afford food or medication. 

“They bring things here and I sell ‘em for them and they’re able to get money which they need you to know to buy their things,” said Pat. 

“I ask them what they wanna bring and if it’s something I don’t think I can sell I tell them ‘don’t bring it’,” said Pat. Although she loves helping people by selling their things, she can’t always accept everything.

With all items being on display, she sometimes has to turn items away. “One guy wanted to bring a sofa and I said ‘well I haven’t the location for it, there’s no place to put it, i'd be happy to sell it for you but where am I gonna put it’.” 

She keeps everything carefully cataloged, “I tag all the pieces so I know who it belongs to.  They put the prices, I don’t. And I don’t take a commission because we’re a non-profit.” 

As for the other third of the items, they’re crafts that are either specially made to help the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation or sold by people who use the money to help someone else.

In 2015, Bartevian Inc partnered with the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation in order to advocate for some sort of memorial honoring the iconic poet. The community outreach resulted in the installation of the Poe statue located just a few feet from Bartevian Inc. 

The foundation has since moved its headquarters to the building and Pat now sells Poe memorabilia. The proceeds from the sales go towards the upkeep of the Poe statue.

When it comes to people helping people, it’s all about the Russian Dolls. Along the wall in the middle section of the store, there’s a white bookshelf with three shelves dedicated to a collection of colorful Russian Dolls. “They belong to Russian people, they take the money back to Ukraine,” said Pat. 

Living with Antiques

“This is my living room, everybody comes to visit me here,” said Pat. Although she doesn’t have any remaining family, she has a lot of friends who visit her regularly at the store. “They come in to see how I’m doing, see the store, you know, to see if I need anything,” said Pat. 

Even when she’s not at the store, she’s still surrounded by antiques, “My house is full of this stuff,” said Pat. She’s always had an appreciation for old items, “They don’t make things to last anymore,” said Pat.  

A lot of the items have been at Barrtvian Inc for a while, and some have been there for years, but when asked what the oldest item in the store was, Pat quickly answered, “Me!,” followed by a laugh. 

Everyone one of the items brings her happiness, especially knowing she’s helping people by selling them. “I don’t have any favorites, everything’s strange. It’s all unusual and different and that’s why this store is so unusual. Because the things we have you don’t see in other places.”