Unsolved Disappearance

Richard Upton Pickman disappeared in 1926.

During this time, North End residents (primarily Italian immigrants) were involved in a long-term process of revitalizing the neighborhood. Old homes from the 17th and 18th centuries were torn down and replaced with tenement buildings that could accommodate more residents.

It would take decades of such work for the rest of the city to consider the North End as anything but a slum; as a result, the changes that affected many of the narrow streets due to constant demolition and construction went largely unnoticed. These changes are the likely cause of Thurber's inability to find Pickman's North End studio. 

In the present-day, most of the buildlings that are described in Thurber's notes are long gone. The few remaining examples are considered historic landmarks and are carefully preserved and protected by the National Park Service and by private foundations. While we can reasonably assume that the building in which Pickman had his studio was demolished and replaced, the site of the building remains unknown. 

The fate of the paintings described in Thurber's notes is also unknown.