Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts
Encyclopedia
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston
, Massachusetts
famous for its rows of Victorian
brownstone
homes, which are considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States, as well as numerous architecturally significant individual buildings and important cultural institutions such as the Boston Public Library
.
It is also a fashionable shopping destination, and home to some of Boston's tallest office buildings, the Hynes Convention Center
, and numerous major hotels.
Prior to a monumental 19th-century filling project, the Back Bay was an actual bay. Today, along with neighboring Beacon Hill, it is one of Boston's two most expensive residential neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay considers the neighborhood's bounds to be "Charles River
on the North; Arlington Street to Park Square on the East; Columbus Avenue to the New York New Haven and Hartford right-of-way (South of Stuart Street and Copley Place), Huntington Avenue
, Dalton Street, and the Massachusetts Turnpike
on the South; Charlesgate East on the West."
_map,_1852.jpg)
Before its transformation into buildable land by a 19th-century filling project, the Back Bay was literally a bay, located west of the Shawmut Peninsula
(on the far side from Boston Harbor
) between Boston and Cambridge
, with the Charles River
entering from the west. This bay was tidal: the water rose and fell several feet over the course of each day, and at low tide much of the bay's bed was exposed as a marshy flat.
As early as 5,200 years before present, Native Americans built fishweirs here, evidence of which was discovered during subway construction in 1913 (see Ancient Fishweir Project
and Boylston Street Fishweir
).
In 1814, the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation was chartered to construct a milldam
, which would also serve as a toll road connecting Boston to Watertown
, bypassing Boston Neck
. However, the project was an economic failure, and in 1857 a massive project was begun to "make land" by filling the area enclosed by the dam.
The firm of Goss and Munson built 6 miles (9.7 km) of railroad from quarries in Needham, Massachusetts
; 35-car trains arrived in the Back Bay 16 times each day, carrying gravel and other fill. (William Dean Howells
recalled "the beginnings of Commonwealth Avenue, and the other streets of the Back Bay, laid out with their basements left hollowed in the made land, which the gravel trains were yet making out of the westward hills.") Present-day Back Bay itself was filled by 1882; the project reached existing land at what is now Kenmore Square
in 1890, and finished in the Fens
in 1900. Much of the old mill dam remains buried under present-day Beacon Street.
The project was the largest of a number of land reclamation
projects which, beginning in 1820, more than doubled the size of the original Shawmut Peninsula.
Completion, in 1910, of the Charles River Dam
converted the former Charles estuary into a freshwater basin; the Charles River Esplanade was constructed to capitalize on the river's newly enhanced recreational value. The Esplanade has since undergone several changes, including the construction of Storrow Drive
.
of the firm Gridley James Fox Bryant
, was greatly influenced by Haussmann's renovation of Paris
, with wide, parallel, tree-lined avenues unlike anything seen in other Boston neighborhoods. Five east-west corridors -- Beacon Street
(closest to the Charles), Marlborough Street, Commonwealth Avenue
, Newbury Street
and Boylston Street
-- are intersected at regular intervals by north-south cross streets: Arlington (running along the west boundary of the Public Garden), Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford.
Almost all of Back Bay's major streets are one-way with the exception of Commonwealth Avenue, which is actually two one-way thoroughfares flanking the tree-lined pedestrian Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
Setback
requirements and other restrictions, written into the lot deeds of the newly filled Back Bay, produced harmonious rows of dignified three- and four-story residential brownstone
s (though most along Newbury Street are now in commercial use). The Back Bay is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and is considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban architecture in the United States. In 1966, the Massachusetts Legislature, "to safeguard the heritage of the city of Boston by preventing the despoliation" of the Back Bay, created the Back Bay Architectural Commission to regulate exterior changes to Back Bay buildings.
Since the 1960s, the concept of a High Spine
has influenced large-project development in Boston, reinforced by zoning
rules permitting high-rise construction along the axis of the Massachusetts Turnpike
, including air rights
siting of buildings.
Copley Square
contains Trinity Church
, the Boston Public Library
, the John Hancock Tower
, and other notable buildings.
In the past, Back Bay has been home to some of Boston's leading institutions, which have eventually moved elsewhere when they needed more room for expansion. Other smaller cultural and educational organizations continue to enrich the neighborhood.
The art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, was located in Copley Square from 1876 until 1909, when it moved to its current much-larger quarters in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston.
The current site of the Newbry Building (formerly the New England Life Building) was once occupied by one of Back Bay's first monumental structures, MIT's
Rogers Building (1866-1939), designed by William G. Preston
. It shared the same architect and city block with a smaller building for the Boston Society of Natural History
. The natural history society eventually became the Museum of Science, Boston
, and relocated to its current building on the Charles River Dam
around 1950. The original Natural History building was the only structure on the block (bounded by Boylston, Newbury, Berkeley, and Clarendon Streets) to escape demolition, most recently housing the clothier Louis of Boston before its move to the South Boston waterfront. As of 2011, the building is vacant and available for lease, and it is under historical landmark protection.
Emerson College
, a four-year liberal arts college
specializing in communications and the theater arts, once occupied a number of scattered buildings in Back Bay. Starting in the 1990s, the entire college gradually moved its facilities to the vicinity of the Washington Street Theatre District
in downtown Boston, where it now has restored and refurbished several classic grand theater buildings.
The Berklee College of Music
and the Boston Architectural College
remain firmly esconced in the Back Bay area.
The Back Bay is the home of the New England Historic Genealogical Society
(NEHGS), the oldest (1845) and largest genealogical society in the United States. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in an eight-story archive and research center.
Back Bay is home to many boutiques and stores, primarily on Newbury
and Boylston Street
s and in the Prudential Center
and Copley Place
malls.
The Hynes Convention Center
is complemented by numerous hotels, including the Lenox
, Colonnade, Westin, Fairmont, Marriott
, Four Seasons, Park Plaza
, and Mandarin Oriental.
Cross streets in the St. Botolph neighborhood, like those that cross Newbury Street, are alphabetical with one exception: Albermarle, Blackwood, Cumberland, Durham, West Newton, Follen, Garrison, Harcourt. Unlike the alphabetical streets in northern Back Bay, where Arlington is to the east and Hereford to the west, Albermarle is located to the west and Harcourt to the east.
.
The Back Bay neighborhood is served by several stations on the Boylston Street Subway section of the MBTA Green Line
light rail
line. From east to west, the stations are Arlington
, Copley
, and Hynes Convention Center. The MBTA Orange Line
stops at Back Bay station.
For regional travel, Back Bay station is served by MBTA Commuter Rail
and Amtrak
service to the south and west of Boston.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
famous for its rows of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
homes, which are considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States, as well as numerous architecturally significant individual buildings and important cultural institutions such as the Boston Public Library
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
.
It is also a fashionable shopping destination, and home to some of Boston's tallest office buildings, the Hynes Convention Center
Hynes Convention Center
The John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center located in Boston was built in 1988 from a design by architects Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood. It replaced a previous building, also a convention center, regarded as "ungainly." The 1988 design "attempted to relate in scale and materials to its...
, and numerous major hotels.
Prior to a monumental 19th-century filling project, the Back Bay was an actual bay. Today, along with neighboring Beacon Hill, it is one of Boston's two most expensive residential neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay considers the neighborhood's bounds to be "Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
on the North; Arlington Street to Park Square on the East; Columbus Avenue to the New York New Haven and Hartford right-of-way (South of Stuart Street and Copley Place), Huntington Avenue
Huntington Avenue (Boston)
Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods...
, Dalton Street, and the Massachusetts Turnpike
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
on the South; Charlesgate East on the West."
History
Shawmut Peninsula
Shawmut Peninsula is the promontory of land on which Boston, Massachusetts was built. The peninsula, originally a mere in area, more than doubled in size due to land reclamation efforts, a feature of the history of Boston throughout the 19th century....
(on the far side from Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
) between Boston and Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, with the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
entering from the west. This bay was tidal: the water rose and fell several feet over the course of each day, and at low tide much of the bay's bed was exposed as a marshy flat.
As early as 5,200 years before present, Native Americans built fishweirs here, evidence of which was discovered during subway construction in 1913 (see Ancient Fishweir Project
Ancient Fishweir Project
Ancient Fishweir Project is a collaborative group that creates an annual public art installation on Boston Common. In the spring of each year, members of the Massachuset and Wampanoag Native American tribes work with students, educators and artists to construct a fish-weir in honor of the people...
and Boylston Street Fishweir
Boylston Street Fishweir
In archeological literature, the name Boylston Street Fishweir refers to ancient fishing structures first discovered in 1913 buried 29 to below Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts...
).
In 1814, the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation was chartered to construct a milldam
Milldam
A milldam is a dam constructed on a waterway to create a mill pond.Water passing through a dam's spillway is used to turn a water wheel and provide energy to the many varieties of watermill...
, which would also serve as a toll road connecting Boston to Watertown
Watertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
, bypassing Boston Neck
Boston Neck
The Boston Neck or Roxbury Neck was an isthmus, a narrow strip of land connecting the then-peninsular city of Boston to the mainland city of Roxbury . The surrounding area was gradually filled in as the city of Boston expanded in population. -History:The Boston Neck was originally about wide at...
. However, the project was an economic failure, and in 1857 a massive project was begun to "make land" by filling the area enclosed by the dam.
The firm of Goss and Munson built 6 miles (9.7 km) of railroad from quarries in Needham, Massachusetts
Needham, Massachusetts
Needham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,886 at the 2010 census.- History :...
; 35-car trains arrived in the Back Bay 16 times each day, carrying gravel and other fill. (William Dean Howells
William Dean Howells
William Dean Howells was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day" and the novel The Rise of...
recalled "the beginnings of Commonwealth Avenue, and the other streets of the Back Bay, laid out with their basements left hollowed in the made land, which the gravel trains were yet making out of the westward hills.") Present-day Back Bay itself was filled by 1882; the project reached existing land at what is now Kenmore Square
Kenmore Square
Kenmore Square is a square in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, consisting of the intersection of several main avenues as well as several other cross streets, and Kenmore Station, an MBTA subway stop. Kenmore Square is close to or abuts Boston University, Fenway Park, and Lansdowne Street, a...
in 1890, and finished in the Fens
Back Bay Fens
The Back Bay Fens, most commonly called simply The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, and thereby to...
in 1900. Much of the old mill dam remains buried under present-day Beacon Street.
The project was the largest of a number of land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
projects which, beginning in 1820, more than doubled the size of the original Shawmut Peninsula.
Completion, in 1910, of the Charles River Dam
Charles River Dam
The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge.-History:...
converted the former Charles estuary into a freshwater basin; the Charles River Esplanade was constructed to capitalize on the river's newly enhanced recreational value. The Esplanade has since undergone several changes, including the construction of Storrow Drive
Storrow Drive
Storrow Drive is a major cross town expressway in Boston, Massachusetts, running south and west from Leverett Circle along the Charles River. It is a parkway—it is restricted to cars; trucks and buses are not permitted on it...
.
Architecture
The plan of Back Bay, by Arthur GilmanArthur Gilman
Arthur Delevan Gilman was an American architect, designer of many Boston neighborhoods, and member of the American Institute of Architects. Gilman was a descendant of Edward Gilman Sr., one of the first settlers of Exeter, New Hampshire.Gilman was educated at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut...
of the firm Gridley James Fox Bryant
Gridley James Fox Bryant
Gridley James Fox Bryant was a famous 19th century Boston architect and builder. His work was seen in custom houses, government buildings, churches, schoolhouses, and private residences across the United States.Bryant was born to Marcia Winship Fox and Gridley Bryant, noted railway pioneer...
, was greatly influenced by Haussmann's renovation of Paris
Haussmann's renovation of Paris
Haussmann's Renovation of Paris, or the Haussmann Plan, was a modernization program of Paris commissioned by Napoléon III and led by the Seine prefect, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870...
, with wide, parallel, tree-lined avenues unlike anything seen in other Boston neighborhoods. Five east-west corridors -- Beacon Street
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and several of its western suburbs. Beacon Street in Boston, Brookline, Brighton, and Newton is not to be confused with the Beacon Street in nearby Somerville, or others elsewhere.-Description:...
(closest to the Charles), Marlborough Street, Commonwealth Avenue
Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Commonwealth Avenue is a major street in the cities of Boston and Newton, Massachusetts. It begins at the western edge of the Public Garden, and continues west through the neighborhoods of the Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Allston, Brighton and Chestnut Hill...
, Newbury Street
Newbury Street (Boston)
Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east-to-west, from the Boston Public Garden to Massachusetts Ave. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entrance to the Mass Pike westbound at Mass Ave...
and Boylston Street
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs....
-- are intersected at regular intervals by north-south cross streets: Arlington (running along the west boundary of the Public Garden), Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford.
Almost all of Back Bay's major streets are one-way with the exception of Commonwealth Avenue, which is actually two one-way thoroughfares flanking the tree-lined pedestrian Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
Setback
Setback (land use)
In land use, a setback is the distance which a building or other structure is set back from a street or road, a river or other stream, a shore or flood plain, or any other place which needs protection. Depending on the jurisdiction, other things like fences, landscaping, septic tanks, and various...
requirements and other restrictions, written into the lot deeds of the newly filled Back Bay, produced harmonious rows of dignified three- and four-story residential brownstone
Brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...
s (though most along Newbury Street are now in commercial use). The Back Bay is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and is considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban architecture in the United States. In 1966, the Massachusetts Legislature, "to safeguard the heritage of the city of Boston by preventing the despoliation" of the Back Bay, created the Back Bay Architectural Commission to regulate exterior changes to Back Bay buildings.
Since the 1960s, the concept of a High Spine
High Spine
Boston's High Spine is an architectural planning design that arose in 1961, designed by the Committee of Civic Design, part of the Boston Society of Architects...
has influenced large-project development in Boston, reinforced by zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
rules permitting high-rise construction along the axis of the Massachusetts Turnpike
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...
, including air rights
Air rights
Air rights are a type of development right in real estate, referring to the empty space above a property. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building gives one the right to use and develop the air rights....
siting of buildings.
Copley Square
Copley Square
Copley Square is a public square located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, named for the donor of the land on which it was developed. The square is named for John Singleton Copley, a famous portrait painter of the late 18th century and native of Boston. A bronze statue of...
contains Trinity Church
Trinity Church, Boston
Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 3,000 households, was founded in 1733. The current rector is The Reverend Anne Bonnyman...
, the Boston Public Library
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
, the John Hancock Tower
John Hancock Tower
The John Hancock Tower, officially named Hancock Place and colloquially known as The Hancock, is a 60-story, 790-foot skyscraper in Boston. The tower was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the firm I. M. Pei & Partners and was completed in 1976...
, and other notable buildings.
- The first monumental structure in Copley Square was the original Museum of Fine ArtsMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
building. Begun in 1870, it opened in 1876, with a large portion of its collection taken from the Boston Athenaeum Art Gallery. Its red Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style building was torn down and rebuilt as the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel (1912) which still exists today. - The Boston Public LibraryBoston Public LibraryThe Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
(1888–92), designed by McKim, Mead, and WhiteMcKim, Mead, and WhiteMcKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...
, is a leading example of Beaux-Arts architecture in the US. Sited across Copley Square from Trinity Church, it was intended to be "a palace for the people." BaedekerBaedekerVerlag Karl Baedeker is a Germany-based publisher and pioneer in the business of worldwide travel guides. The guides, often referred as simply "Baedekers" , contain important introductions, descriptions of buildings, of museum collections, etc., written by the best specialists, and...
's 1893 guide terms it "dignified and imposing, simple and scholarly," and "a worthy mate... to Trinity Church." At that time, its 600,000 volumes made it the largest free public library in the world. - The Old South Church, also called the New Old South Church (645 Boylston Street on Copley Square), 1872–75, is located across the street from the Boston Public Library. It was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Cummings and SearsCummings and SearsCummings and Sears was an architecture firm in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, established by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T...
in the Venetian GothicVenetian Gothic architectureVenetian Gothic is a term given to an architectural style combining use of the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Moorish architecture influences. The style originated in 14th century Venice with the confluence of Byzantine styles from Constantinople, Arab influences from Moorish Spain and early...
style. The style follows the precepts of the British cultural theorist and architectural critic John RuskinJohn RuskinJohn Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
(1819–1900) as outlined in his treatise The Stones of Venice. Old South Church remains a significant example of Ruskin's influence on architecture in the US. Charles Amos CummingsCharles Amos CummingsCharles Amos Cummings , is a nineteenth century American architect and architectural historian who worked primarily in the Venetian Gothic style. Cummings followed the precepts of British cultural theorist and architectural critic John Ruskin...
and Willard T. Sears also designed the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
. - Trinity ChurchTrinity Church, BostonTrinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 3,000 households, was founded in 1733. The current rector is The Reverend Anne Bonnyman...
(1872–77), designed by Henry Hobson RichardsonHenry Hobson RichardsonHenry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
, called "deservedly regarded as one of the finest buildings in America" by Baedeker's United States in 1893.
- There were at various time three different "Hancock buildings" in the Back Bay, culminating in a skyscraperSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
flanking Trinity Church:- The Stephen L. Brown Building (Parker, Thomas & Rice, 1922) was the first of the three Hancock buildings:
- The Old John Hancock Building (Cram and FergusonHDB/Cram and FergusonHDB/Cram and Ferguson is an architectural firm operating in Boston, Massachusetts since the late 19th century. The original partnership was founded in 1889 by Ralph Adams Cram and Charles Francis Wentworth...
, 1947) was the tallest building in Back Bay until construction of the Prudential Tower. (Sometimes called the Berkeley BuildingBerkeley BuildingThe Berkeley Building is a 36-story, structure located at 200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is the second of the three John Hancock buildings built in Boston; it was succeeded by the John Hancock Tower. The building is known for the weather beacon at its summit, which...
, though not to be confused with the actual Berkeley Building, above.) - John Hancock TowerJohn Hancock TowerThe John Hancock Tower, officially named Hancock Place and colloquially known as The Hancock, is a 60-story, 790-foot skyscraper in Boston. The tower was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the firm I. M. Pei & Partners and was completed in 1976...
(I. M. PeiI. M. PeiIeoh Ming Pei , commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese American architect, often called a master of modern architecture. Born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the gardens at Suzhou...
, 1972), New England's tallest building at 60 stories, is a dark-blue reflective glass tower with a footprint in the form of a narrow parallelogram. Admirers assert that it does not diminish the impact of Trinity Church, although its construction did damage the church's foundations. The architect Donlyn Lyndon, who served as head the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the late 1960s and early 1970s, noted that an early Hancock press release had "the gall to pronounce that 'the building will reflect the architectural character of the neighborhood.'" Lyndon opines that it "may be nihilistic, overbearing, even elegantly rude, but it's not dull."
Other prominent Back Bay buildings
- The 52-story Prudential TowerPrudential TowerThe Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
, thought to be a marvel in 1964, is now considered ugly by some critics. Although the Prudential TowerPrudential TowerThe Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
has garnered scant architectural acclaim, the Prudential Center overall was awarded the Urban Land Institute's "Award for Best Mixed Use Property" in 2006. - 111 Huntington Avenue111 Huntington Avenue111 Huntington Avenue is one of Boston's newest skyscrapers and is part of the Prudential Center complex that also houses the Prudential Tower. Completed in 2002, the tower is 554 feet tall and houses 36 floors. The building is the tallest skyscraper built in Boston since 1987...
(2002), a 36-story tower south of the Prudential Center, is Boston's eighth-tallest building. Crowned by a glass "Wintergarden", and featuring a 1.2 acres (4,856.2 m²) fully landscaped South Garden, it was nominated for, but did not win, the 2002 Emporis Skyscraper Award. - The Colonnade Hotel (1971) with its row of columns, delineates the "back side" of the Prudential Center complex.
- Arlington Street Church (Arthur GilmanArthur GilmanArthur Delevan Gilman was an American architect, designer of many Boston neighborhoods, and member of the American Institute of Architects. Gilman was a descendant of Edward Gilman Sr., one of the first settlers of Exeter, New Hampshire.Gilman was educated at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut...
, 1861), inspired by London's St Martin-in-the-FieldsSt Martin-in-the-FieldsSt Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
, was the first church built in the newly filled Back Bay. (Architect Gilman also designed Back Bay's grid-style street plan.) - Berkeley Building (Constant-Désiré Despradelle, 1905) features a white terra cottaTerra cottaTerracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
Beaux-Arts architecture facade on a steel frame. - The Gibson HouseGibson House MuseumThe Gibson House Museum is a historic house museum located at 137 Beacon Street in the Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts. It preserves the 1860 building occupied by three generations of the Gibson family.-History:...
(1860), preserved very much as it was in the 19th century, is now a museum. - The First Church of Christ, Scientist (1894; extended 1904), the centerpiece of the Christian Science Plaza, which also features a reflecting pool and the nearby MappariumMappariumThe Mapparium is a three-story tall glass globe of stained glass that is viewed from a bridge through its interior. It is a unique exhibit at the Christian Science Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts....
. - The Saint Clement Eucharistic Shrine (Arthur F. Gray, 1922) is a Roman Catholic church built for the Second Universalist Society.
- Church of the CovenantChurch of the Covenant (Boston)The Church of the Covenant is a Boston, Massachusetts, landmark, built in 1865-1867 by the Central Congregational Church and now affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ.-History:Built of Roxbury puddingstone in Gothic Revival style it was one of the first churches...
( Richard M. UpjohnRichard M. UpjohnRichard Michell Upjohn, FAIA, was an influential American architect, co-founder and president of the American Institute of Architects.-Early life and career:...
, 1865–1867) is a Presbyterian church of Roxbury puddingstoneRoxbury conglomerateRoxbury conglomerate, also known as Roxbury puddingstone, is a puddingstone or conglomerate stone that forms the bedrock underlying most of Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of the city of Boston...
in Gothic Revival styleGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, which its designer intended as "a high gothic edifice ... which no ordinary dwelling house would overtop."
Cultural and educational institutions
The art collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, was located in Copley Square from 1876 until 1909, when it moved to its current much-larger quarters in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston.
The current site of the Newbry Building (formerly the New England Life Building) was once occupied by one of Back Bay's first monumental structures, MIT's
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Rogers Building (1866-1939), designed by William G. Preston
William G. Preston
William G. Preston was an American architect. He was active in Boston and Georgia, where he designed the De Soto Hotel and the Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory...
. It shared the same architect and city block with a smaller building for the Boston Society of Natural History
Boston Society of Natural History
The Boston Society of Natural History in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the society occupied several successive locations in Boston's Financial...
. The natural history society eventually became the Museum of Science, Boston
Museum of Science, Boston
The Museum of Science is a Boston, Massachusetts landmark, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 500 interactive exhibits, the Museum features a number of live presentations throughout the building every day, along with shows at the Charles Hayden...
, and relocated to its current building on the Charles River Dam
Charles River Dam
The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge.-History:...
around 1950. The original Natural History building was the only structure on the block (bounded by Boylston, Newbury, Berkeley, and Clarendon Streets) to escape demolition, most recently housing the clothier Louis of Boston before its move to the South Boston waterfront. As of 2011, the building is vacant and available for lease, and it is under historical landmark protection.
Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, a four-year liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
specializing in communications and the theater arts, once occupied a number of scattered buildings in Back Bay. Starting in the 1990s, the entire college gradually moved its facilities to the vicinity of the Washington Street Theatre District
Washington Street Theatre District
Washington Street Theatre District is a historic district at 511-559 Washington Street in Boston, Massachusetts.The district features several theaters and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979....
in downtown Boston, where it now has restored and refurbished several classic grand theater buildings.
The Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
and the Boston Architectural College
Boston Architectural College
Boston Architectural College , formerly known as the Boston Architectural Center, is New England's largest independent college of spatial design. It offers first-professional bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and design studies...
remain firmly esconced in the Back Bay area.
The Back Bay is the home of the New England Historic Genealogical Society
New England Historic Genealogical Society
The New England Historic Genealogical Society is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an eight-story archive and research center....
(NEHGS), the oldest (1845) and largest genealogical society in the United States. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in an eight-story archive and research center.
Commercial institutions
Newbury Street (Boston)
Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east-to-west, from the Boston Public Garden to Massachusetts Ave. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entrance to the Mass Pike westbound at Mass Ave...
and Boylston Street
Boylston Street
Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs....
s and in the Prudential Center
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
and Copley Place
Copley Place
Copley Place is an enclosed shopping mall, constructed in 1983, located in the Back Bay section of Boston, Massachusetts. It is owned by Simon Property Group, which acquired it in the 2002 breakup of the then-Dutch owned Urban Shopping Centers, Inc...
malls.
The Hynes Convention Center
Hynes Convention Center
The John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center located in Boston was built in 1988 from a design by architects Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood. It replaced a previous building, also a convention center, regarded as "ungainly." The 1988 design "attempted to relate in scale and materials to its...
is complemented by numerous hotels, including the Lenox
The Lenox Hotel
The Lenox Hotel is a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is located at the corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets. One block from Newbury Street, Copley Square, and the Prudential Tower, The Lenox sits next to the Boston Public Library.-History:...
, Colonnade, Westin, Fairmont, Marriott
Marriott Hotels & Resorts
Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's flagship brand of full service hotels and resorts. The company, based in Washington D.C., is repeatedly included on the Forbes Best Companies to Work for list, and was voted the 4th best company to work for in the UK by The Times in 2009.As of...
, Four Seasons, Park Plaza
Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
For the Park Plaza Hotel, Leeds, UK see Park Plaza Hotel LeedsThe Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers is a former Statler Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts built in 1927 by hotelier E.M. Statler. A prototype of the grand American hotel, it was called a "city within a city"...
, and Mandarin Oriental.
The Saint Botolph neighborhood
The St. Botolph neighborhood, stretching from Huntington Ave. to the north, the Southwest Corridor to the south, Harcourt Ave. to the east, and Massachusetts Ave. to the west, is a lesser known part of the Back Bay. It consists almost entirely of brownstones (row houses) and is more formally known as the Saint Botolph Architectural Conservation District. With many dead-end streets abutting the Southwest Corridor, the neighborhood borders the South End. Of note, residential parking is available to those with a Back Bay parking sticker.Cross streets in the St. Botolph neighborhood, like those that cross Newbury Street, are alphabetical with one exception: Albermarle, Blackwood, Cumberland, Durham, West Newton, Follen, Garrison, Harcourt. Unlike the alphabetical streets in northern Back Bay, where Arlington is to the east and Hereford to the west, Albermarle is located to the west and Harcourt to the east.
Transportation
A number of local and express buses converge on Copley Square and Back Bay station, as listed in the Wikipedia article on Back Bay stationBack Bay (MBTA station)
Back Bay station, located at 145 Dartmouth Street, between Stuart Street and Columbus Avenue, is a train station in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston...
.
The Back Bay neighborhood is served by several stations on the Boylston Street Subway section of the MBTA Green Line
Green Line (MBTA)
The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...
light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line. From east to west, the stations are Arlington
Arlington (MBTA station)
Arlington is a station on the Green Line light rail service of the MBTA transit system. The station is located at the southwest corner of the Boston Public Garden, at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets...
, Copley
Copley (MBTA station)
Copley is a station on the MBTA Green Line light rail subway in Boston, Massachusetts. Located in and named after Copley Square, the station has entrances and exits along Boylston Street and Dartmouth Street....
, and Hynes Convention Center. The MBTA Orange Line
Orange Line (MBTA)
The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green...
stops at Back Bay station.
For regional travel, Back Bay station is served by MBTA Commuter Rail
MBTA Commuter Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail serves as the regional rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in the United States. It is operated under contract by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company a joint partnership of Veolia Transportation, Bombardier Transportation and Alternate...
and Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
service to the south and west of Boston.
External links
- Neighborhood Association of Back Bay; Back Bay timeline
- History of the Boston landfill projects Course notes with illustrations by Professor Jeffrey Howe, Boston College
- MIT OpenCourseWare: "Building the Back Bay" (1926 account) Accessed 2009-10-08
- Back Bay History
- Concise Back Bay History by Back Bay Association business member group
- Interactive Back Bay map featuring architectural details and information