Boston

Baker-Byrd House // 1888

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Located on Brimmer Street in Beacon Hill, this handsome residence is constructed of rough-faced brownstone laid in a random ashlar pattern and is among the most unique in a neighborhood known for brick townhouses. Decorative treatment includes a stone band that is carved with foliate and faces, colonettes that rise along the facade at the bay, and an ornate molded copper entablature and parapet at the roof. The residence dates to 1888 and was built for Seth R. Baker, a Boston real estate developer at the end of the 19th century. It can be inferred that the building was designed by architect, Ernest N. Boyden, as Baker hired Boyden as architect for a half-dozen other apartment buildings between 1888-1890. Antoino Xavier, a Portuguese-born mason is listed as the builder. In the 1910s, the property was purchased by Marie Ames Byrd, wife of polar explorer Richard A. Byrd, who lived a few houses away at 9 Brimmer Street. She rented the four apartments to boarders through the 1930s.


West Hill Place // 1916

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West Hill Place is a small development in Beacon Hill that feels like it was transported to Boston from London! The group of 14 four-story brick townhouses that comprise West Hill Place were built on the site of a gas holder in 1916. The Georgian Revival style development was designed by the firm of Coolidge and Carlson, who aligned six of the townhomes to face west on the Charles River Embankment and arranged the remaining eight residences around a circular court. The development was inspired by Charles River Square, located to its south and built six years prior. The driveway extends off what is today Storrow Drive, with a second exit set within an arched passageway that connects through the Charles Street garage, which was built later. The dark brick with cast stone trim works elegantly with the curving facades facing the courtyard, many of which are adorned with arched doorways and the original iron lanterns. The development has been harmed by the creation of Storrow Drive in the 1950s, but it remains one of the most unique and picturesque enclaves in New England. 

Charles Street Garage // 1919

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The area west of Charles Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill is known as the Beacon Hill Flat, which is largely built on 19th century-made land along the Charles River. The area developed into housing with a high percentage of carriage houses and horse stables built by the wealthy families living on Beacon Hill. Today, many of these edifices have been converted into charming residences, shops, and in the 20th century, garages. As the personal automobile took over horses as the desired method of transportation, savvy developers developed garages where wealthy residents could “stable” their vehicles, especially important in a dense neighborhood like Beacon Hill without much off-street parking. Built in 1919, the Charles Street Garage stands four stories tall with large expanses of multi-light windows and ground floor retail spaces set within the bays to enliven the street.

Charles River Square // 1910

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Charles River Square, a delightful development of red brick and cast-stone Colonial Revival townhomes in the Beacon Hill Flat, was developed in 1910 from plans by Boston architect, Frank A. Bourne. The development consists of a total of 21 residences, 19 of which front on the courtyard that is known as Charles River Square. The development is accessed off Charles River Road (which was made a busy thoroughfare in the 1950s and renamed Storrow Drive) and through a Palladianesque passageway off Revere Street. Along with its neighbor to the north, West Hill Place (1916), another group of attached townhouses organized around a courtyard built years later, its layout is a departure from the previous approach to urban planning, resembling the atmosphere of an old London street or mews. Charles River Square remains one of the most desirable developments in the exclusive Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Lyman-Gray House // 1834

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Mount Vernon Place is a short, dead-end street in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. The street was once an entire block of eight rowhouses, and was developed in the 1830s on land formerly owned by John Hancock and his family. The residences numbered 1-5 Mount Vernon Place were torn down during the 1910s to accommodate the expansion of the landscaped grounds of the State House, leaving just 6, 7, and 8 Mount Vernon Place. The center rowhouse, 7 Mount Vernon Place, was built in 1834 and is believed to have been designed by Alexander Parris, a prominent local architect who designed Quincy Market and mastered the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles with many notable buildings all over the east coast. The residence has a three bay facade and brownstone sills, lintels, and door surround and has been preserved for nearly two centuries. The house was long-owned by George W. Lyman, an industrialist who lived nearby on Joy Street. The residence was rented for decades until it was purchased by Francis C. Gray a physician, and inherited by his grandson, Ralph Weld Gray, an architect through the 1940s.

Woodrow Wilson School // 1932

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The Woodrow Wilson School, now Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School, is located at 18 Croftland Avenue in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester. The school was built in 1932 to accommodate increased development and population growth in the immediate area in the interwar period and was designed in a blending of Classical Revival and Art Deco styles, both popular at the time for such academic buildings. The building was named for Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th President of the United States and was designed to comfortably accommodate 1,600 students. Architect, John Matthew Gray designed the building to conform to a plan drafted by the City of Boston in 1923 to standardize all new school construction down to the precise dimensions of windows and hallways. The permitted flexibility for hired architects was strictly on the exterior, where architects were free to create individual character in the designs of entryways, auditoriums, and exterior architectural styles and decoration. The entry of the Woodrow Wilson School depicts Art Deco motifs including lettering and inlaid carved panels over the door of a child reading and a child holding a globe. The school was renamed the Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School after the innovative educator of the same name.


Liberty Tree Block // 1850

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The Liberty Tree Block is located at one of Boston’s oldest and most important intersections, Boylston and Essex streets. It is said that near this site, the Liberty Tree stood, and where in 1765, Patriots in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government under its branches, The Stamp Act protests. The tree became a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of Britain over the American colonies. The Liberty Tree was cut down by British Loyalists in 1775, but the tree’s symbolism lives on in the building constructed on the site 75 years later. Nineteenth-century real estate developer David Sears had this commercial block built in 1850, which housed stores at the street with ballrooms on the upper floors. The Liberty Tree Block is best-known and named so due to the wooden relief plaque of the Liberty Tree on the Washington Street elevation. The motif stands 8′ high and 5′ wide and was carved by ship carvers. The bas relief is inscribed with “Liberty–1765” across the top, “Law and Order” at its roots, and at the bottom, “Sons of Liberty, 1765. Independence of their Country, 1776.” The building (and its carving) are protected Landmarks in Boston.

Ancient Landmark Building // 1887

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Tucked away on Boylston Place, a dead-end pedestrian way off the bustling Boylston Street in Boston, you will find a collection of 19th century buildings that have miraculously survived over a century of growth, urban renewal, and rebirth. This is the Ancient Landmark Building, constructed in 1887 as a IOOF Lodge. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order established in the United States 1819. The four-story Ancient Landmark Building blends Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles effectively with its two arched openings, arched windows in the top floor and two-story metal projecting bays. In the 1970s, the building was listed as “substandard” by the infamous Boston Redevelopment Authority, and luckily did not get demolished as part of its Urban Renewal push. The property was eventually acquired by Emerson College, a great steward for historic buildings and cultural institutions, who restored the building and built a new dormitory above and alongside the Ancient Landmark Building. The project preserves the important streetscape of Boylston Place, while providing needed dormitories for the school.

Hilt-Rayner Houses // 1844

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This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. At the end of the street, the Hilt-Rayner Double House remains in great condition and a reminder as to the residential character of the area in the first half of the 19th century. The houses were built by Henry Hilt, a housewright who owned one unit after completion. The other unit was owned by Thomas L. Rayner, who appears to have rented the unit out. The late example of the Greek Revival style in the rowhouse form is well preserved through nearly 200 years of use. Beginning in the 1920s, the two homes were acquired by the Tavern Club, a private social club established in 1884 in the house next door. It remains owned by the Tavern Club today.

Colonial Theater Building // 1899

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One of my favorite buildings on Boylston Street in Boston is the ten-story Colonial Theater Building, a landmark Classical Revival style structure of stone. Built in 1899, the Colonial Theater replaced the original Boston Public Library building (1855) which was demolished by 1898, and relocated to Copley Square. The Colonial Theater was designed by famed theater architect, Clarence Blackall and is said to be the oldest, intact theater in Boston. The theatre first opened its doors for a performance of Ben-Hur on December 20, 1900 with a sold out show. Ben-Hur operated with a cast and crew of 350 people and featured eight live horses on stage in full gallop during the chariot race scene, with the play being so mechanically and technically extraordinary it was featured on the cover of Scientific American. While cheekily named the Colonial Theater, the interior theater spaces were anything but. The spaces originally contained murals and Baroque style finishes, many of which remain today. Beyond the 1,700-seat theater, the building contained between 250-300 professional offices. The building is owned by Emerson College, who underwent a massive restoration project of the building with Elkus Manfredi architects. Allowing the oldest Boston theater to shine again!