USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristics: with biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men, 1892 > Part 5
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ceived their fair share of criticism; but the sober judgment of the quieter critics was evidently ex- pressed by those who pronounced the one a most interesting statue, and the other a strong figure un- gracefully draped. The Franklin stands eight feet high on its granite pedestal capped with a block of verd-antique. The four bas-reliefs represent in- teresting periods in the philosopher's career. The cost of the statue was met by popular subscription, and on the occasion of its dedication Robert C. Winthrop was the orator. The Quincy statue was paid for from the income of the Jonathan Phillips fund.1 The present City Hall was dedicated on the 18th of September, 1865. That which preceded it, the then " Old Court House " remodelled, had been used since 1840, and before that the Old State House was the City Hall. The first city government was organized in Faneuil Hall (the Ist of May, 1822).
Nearly opposite the foot of School street, oc- cupying the corner of Washington and Milk, stands the Old South Meeting-house, another historic land- mark, for the preservation of which we are indebted to a few patriotic citizens. Jealously protected, it holds its place in one of the busiest parts of the city. The external appearance has not changed in
: See foot note to paragraph on the Old State House in this chapter.
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JOHN C. PAIGE INSURANCE BUILDING.
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House until Hutchinson yielded and gave the order the minds of the youth of the day the details of the for the withdrawal of the troops. Here on the 27th history of their country. of November, 1773, was held the great meeting For the preservation of King's Chapel, which marks the corner of School and Tremont streets, no movement of citizens has yet been necessary. It has been steadfastly protected and sustained by those who possess it. No finer example of the architecture of its day remains with us. Built of dark granite, -the stone brought from Braintree, where it was taken from the surface of the ground, as there were then no quarries, -with its small quaint windows, its heavy square tower surrounded by wooden Ionic columns, and its low roof, it stands in a neighborhood of most modern buildings a digni- fied and picturesque relic of the past. Most inter- esting, however, is the interior. Its rows of columns supporting the ceiling, the richly painted windows of the chancel, the antique pulpit and reading-desk, the square high-backed pews, the mural tablets, and the sculptured marble monu- ments lining the outer walls, --- all combine to im- press the visitor with its faithful likeness to old London city churches. The corner-stone was laid and it was not until the late summer of 1754 that the first services were held within its walls. Then it was without the portico, which was not completed until 1789 ; and the steeple, which was embraced in the design of the architect, Peter Harrison, was never built. During the Siege the British officers attended the regular services of the chapel, and among the royalists who fled with Howe's army when the town was evacuated was its rector, taking with him the church registers and vestments. Then for about five years, while its own meeting-house was undergoing repairs, the Old South Society occupied the chapel, and it was not until 1782 that the remnant of the old parish again took possession of it. It was in that year reopened for regular services, with James Freeman as " reader ; " and the interesting fact is frequently re- called that under his teachings the first Episcopal church established in Boston became the first Unitarian. The change was formally made in 1787, when Dr. Freeman was ordained rector, and the connection with the American Protestant Episcopal Church terminated. The first King's Chapel, which the present succeeded, was that one built in 1688, during the administration of the arbitrary Andros, whom the colonists finally overthrew, for the first Episcopal parish whose services had previ- ously been held in the Old South, the use of which a portion of each Sunday for this purpose Andros The site for the chapel which resolved that the " Odious Tea " should not be landed ; and on the 16th of December the last of the series, and the greatest of all, which was followed by the destruction of the tea by the " Sons of Liberty " disguised as " Mohawks." This was the meeting of seven thousand determined townsmen who sat until long after candle-light waiting for the re- turn of the messengers sent to Hutchinson, who had stolen off to his country place at Milton ; and when they finally appeared with the word that he had refused his pass for the tea ships to proceed to sea, " solemnly arose the voice of Samuel Adams, 'this meeting can do nothing more to save the country.' Then rang from the gallery the signal war-whoop. It was reechoed from the street below. The meet- ing adjourned to Griffin's (now Liverpool) wharf, and the work was done." Here Warren delivered the annual oration commemorative of the " Massa- cre " in March, 1775, three months before he was killed at Bunker Hill, when the doorways, aisles, and pulpit steps and platform were occupied by in 1749, but the structure was slow in building, British officers and soldiers; making his entrance into the church through the window back of the pulpit to avoid an affray by forcing his way through the crowded doorway and aisles. During the" Siege the meeting-house was transformed into a riding-school for Burgoyne's regiment of the " Queen's Light Dragoons." "Dirt and gravel was spread on the floor," says Frothingham ; " a bar was fixed over which the cavalry leaped their horses at full speed; the east galleries were allotted to spectators ; the first gallery was fitted up as a re- freshment-room. A stove was put up in the winter, and here were burnt for kindling many of the books and manuscripts of Prince's fine library." After the Revolution the interior was restored to its former condition. No regular religious services have been held in the meeting house since 1872, when the Old South Society moved to the Back Bay. After the Great Fire of 1872, which happily spared it, it was used as the post office, as has already been stated, until the completion of the first section of the present government building. The loan exhibition of Revolutionary and other relics which was afterwards established within the meeting-house has been enriched by gifts from time to time, until now it has become one of the most interesting collections in town. The fees received for admission go into the preservation fund. The Old South lectures to young people given each season in the meeting house help to keep fresh in peremptorily demanded.
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was taken by Andros from the territory set aside for the old burying-ground - the oldest in town, in which are the graves of Governor John Winthrop, his son and grandson, Governor Shirley, Lady Andros, John Cotton, John Davenport, John Oxen- bridge, and others of the early settlers. This site
its sides are bounded by Pemberton square, a third by Somerset street, and the rear of the building ends far dowar the slope to the north, where it abuts against a block of dwelling-houses on Somerset street. The material used in construction, is granite from quarries in Maine and Massachusetts,
NEW COURT HOUSE.
was subsequently legally acquired, in 1749, by pur- with the exception of that portion of the rear build- chase from the town.
The new Court House for the County of Suffolk, occupying the entire west ' side of Pemberton square, is intended to replace the gloomy granite structure in Court square, which since the year 1836 has served the various purposes of a seat of justice for the county. In its natural features the site is admirably chosen. The ground slopes from it's base on three sides, and upon the fourth a gentle ascent leads to the State House, two blocks away, crowning Beacon hill. The new building stands upon the easterly slope of the hill; two of
ing fronting on Somerset street, to be occupied by the city prison and criminal courts, which is of faced brick trimmed with granite. The new structure is massive but symmetrical in its propor- tions. The style of architecture is of the German Renaissance. The plan is upon the system of open court-yards, there being four within the area of the general block, with all the rooms and corridors, to- gether with the exterior walls grouped about them, and thus an abundance of light and air is obtained for all the various apartments at every section of the building. The actual area in the four court-
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yards required to fulfil the object of light and air is Library in two volumes ; a Catalogue of the Dowse 14,632 square feet, while the building itself covers about 65,356 feet. The building proper is 85 feet in height ; to the top of the central dome, 250 feet above Pemberton square level; the length is 450 feet ; and the greatest width 190 feet. The 'con- struction of this Court House was begun under the -authority of an act of the Legislature of 1885, and the work was placed under the direction of a board of three commissioners, Solomon B. Stebbins, Thomas J. Whidden, and Godfrey Morse, appointed by the mayor of Boston. A competition was entered into among the architects of the country, and about thirty responded. The designs prepared by George A. Clough were selected, and under his direction the building is being erected. The corner-stone was laid on June 6, 1887, and the work will be completed this year (1892). Its total estimated cost is $2,500,000. It contains ample and convenient accommodations for the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, the Superior Civil Court and Criminal Court, the Mu- nicipal Criminal and Civil Courts, the Probate Court and Registry, and the Juvenile Court and Inquests. The sheriff's and similar offices are on the ground floor, adjacent to the main entrance. All entrances -for judges and jury are in the rear of the building.
In this neighborhood, and on the slope of Beacon hill, are a number of the literary and other institu- tions which give character to the city. Of these, the Massachusetts Historical Society, its granite-faced building occupying one side of the King's Chapel Burying-ground and next adjoining the Boston Museum, is most important. This is the oldest historical society in the country, and upon its roll of members are many of the most distinguished names in American literature. Originally organized in 1791 (incorporated 1794) by a small number of students of American history, and limited to " thirty citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, " its first meetings were held in the attic of Faneuil Hall. It was not until 1857 that the society was enlarged, and then the limit was fixed at one hun- dred resident members. From the first its object has been the " collection, preservation, and diffusion of the materials for American history," and so early as 1792 its first volume of "Collections" was printed. From Faneuil Hall it moved to rooms in Hamilton place, then to Franklin place, and in 1833 to its present quarters. In 1872 this building was thoroughly remodelled and made fire-proof. The publications of the Society have thus far been 54 volumes of " Collections : " 26 volumes of Pro- ceedings and an Index volume ; a Catalogue of the
Library (bequeathed to the society in 1856 by the late Thomas Dowse) in one volume ; a Catalogue of the paintings, busts, and other material belonging to the Cabinet ; and a volume of Lowell Lectures on Massachusetts and its Early History. The library, including the Dowse collection of 4,650 volumes, contains about 36,000 bound volumes and upward of 90,000 pamphlets, many in each depart- ment being very rare. The collection of manu- scripts is very rich, and numbers 738 bound volumes, 161 unbound volumes, 75 pamphlets, and upward of 7,000 separate manuscripts. Among them are the letters and papers of Gen. William Heath and Timothy Pickering, the Trumbull and Belknap Papers, a large collection of manuscripts used by Francis Parkman in writing his histories, and two volumes of Winthrop's journals. The collection of books relative to the Rebellion is one of the largest in the country. In the cabinet are many valuable portraits, busts, and other objects of historical in- terest. `Over the door of the room which contains the Dowse Library are two swords worn in the Battle of Bunker Hill by an American and an Eng- lish officer - Colonel Prescott and Captain Linzee - whose descendants afterward intermarried, the his- torian William H. Prescott, a grandson of Colonel Prescott, having married the granddaughter of Cap- tain Linzee. The membership of the society is still limited to one hundred, but the rooms are gen- erously open to scholars and others for reference. Robert C. Winthrop was long the president, having held that office for twenty-eight consecutive years. Upon his retirement he was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis. Dr. Samuel A. Green has been the librarian for many years.
The classic freestone facade of the Boston Athenaum, on Beacon street, just above Tremont place, from designs by Edward C. Cabot, well in- dicates the character of this structure. It was built as long ago as 1847-49, at a cost of about $200,000, -- large for those days. Its style is that of the later Italian architecture, an excellent " example of a Palladian palace front, " says Charles A. Cum- mings in the " Memorial History," " with high base- ment of rusticated piers and round arches carrying an order of Corinthian pilasters with lofty windows between, embellished with pedimented caps." The basement is of solid masonry, and the first floor is supported on ground arches of brick. The digni- fied vestibule contains the stairway which gives ac- cess to all parts of the house. On the first floor is a reading-room, with a room for works of fiction ad- joining, and also the delivery-desks. The library
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hall occupies the whole of the second floor. An iron balcony is attached to the walls, which is reached by several spiral staircases. This is one of the quietest, lightest, and most perfect reading- rooms in the city. The third floor is also used for library purposes. Statues and busts in marble, as well as paintings, serve the useful purpose of decora- tion throughout the building. Old Bostonians. rightly regard the Athenaeum as one of the choicest of the city's literary institutions. It had its origin in the " Anthology Club," a "modest centre of lit- erary radiance in the little town," it has been called, organized by a number of literary gentlemen in 1804. For a while its members edited and pub- lished the " Monthly Anthology; or, Magazine of Polite Literature ; " and in 1806 they established an " Anthology Reading-room and Library. " This was the beginning of the present Atheneum. The society was incorporated that year, and was estab- lished in Scollay's building, which used to stand in Scollay square. Soon after it removed to a house on Tremont street, where the Historical Society's building now is, and later occupied the fair mansion- house of James Perkins, on Pearl street, which he presented to the corporation. And now was begun on a larger scale the collection of the library and of works of art. The former early took rank as one of the best libraries in the country, and the latter be- came large and important. Annual exhibitions were held in the art gallery, and it has been said that the society did more than any other organiza- tion to " foster in this community a knowledge and love of art." The larger part of its art collection formed the nucleus of the Art Museum. The cor- poration has funds of over $450,000, the income of which is used for the purchase of new books for the library, works of art, and other necessary expenses. The library has grown very large and valuable, and now numbers 175,000 volumes and 56,000 pam- phlets. Among the interesting collections is the library of Washington, purchased in 1848 at a cost of $4,000 ; and a large number of permanent photo- graphs, by Braun, after paintings in the chief Euro- pean galleries, - 4,313 in all, more than any other library in the world possesses. The librarian of the Atheneum, Charles A. Cutter, one of the foremost of American bibliographers, has occupied the posi- tion for many years. Only the shareholders have the right to use the books of the library, but students and strangers are always courteously accorded the privileges of the institution. Mr. Samuel Eliot is it's president.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences occupies the hall on the street floor of the Athe-
næum building at the left of the entrance, and here is its valuable library, which includes volumes of its " Transactions " and of reports and papers of various learned societies at home and abroad with which it corresponds. It has had a long and honorable career. Founded in 1780, for the purpose of pro- moting scientific observation, philosophic inquiries and discoveries, a knowledge of the antiquities and natural history of America, it has included in its membership many of the most learned and distin- guished citizens of the United States. It has charge of the awarding of the Rumford medals provided for by the trust founded by Count Rum- ford (Benjamin Thompson, a native of Woburn, made Count by the Elector of Bavaria, whose ser- vice he entered in 1784, previously Sir Benjamin Thompson, knighted by the English king for his services on the British side in the Revolution, to which he turned after failing to get a commission in the Continental army) "for the advancement of the knowledge of light and heat and of their practical application." At its centennial celebration in May, 1880, Robert C. Winthrop delivered the oration.
In the same neighborhood, at No. 13 Somerset street, is the building of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, one of the leading antiquarian organizations of the country, its incorporation đating from 1845. It was started by five gentle- men interested in genealogical research, among whom was Samuel Drake, the author of those in- teresting books on early Boston which all lovers of the town and students of its history prize. For many years the rooms of the society were on Tremont street, near those of the Historical Society. In 1870 the present house was purchased, and after a thorough reconstruction was opened and dedi- cated in March the following year with fitting cere- monies. Its cost was $40,000, and this sum was comfortably raised by subscription among the mem- bers and friends of the society. The first president was Charles Ewer, one of the incorporators, and he was succeeded by Governor John A. Andrew, who held the position until his death in 1868, when the late Marshall P. Wilder was chosen. A. C. Good- ell, the present president, succeeded Mr. Wilder. The society has a library of 16,000 volumes, about 70,000 pamphlets, relating to New England local history and including many family genealogies ; a large number of rare manuscripts and a cabinet of curiosities. The rarest books are kept in a fire- proof room on the first floor of the building, and the main library is on the second. The society pub- lishe's quarterly the " New England Historical and Genealogical Register."
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ALBION BUILDING - HOUGHTON & DUTTON.
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Jacob Sleeper Hall, also on Somerset street, near Beacon, is the main building of Boston University. It occupies the site of the old Somer- set-street Baptist Church, whose tall spire was for years a familiar landmark. It is a quietly decorated building of pressed brick and terra-cotta, the style a freely treated Renaissance. A number of the windows are filled in with cathedral glass in delicate tints, and the transom lights of others are glazed with quarry glass. The entrance doors are of oak. At the left of the front is a private entrance for women students. The interior is admirably ar- ranged and artistically embellished. The architect of the building was William G. Preston. Here are the headquarters of the University, the College of Liberal Arts, and the School of All Sciences. Front- ing on Ashburton place, and connected at the rear with the main building, is the building of the Law School; and farther over on Beacon hill, occupy- ing the tall brown-stone building No. 72 Mt. Vernon street (formerly the fine dwellings of the late Na- thaniel Thayer and Francis B. Hayes) is the School of Theology (formerly the Boston Theological Sem- inary, one of the oldest schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church). The other departments of the University are the School of Medicine, connected with the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital,1 and the College of Music, better known as the New England Conservatory of Music,? both at the South End. The University was founded in 1869, and started liberally endowed. Its greatest benefactor was the late Isaac Rich, one of its founders, who left by his will his entire estate, after the payment of certain other bequests and claims, from which the institution realized about $;oo,ooo. The other founders were Lee Claflin and Jacob Sleeper, for whom the main building is named. William F. Warren, S.T.D., L.L.D., is the president of the University.
The faced-granite building on Beacon street, at the corner of Somerset, now the Congregational House, used to be the home of the Somerset Club, and originally it was a block of two mansion- houses, one of them, that of David Hinckley, in its day, seventy-five years or so ago, the finest in town. On its site long stood a quaint old stone house, the oldest then standing in town, built by the Rev. James Allen, pastor of the First Church (from 1668-1710), and occupied by his descendants until shortly before its removal. The Somerset Club moved out in 1872, and in 1873, when the building came into the possession of the Congregational Association (incorporated in 185.4), it was raised and
and 3. See chapter on the South End.
remodelled. This work was considered at the time a marvel of engineering skill. In the Congrega- tional House are now established the executive officers of the American Board of Missions, the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, the Con- gregational Publishing Society, the Woman's Board, the American Missionary Association, the New West Educational Society, the American College and Education Society, the Woman's Home Mis- sionary Association, the American Peace Society, the Congregational Library, the City Missionary Society, and the Boston School of Oratory. Here, too, are the editorial and business rooms of "The Con- gregationalist," newspaper. In the large hall on the third floor the Congregational ministers have their regular Monday meetings, and the Congregational Club its monthly dinners and social gatherings.
Architecturally the Channing building, at the cor- ner of Beacon and Bowdoin streets, - the Unitarian Denominational House and headquarters of the American Unitarian Association, - is the most peculiar of the group of noteworthy buildings on this part of the hill. It is constructed of brown sandstone, in the Roman style called " rusticated," having many of the characteristics of the fortress- like palaces of Rome, Florence, and Naples. The windows are round-headed, arranged in twos and threes, and the decorations about them, with the cornice capping the structure, help to relieve its heaviness. The approach to the main entrance is by a dignified flight of stone steps. Within are denominational book salesrooms, officers' and com- mittee rooms, and on the upper floor Channing Hall, well lighted by side windows and skylights, and finished with the roof-timbers in sight. The building is a most substantial structure throughout. The partitions are either of brick or of cement blocks, the stairs are of iron, the halls are finished in face-brick, and the rooms in oak. Peabody & Stearns were the architects. The building was dedicated on June 24, 1886. Its inception was in a meeting of the Unitarian Club on December 13, 1882, when the late Henry P. Kidder offered to head a subscription for the enterprise with $10,000. The fund was speedily raised, the lot secured, and the work of construction begun.
The old Amory mansion-house, on the corner of Beacon and Park streets, now used for business pur- poses, has not lost all its dignity and picturesque- ness through the many changes it has experienced. Good taste has been displayed in the work of modelling it for the uses of trade, and care has been taken to preserve as far as possible the old lines and finish. It has been in its day a famous house. In
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CHADWICK BUILDING - W. H. BRINE.
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the Park-street side - it was early in its career converted into two dwellings - George Ticknor lived from 1830 until his death in 1870, and the ivy-covered porch and front was the artistic feature of the short. thoroughfare. It was built about the year 1804 by Thomas Amory, and was called by the townspeople "Amory's Folly " because of its size and elegance, far ahead of the times. At a later period, and before it was divided, it was kept as a fashionable boarding-house by a Mrs. Carter. Here Lafayette stayed when in Boston in 1824, as a guest of the city, Mayor Quincy having rented the house for his week's visit. Among its other distin- guished occupants, at one time and another, were Christopher Gore, one of the best of our governors, with whom Daniel Webster studied law, and for whom the library of Harvard College was named ; Samuel Dexter, one of the giants of the bar and a statesman who filled various cabinet offices in the national government ; and Edward G. Malbone, the famous miniature painter, who has preserved for many Bostonians the likenesses of their great-grand- mothers. The site of this rare old mansion-house was earlier occupied by the brick almshouse, with its gambrel roof and projecting gable.
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