USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 1 > Part 8
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
In the meantime the parent metropolis, fortified by its increased holdings and population, had sought and received the larger recognition it deserved, emerging duly incorporated in 1822 as the first city in the Commonwealth and the largest in New England.
The details of the annexations of the outlying communities, excepting Hyde Park, are recited in the earlier volumes. For our present purpose it must only be kept in mind that, having led independent existences for two centuries or more, these separate communities had developed well crystallized street systems of their own, designed to meet local needs with little or no regard for the neighboring municipalities, with which there was no great volume of intercourse. It is apparent, therefore, that Boston has had no easy task in the fitting together of these unrelated street systems and the welding of the mosaic into one workable and harmonious whole.
GOURLAY'S VISION
The first specific reference to a conscious and comprehensive plan for Boston is found in the report of Robert Fleming Gourlay, published in 1844. Although this date lies outside the range of the present volume, the fact that it found no place in the Justin Winsor Memorial History, which mentions neither the author nor the principles he enunciated, is our justification for its recognition at the present time.
Gourlay was a native of Fife, near Edinburgh, who after a residence of four months in this country submitted to the authorities a report in the form of a pamphlet, consisting of a collection of letters, notes, plans, etc., preceded by a short discussion of conditions in New York, all appearing under the cap-
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
tion, "Plan for Beautifying New York and for Enlarging and Improving the City of Boston, being Studies to Illustrate the Science of City Building." At first glance Gourlay's plan might appear wholly fantastic, but a certain sig- nificance is to be found among other proposals in his forecast of our subway system. In connection with his project for "sub-urban railways," the ultimate need of which he emphasized some ten years before Boston had ever seen a horse car, upon grounds which later proved wholly valid, Gourlay declared . that the better to avoid congestion in our streets it would be well to carry the suburban and distributing railways through the City Proper by means of tunnels. One of these tunnels he projected from the West Boston Bridge to a point very near the South Boston of today, a plan which took shape seventy years later in our Dorchester-Cambridge Tunnel. Gourlay's subway from the Lowell Railroad, now the North Station, is an almost equally close parallel to the present Tremont Street Subway. His Beacon Street Subway has become our Boylston Street Subway with the same destination in view, while the route from the State House to the South Ferry is a very fair prototype of the East Boston Tunnel. Finally, Gourlay expressed the belief that motive power would be provided for his city railways, not by steam but by compressed air, dis- tributed from a central station as electricity is today.
Speaking from a city of 100,000 persons in 1844, Gourlay· declared that Boston fifty years thereafter would contain 500,000 souls. The actual number was 496,920; and within a century he prophesied a million at least, a rate of increase which we are closely approximating today.
In the isolated sections, separated by farm lands and tidal marsh, Gourlay visualized the cities and towns now forming an uninterrupted great metropolis, and argued for a greater Boston with definite plans for the development of the different areas. He pleaded that the Cradle of Liberty might also become the Cradle of Art and Science, that housing conditions might be improved, commercial opportunities developed, and beauty, cleanliness and health pro- moted until Boston should work out its potential destiny as a "city surpassing all others either in ancient or modern times."
GROPING TOWARD A PLAN
The beginning of the fifty-year period with which this volume is particu- larly concerned apparently found public officials groping for ways and means of anticipating future needs of the municipality, while the opinion was gradually crystallizing in the public mind that better results from the expenditure of public moneys might and should be secured. The Honorable Hugh O'Brien. who served as Mayor of the city from 1885 to 1888, enjoying the distinction of re-election for four successive terms, declared that Boston "had expended millions of dollars for widening and extending streets that could have been saved if some systematic plan had been adopted." The Rapid Transit Com- mission, in a report to the Massachusetts Legislature under date of April 5, 1892, stated:
"It is well known that vast sums of money have been spent from time to time on street widenings and changes of grade in the City of
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Boston, and yet the benefit derived has not seemed upon the whole to have been proportionate to the expense incurred. In seeking for an explanation of this disappointment the Commission is inclined to think that the chief reason was that the attacks have in great part been isolated, both in time and place, instead of combined and con- tinuous and guided by a scientific and clearly defined policy."
The first practical step toward meeting this recognized need was taken in 1891 through a bill providing for the appointment of a Board of Survey for the City of Boston with authority to devise a scheme of streets for the entire city, which should be adopted as a basis for all future street improve- ments. The first conclusion of the Board as set forth in its report dated Feb- ruary 1, 1894, was as follows:
"The City of Boston, perhaps more than any other city in the country, has suffered from the many evils attending the want of a comprehensive system of streets and the lack of suitable regulations governing the laying out of streets and ways";
and further:
"The remedy consists in laying down a comprehensive system of streets covering the entire city and taking into account not only present needs but providing as far as may be for the growth and requirements of the future."
In 1895 the board, after four busy, useful years, was abolished by legis- lative act, but its powers and duties were transferred to the Board of Street Commissioners, which under the present ordinance is specifically empowered to lay out, relocate, alter or discontinue highways, to order specific repairs thereon, also to order, with the approval of the Mayor, the construction of sewers, and to take for the city any land, water courses and ways deemed necessary for such construction. It levies the betterment assessments on estates benefited by the construction of new sewers and new or improved high- ways, awards damages for the taking of land and grants to landowners per- mission to open private streets.
THE CITY PLANNING BOARD
A definite attempt to regulate future growth in the cities and towns through- out the Commonwealth is found in the enactment of a state-wide city planning law, chapter 494 of the Acts of 1913 (chapter 41, General Laws, sections 70, 71 and 72). This act provides that
"Every city and every town having a population of more than ten thousand at the last preceding national or state census shall, and towns having a population of less than ten thousand may, create a
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THE PLANNING OF A CITY
planning board, which shall make careful studies of the resources, pos- sibilities and needs of the town, particularly with respect to conditions injurious to the publie health or otherwise in and about rented dwell- ings, and make plans for the development of the municipality, with special reference to proper housing of its inhabitants. In cities the said board shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to confirmation by the council, and in towns shall be elected at the annual town meeting."
The passage of this act found planning boards already in existence in two communities in Massachusetts, one in Salem, established in 1911, and another in Norwood, established in 1912, and these continued to function under legisla- tive authority. They were followed by Cambridge, Fitehburg, Lawrence, Northampton, Newton, Springfield, Walpole and Westfield during 1913, Boston in January, 1914, and others, until at the present time one hundred and twenty cities and towns in the Commonwealth have accepted the provisions of the so-called "City Planning Law."
Chapter 6 of the Ordinances of the City of Boston for the year 1913 provided that
"the Planning Board of the City of Boston, to be established under the provisions of chapter 494 of the Acts of the year 1913, shall consist of five members, one of whom at least shall be a woman."
This ordinance, which was approved January 27, 1914, further specified that the Board should serve without pay, that it should appoint a secretary outside of its own membership, and that it might expend for the salary of its secretary and for such other expenses as might be necessary in the performance of its duties a sum not exceeding $3,000 a year. This finaneial limitation has been amended repeatedly, until at the present time the Board is empowered to spend sueh sums as may be appropriated by the Mayor and City Council. The sum included in the budget for the year 1930 was $34,275.64.
The membership of the City Planning Board, as originally appointed and as it exists at the present time, is shown herewith:
RALPH ADAMS CRAM Chairman 1914-1922; Member 1922-1923.
EMILY GREENE BALCH
Member 1914-1918.
WILLIAM C. EWING
Member 1914-1918.
HENRY ABRAHAMS (died while a member) Member 1914-1923.
JOHN JACKSON WALSH Member 1914-1927.
FREDERIC H. FAY . Member 1919-1922; Chairman 1922- MARY A. BARR Member 1919-1927 and 1930-
ERNEST A. JOHNSON
Member 1923-1930.
WILLIAM STANLEY PARKER
Member 1923-1929.
MRS. FRANCIS E. SLATTERY
Member 1927-1929.
SIDNEY S. CONRAD
Member 1927- --.
EDWARD H. HOYT
Member 1929
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NATHAN SIDD
Member 1930
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
Elisabeth M. Herlihy has served as Secretary of the Board since its first meeting. At the present tinie the permanent staff also includes:
ALVAH J. WEBSTER, Investigator.
FRANK H. MALLEY, Engineer.
JOSEPH V. HARDY, Assistant Investigator.
THOMAS E. MCCORMICK, Draftsman.
GERTRUDE M. RYAN, Stenographer.
MARY T. DOWNEY, Stenographer and Bookkeeper.
The Board has been fortunate always in being able to secure the services of men specially trained and peculiarly fitted for the work of the office. Among those who have made a permanent contribution to the work of the department are Henry L. Whitney, who served as investigator for fifteen years, and Edwin F. Delany, engineer for five years, while others rendered efficient though less extended service before being called to similar work in other communities.
The Board was also fortunate in that during the early years of its existence it had the advice and assistance of the late Nelson P. Lewis, who was for more than twenty years chief engineer of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of New York City, and who at various times served not only as president of the National Conference on City Planning but as an active official of several of the leading engineering organizations in the country. He was at the same time the author of some of the most valuable contributions to city planning literature in existence at the present time. His natural ability, combined with his technical training and experience, enabled him to bring to the work of city planning in Boston a mind enriched by actual contact with other problems of a similar nature, an unusual knowledge and a breadth of vision tempered by practical experience in the application of the principles by which he lived and labored.
ITS MAJOR PROJECTS
In the beginning finances did not permit the preparation of a comprehensive plan for the City of Boston, nor did the time seem propitious for such an under- taking. A large field of education remained first to be covered before the public in general became "city planning minded." In the various projects under- taken, however, the City Planning Board has always kept in mind the effect of the particular improvement proposed upon the entire life of the city. The final acceptance, on September 9, 1921, of the Stuart street widening and extension plan from Huntington avenue to the junction of Tremont and Eliot streets, and the subsequent issuance of bonds authorized at an expense not to exceed $3,100,000, marked the first step in carrying out plans prepared by the City Planning Board in 1916 for a "Western Artery to the Boston Central District." The completion of the improvement thus authorized not only resulted in a material contribution to the convenience of the traveling public but also stimu- lated to a remarkable degree real estate development in the immediate vicinity.
Another important project was authorized in May, 1923, providing for the widening of Cambridge and Court streets at an expense not to exceed $3,500,000. The carrying out of this improvement on the north, like the widening and
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extension of Stuart street on the south, has resulted in greatly facilitating the movement of traffic while at the same time it has given an impetus to real estate development and stability to the future growth of the city in this vicinity. Numerous other street openings, widenings and extensions, have been reported upon by the City Planning Board, in every instance as the result of an intensive study not only of the project itself but also of its relation to the various other features of a city plan which the Board has at all times kept in mind and against which all proposed improvements are measured. Among these may be mentioned the widening of Tremont street from Arlington square to Stuart street and of Kneeland street from Washington street to Atlantic avenue, each authorized at an expense not to exceed $1,200,000.
It would be difficult, and perhaps futile at this time, to attempt to record the numerous investigations, reports and recommendations made by the City Planning Board. Street developments and transportation problems, the loca- tion of public buildings, of health units, and of playgrounds, housing surveys and civic center studies, betterment assessments and census tabulations, all have had their full share of attention and are faithfully recorded in the public documents published annually by the City of Boston. Three major steps, however, might well be perpetuated in connection with this volume,- the preparation of an official city map, a comprehensive zoning plan, and a report on a Thoroughfare Plan for the City of Boston.
A NEW MAP OF BOSTON
During the year 1926 the City Planning Board completed a new wall map of the City of Boston and arranged for its publication on a scale of 800 feet to the inch, with a smaller form reduced to a scale of 1,600 feet to the inch. This was the first municipal map to be published in the history of the city and was copyrighted in the name of the City Planning Board of the City of Boston. The map was worked out on the rectangular co-ordinate system, using the State House as the center. In its preparation, in addition to existing maps and aerial photographs, the old Board of Survey material was used whenever possible, including the original traverse notes in some sections of the city; and, where no other data were available, the information given on coast and geodetic survey maps was utilized.
ZONING
Zoning is another term which found no place in earlier histories, and yet more than one half of the total urban population of the country are living today under zoning ordinances making provision for height, use and area dis- tricts. In this work, so far as height regulations are concerned, Boston was a pioneer in that it was the first city in the United States to secure the enactment of a comprehensive heights of buildings law. Its constitutionality having been upheld, first in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and later in the Supreme Court of the United States, this law is the corner-stone upon which rests the principle of zoning for height throughout the country. Origi- nally adopted in 1904, the law divided the city into districts of two classes, designated as districts A and B. The boundaries of the districts were deter-
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
mined in such manner that those parts of the city in which all or the greater part of the buildings were used for business or cominercial purposes were included in the district or districts designated "A," with a height limit of 125 feet, while those parts of the city in which all or the greater part of the buildings were used for residential purposes, or for purposes not business or commercial, were included in the district or districts designated "B" and restricted to a height of 80 feet. A special commission appointed in 1905 amended this order to the extent of allowing buildings on streets exceeding 64 feet in width in district B to be erected to a height equal to one and one quarter times the width of the street upon which the building stands, but not to exceed one hundred feet in any event. The law was again amended in 1916 by a material enlargement of the 125-foot district and again in 1923 by a statute providing for a maximum height limit of 155 feet in the business section, or district A. In determining the height limitation a controlling ratio of two and one half times the effective width of the street or streets upon which a building or structure stands still obtains.
In the meantime the necessity for further regulation with regard to residen- tial, business and industrial areas became increasingly apparent and the legal machinery was put in motion to bring about a logical development in the future growth of the city.
The Constitutional Convention of 1917 recommended the adoption of an amendment to the effect that
"the General Court shall have power to limit buildings according to their use or construction to specified districts of cities and towns."
This amendment was submitted to referendum vote on November 5, 1918, and duly, ratified (Article LX of the Constitutional Amendments), so that the authority for zoning work throughout the State of Massachusetts is derived directly from the people themselves. It is interesting to note that the result of the referendum throughout the state was 161,214 in favor and 83,095 against, while in the City of Boston 34,953 votes were recorded in favor and only 8,673 against the measure.
Question arose in the Legislature with regard to the delegation to the cities and towns of the Commonwealth of a power specifically vested in the General Court, and an opinion was rendered by the Attorney-General to the effect that any bill providing for such action would be unconstitutional if enacted into law. This opinion was later overruled by the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court and a bill authorizing cities and towns to limit buildings according to their uses or construction to specified districts was enacted into law June 4, 1920 (chapter 40, General Laws, sections 25 to 30, inclusive).
The preparation of a comprehensive zoning plan for the City of Boston was undertaken by the City Planning Board in 1922 under the direction of Arthur C. Comey, Consulting City Planner, with the active assistance and co-operation of a Zoning Advisory Commission appointed by His Honor the Mayor, con- sisting of men nominated by the various commercial, civic, industrial and professional organizations throughout the city, closely affiliated with the develop- ment of Boston. These citizens brought to the work, in addition to their
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THE PLANNING OF A CITY
individual ability and knowledge, the viewpoint, the constructive criticism and the sympathetic co-operation of their respective groups. This Advisory Com- mission met regularly for eighteen months, taking up in detail the various features of zoning work in their application to the City of Boston. The presence on the Commission of lawyers, architects, engineers, real estate men, labor leaders and business men made it possible to bring to bear upon each question varying points of view based upon unusual experience and expert knowledge. In addition, the services of the Honorable Edward M. Bassett of New York, a former member of Congress, counsel of the Zoning Committee of the City of New York, chairman of the New York Commission on Building Districts and Re- strictions, and for a number of years chairman of the New York City Board of Zoning Appeals, were available throughout the duration of the work.
It became apparent to the City Planning Board and to the members of the Zoning Advisory Commission early in their study of conditions that, inasmuch as Boston received its building law from the Legislature, a zoning measure, to be effective, must seek the same source for its authority. The zoning plan, there- fore, in the form of a legislative bill was filed by His Honor, Mayor James M. Curley, in January, 1924, for consideration by the General Court. In the meantime, public hearings were held in addition to legislative hearings and thousands of pieces of literature bearing upon the subject were circulated. Paid advertisements and newspaper articles appeared in the local papers, and con- ferences were held daily at the offices of the City Planning Board. A practi- cally united front on the part of organizations and individuals in favor of the measure was presented to the Legislature, and the bill, with slight amendments, was enacted and approved by His Excellency, Channing H. Cox, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on June 5, as chapter 488 of the Acts of the year 1924.
Although the bill as finally enacted adheres closely to the provisions of the general enabling act, based upon the fundamentals of health, safety, conven- ience and public welfare, it nevertheless stands upon its own foundation as a separate statute. In having secured its zoning by statute rather than by municipal ordinance Boston is unique among the cities of the country.
Briefly, the zoning plan divides the city into single and general residence districts, local and general business districts, industrial and unrestricted dis- tricts, with proper limitations for each with regard to height, percentage of lot occupancy, setbacks, and rear yard provisions. The law is not retroactive in any particular. Its aim is to guide the growth of the city with the least possible disturbance of established conditions. Its interpretation and enforcement is in the first place vested in the Building Commissioner of the City of Boston. Al- though a definite rule was brought to bear upon each parcel of land in the city, the greatest possible elasticity is at the same time provided through a Board of Appeal, empowered to act in individual cases involving practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, and a Board of Zoning Adjustment with authority to change the boundaries of districts, when such changes are deemed necessary in order to meet altered needs of a locality, to avoid undue concentration of popu- lation, to provide adequate light and air, to lessen congestion in streets, to
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
secure safety from fire, panic and other dangers, to facilitate the adequate pro- vision of transportation, water, sewerage and other public requirements and to promote the health, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the City of Boston.
The zoning law has now been in effect nearly seven years, and while it is difficult to ascribe a monetary value to the benefits which have accrued to the community, they are nevertheless tangible in the encouragement which has ' been given to building developments, the protection of residential areas and the stability which has been afforded to property values in general.
AMENDMENTS TO THE ZONING LAW: PYRAMIDAL BUILDINGS
Up to the close of the year 1930, there have been but seven amendments to the Boston zoning law. For the most part these amendments have been offered for the purpose of clarifying the intent of the original act and strengthen- ing its provisions. In not a single instance has there been an attempt to nullify the principle of the law itself. One of the most important amendments is found in chapter 137 of the Acts of the year 1928, which provides that on a lot on which a building one hundred and fifty-five feet in height is permitted, part of a building or structure may exceed such height, provided the volume of such building or structure does not exceed the number of square feet of buildable area of the lot multiplied by one hundred and fifty-five feet, and provided, further, that every part of such building or structure above a height equal to two and one half times the effective width of the street, but not exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet, shall set back from every street and lot line one foot for each two and one half feet of additional height. The pyramidal type of building thus provided for is designed to give an equal amount of floor space under conditions which will not detract from the light and air of the surrounding buildings. Boston, like New York, has thus opened the door to the "tower building," a new and distinctively American type of architecture.
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