USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 19
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The entrance hall contains portraits of the Massachusetts Governors. Just beyond is a more imposing white marble hall with historical murals. The Hall of Flags opening from this displays State regimental flags of the Civil and World Wars. The stained-glass dome bears the seals of the Thirteen Original States. In the Hall of Representatives (second floor rear, left) hangs the Sacred Cod, the State emblem symbolizing a his- toric basic industry.
At the front of the lower floor, a left turn down a passage leads to a unique memorial very characteristic of Boston, always appreciative of its 'dumb animal' friends, the Dog and Horse Tablet (in the through corridor from the Hooker Statue to Mt. Vernon St.), a tribute to the dogs and horses that served in the World War.
Traverse the corridor from Beacon St. to Mt. Vernon St., passing into the greensward square behind the State House. Straight ahead on Ashburton Place.
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29. Ford Hall, which houses the Ford Hall Forum, 15 Ashburton Place, in a tall office building, is a modern stronghold of Boston liberalism, entrenched in the very shadow of the State House.
FOOT TOUR 2 (The Old City) - 2 m.
E. from Park St. on Beacon St.
30. The Boston Athenaum (open to scholars by guest card obtained at the desk), is at 1012 Beacon St. The building (1847-49) was designed by Edward C. Cabot - a minor Renaissance gesture in the Palladian style that seemed significant then. The Athenæum, which contains one of the most famous private libraries in the country, is a descendant of the 'Anthology Club' formed in 1807 by the father of. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Among its 200,000 volumes are rare collections of news on international law, of State papers and historical documents, of books published in the South during the Civil War, and most of George Washington's private library.
Retrace Beacon St .; L. from Beacon St. on Park St.
31. The Park Street Church (Congregational), corner Tremont St., was built in 1809 and was the only building designed by Peter Banner. It bears little evidence of the Classic Revival felt in contemporaneous work; it maintains closely the character of earlier work. An unusual feature is the use of the semi-circular porches between the tower base and the body of the main building. The tower proper is probably as fine as any extant. The church originally housed a Trinitarian congregation formed in protest to the spreading Unitarian movement. It stands on the site of the Granary where the sails of the 'Constitution' were made. This site is known as 'Brimstone Corner,' because in the War of 1812 gunpowder was stored in the basement. When Henry Ward Beecher, a believer in a literal Hell, preached vigorous guest sermons there, the Unitarians slyly said that the corner was well named.
L. from Park St. on Tremont St.
32. The Old Granary Burial Ground (open), hemmed in by business blocks and Tremont St., contains the graves of three signers of the Declaration of Independence (John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Robert Treat Paine), Paul Revere, Peter Faneuil, the parents of Benjamin Franklin, the victims of the Boston Massacre, nine early Governors of the State, and Mother Goose (a real person actually named Mary Goose).
33. Tremont Temple (Baptist), 82 Tremont St., stands on the site of an earlier temple in which Jenny Lind sang (1850-52). Founded in 1839 because the Charles Street Church, then Baptist, decreed that any member bringing a Negro into his pew would be expelled, it is one of the most popular evangelical congregations in Greater Boston.
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34. King's Chapel (Unitarian) (open daily 9-5), corner of School St., built in 1749, was designed by Peter Harrison, who had been a student of Sir John Vanbrugh, a younger contemporary of Sir Christopher Wren. It was from this intimacy with the mode set by Wren and his successor, Gibbs, that the architecture of King's Chapel is derived. But the New- port gentleman-architect possessed too much native genius for his design to be a servile copy of the British masters. The bold and somewhat cold masonry exterior is headed by a low, squat base intended to support a tower which was never built. The interior, replete with aberrations characteristic of its designer, is perhaps the finest Colonial church interior extant. Its rich sobriety, its repose and studied suavity of proportion proclaim it a work of genius. It ranks in historic fame with the Old South Meeting House and the Old North Church, for King's Chapel is both the first Episcopal church in New England and the first Unitarian church in America; and its establishment in both faiths was accompanied by storm. The present building was built in 1754 around a wooden build- ing which was then dismantled.
35. King's Chapel Burial Ground (1630), adjoining the church, is the oldest burial ground in Boston. Here lie Governor Winthrop, John Cotton, and Mary Chilton Winslow.
Retrace Tremont St .; L. from Tremont St. on School St.
36. The Boston Public Latin School Tablet on the wall of the Parker House marks the site of the first Public Latin School (1635) in America. 37. The Old Corner Bookstore Building (1712), at the corner of School and Washington Sts., is an ancient three-and-a-half-story brick building with gambrel roof. From 1828 to 1903, it housed the most famous book- store in Boston, and at one time the offices of Ticknor and Fields, who published the early works of all major New England poets. Through its doors strolled Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, and Holmes, as well as Whittier, the latter rarely, for he was shy and confused by the roar of nineteenth-century traffic.
R. from School St. on Washington St.
38. The Old South Meeting House (1729) (open daily, summer 9-5, winter 9-4; adm. 25g), corner of Milk St., shared with Faneuil Hall the most fervid and momentous oratory of Revolutionary days, and an Old South meeting was always a danger signal to Burke and Pitt. It is still used for public meetings of civic or social protest. The church building, de- signed by Robert Twelve, has a simple mass with severely plain exterior of brick laid in Flemish bond. The wooden steeple rising 180 feet is of conventional design, more impressive than that of its predecessor, the 'Old North Church.' Its double row of arched windows is especially effective in the interior, where interest centers in the great arched recess above the altar. The Old South greatly influenced later ecclesiastical design in the Colonies.
The interior with its gate-pews was restored after the British had used it for a riding-school during the Siege; in 1876 the pews were again
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removed when the building ceased to be used as a church. The only remaining parts of the original building are the walls and their frame- work, including the windows and doors, and the double tier of white galleries, in the topmost of which sat Negro slaves. The high broad white pulpit is a replica of the one which resounded to the voices of Otis, Samuel Adams, Quincy, Warren, and Hancock. Here began the line of march of the Boston Tea Party, and here General Warren, prevented by the British from entering the pulpit by the stairs, climbed into it through the window at the rear. The beautiful gilded Gallery Clock, surmounted by a spread eagle bearing in his beak a double string of gilded balls, is a reproduction of a famous pattern designed by Simon Willard, a Boston clockmaker (1753-1848). The women of Massachusetts purchased and thus saved this noted landmark from destruction in 1876, when it was proposed to sell it, because of the great increase in value of the land. The parish, formed in 1669 (Congregational), worships at the 'Old South Third' in Copley Square.
L. from Washington St. on Milk St .; L. from Milk St. on Congress St.
39. The United States Post Office and Federal Office Building is a massive new granite building in modern style designed by Cram and Ferguson. It occupies the entire block between Devonshire, Congress, Water, and Milk Sts. A tablet on the Milk St. frontage of the former Post-Office block commemorates the fact that the great Boston fire of 1872, that raged November 9-10, sweeping 60 acres and destroying $60,000,000 worth of property, was halted here.
L. from Congress St. on State St.
40. The Site of the Boston Massacre, 30 State St., is marked by a brass arrow pointing into the street where a cobblestone circle indicates the exact spot where the first patriots fell when fired upon by British soldiers.
41. The Old State House (open daily except Sun. and Holidays, 9-4.30; Sat. 9-1), Washington and State Sts., built in 1713 on the site of its predecessor, has been restored to its original robust appearance after successive alterations. Its steeply pitched roof with stepped gables at either end, its tower with gracefully telescoped members finished by a fine cupola rising from the middle of the building, are enhanced by the aloof position of the building. Upon the stepped gables, strangely enough Dutch in derivation, ramp the British lion and unicorn. Classic details in doors, windows, and cupola are a new note in this period. The famous building, the identity of whose architect is a mystery, is markedly im- portant as an influence upon the architecture of its time.
This was the State House of the British in the eighteenth century, until the Revolution, and thereafter of the Commonwealth until the new State House was ready in 1798. In 1881, it was proposed to demolish the Old State House, because the land was valued at $1,500,000. At this junc- ture, Chicago offered to transfer the building to Lincoln Park on Lake Michigan and take care of it, paying all the expense of removal and reassembly. The offer stung Boston so sharply that the City Fathers
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agreed to stand the loss on the land in perpetuity, and never again to threaten the building with removal or destruction.
Within, the spiral stairway is the best architectural feature, but is not coeval with the original structure. The building is the headquarters of the Bostonian Society and houses intimate historical relics and a fine marine museum.
Straight ahead from State St. on Court St.
42. The Ames Building, corner of Washington St., Boston's first sky- scraper, 13 stories high, was erected in 1891 from plans made by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, successors of Richardson. It is among the rare instances of skillful adaptation of the Richardson Romanesque to com- mercial purposes.
43. The Site of the Franklin Printing Press is marked by a tablet on the Franklin Ave. frontage of the building at No. 17 Court St. Here Ben- jamin Franklin learned the printer's trade from his brother and composed ballads that he later disparaged.
Retrace Court St .; L. from Court St. on Washington St.
44. The Site of Paul Revere's Goldsmith Shop, 175 Washington St., is marked by a bas-relief tablet. The patriot who rode to Lexington to give his memorable alarm was a great artist in gold and silverware. Any of his work now commands fabulous prices. Examples are at the Museum of Fine Arts (see below).
R. from Washington St. into Dock Square.
45. Dock Square, so named because the docks of the present Atlantic Ave. waterfront once extended here, is now the market district of Boston. From earliest dawn till dusk it is in constant turmoil, with huge vans unloading whole carcasses of meats, and crates of fruits and vegetables piled over the sidewalks. The predominant human type is the market- man, in soiled apron and inevitable straw hat, but many a humble shopper is also here, bargain-hunting.
46. Faneuil (Fan'l) Hall (open daily 9-5, Sat. 9-12, closed Sun.} was called the 'Cradle of Liberty' because many important meetings of pro- test were held here before the Revolution. It was the first Colonial attempt at academic design, completed in 1742 from the plans of John Smibert, the Colonial portrait-painter, and given by Peter Faneuil, a Boston merchant. It contained a town hall above and a public market below. The original structure, two stories and a half of brick, with open arches below and a bell-tower above, was considered impressive and or- nate. When fire destroyed the building in 1762, it was promptly rebuilt on the original plan. In 1805, Charles Bulfinch added a third story and doubled the original 40-foot width, but retained the original style of the building. Its weathervane, a grasshopper, is the most noted steeple adorn- ment in Boston, modeled by Shem Drowne of Hawthorne's story, 'Drowne's Wooden Image.' The leading Faneuil historian says that
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Drowne chose a grasshopper because while chasing one as a small boy he met the man who started him on the road to success. An American consul once tested those claiming Boston citizenship by asking them what is on top of Faneuil Hall. Its chief present treasure is G. P. A. Healy's gigantic painting of 'Webster's Reply to Hayne.'
Faneuil Hall is protected by a charter against sale or leasing. It is never rented, but is open to any group upon request of a required number of citizens agreeing to abide by certain prescribed regulations. The lower floor is occupied by market stalls handling all sorts of produce, a busy and fascinating spectacle.
Two flights upstairs from the hall are the rooms (open weekdays 10-4, Sat. 10-12) of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, oldest military organization in America (1638), which still parades in Boston on important occasions, dressed in elaborate historical uniforms.
47. Quincy Market (open), adjacent to Faneuil Hall and sometimes called New Faneuil Hall, is architecturally a product of the Greek Revival, designed in 1826 by Alexander Parris.
L. from Dock Square on Union St.
48. The Union Oyster House, 41 Union St., Boston's renowned sea-food restaurant, has been situated for the past 110 years in this low, angular three-story brick tavern with the small-paned windows, all of 200 years old. The lower floor contains very old semi-private eating-booths, and a small bar at which Daniel Webster used to drop in for a toddy on cold days. Several other excellent restaurants in the vicinity are located in less historic buildings.
R. from Union St. on Marshall St.
49. The Boston Stone is embedded in the back wall of the last building on the right, just around the corner of the side alley. It is a granite block (1737), surmounted by a spherical granite paint-grinder about the size and shape of a cannon ball. The block and the ball constituted a hand paint mill for Thomas Child from 1693 to 1706. The stone was later used as the starting-point for the measurement of mileages from Boston.
R. from Marshall St. on Hanover St.
Hanover St., now the main thoroughfare of the Italian North End, was once favored by wealthy sea captains and leading patriots of the Revolu- tion. The finest houses are gone, but here and there are old wooden dwellings, flush with the street between cheap modern brick tenements, Italian food stores, and clothing shops. The North End is one of the most congested sections in any major American city.
R. from Hanover St. on Prince St .; R. from Prince St. into North Square. 50. Paul Revere's House (open daily 10-4, adm. 25g), 19 North Square, which was a century old when it became the home of the famous patriot
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and silversmith, is the only 17th-century structure now standing in downtown Boston. Claimed by some to have been built in 1660, there is more proof that it stands on the plot once occupied by the Increase Mather Parsonage that burned in the great fire of 1676, so it is likely that it was built within the next year. During its long life it has undergone many changes, but in 1908 it was rescued from the encroachments of progress by the Paul Revere Memorial Association and restored to its original condition. Characteristic of the medieval influence which domi- nated all seventeenth-century architecture in Massachusetts, it has the overhanging second story with ornamental drops or pendrils, the small casements with diamond-shaped panes, and a simple floor plan with massive end chimney.
The house has only four rooms and an attic, and contains some beautiful old furniture and china (not much of it Revere's); two enormous fire- places with brick ovens and ancient utensils; portions of wallpaper of 1750, depicting in block pattern the Church of Saint Mary le Bow in London; and some of Revere's etchings and manuscript letters.
Retrace North Square; L. from North Square on Prince St .; R. from Prince St. on Salem St.
Salem Street, narrow at best, is so crowded with pushcarts laden with fruits and vegetables that locomotion is difficult. Here is the heart of the Italian quarter, noisy, garrulous, good-natured, and vital.
5I. The Old North Church (Christ Church, Episcopal) (open daily 9-5; voluntary contributions; Sun. services 10.45), 193 Salem St., had a belfry known to every American child by Longfellow's lines: 'One if by land and two if by sea, and I on the opposite shore will be.' The eight melo- dious bells in the tower are inscribed: 'We are the first ring of bells cast for the British Empire in North America.'
The church was built in 1723. The design of this historic building was made by William Price, a Boston print-seller and draftsman who, while in London, made a study of Christopher Wren churches. During a violent gale in 1804 the steeple was blown down, and in 1808 a new one, built after a model by Charles Bulfinch, replaced the old. Although fol- lowing closely the design of the original, the new tower was lowered in height by 16 feet. The interior, although obviously the product of an untrained man, is modeled after the designs by Wren. The galleries are supported by square columns carried through to the roof. The pews carry small brass plates inscribed with the names of eighteenth-century merchant-prince owners. Some are still held by descendants; others have become prized possessions of old Boston families.
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FOOT TOUR 3 (Waterfront) - 1.5 m.
S. from Salem St. on Charter St .; L. from Charter St. on Hanover St .; R. from Hanover St. on Commercial St.
This tour covers the old waterfront, once the port for all ships, now devoted to coastwise shipping and fishing boats. Vessels from European ports now dock in East or South Boston.
52. Constitution Wharf, 409 Commercial St., at the foot of Hanover St., is occupied chiefly by a high brick warehouse which cuts off the harbor view. A bas-relief tablet on the Commercial St. wall commemorates the launching (1797) of the famous U.S. Frigate 'Constitution' ('Old Ironsides') the Queen of the Navy, which made history in the War with Tripoli and the War of 1812.
Straight ahead on Atlantic Ave., Commercial St. having slipped unobtru- sively off to the right, after the manner of Boston streets.
Just beyond Lewis's Wharf, 32 Atlantic Ave., is the first delightful glimpse of the actual waterfront, with freighters using the same slips as the humble power-boats of small fishermen. Along the quays are marine hardware shops and numerous lunchrooms for sailors. On the hottest summer day, the air has a cool salty tang, becoming definitely fishy as one passes the brief row of fish-markets.
53. T Wharf, 178 Atlantic Ave., is one of the most famous and picturesque fishing piers in the country. The entrance, obscure and poorly marked, is just beyond the huge brick warehouse of the Quincy Cold Storage Plant. Suddenly the gaudy small trawlers of Italian and Portuguese fishermen appear, outlined against the long, low yellow shed of the pier - a shed with many small-paned windows, which give upon fish- brokerages and small restaurants specializing in New England fish dinners. This is the center of the 'Little man's fishing industry,' for the larger boats go to the modern great Fish Pier at South Boston. Knots of Latin fishermen are always gathered here mending nets, repairing buoys, or baiting lines, and animatedly discussing the weather, the catch, and current prices.
54. Long Wharf (1710), 202 Atlantic Ave., was once a great deal longer, beginning in fact up by the present Custom House which now soars in the background. From here a century and a half ago the British em- barked for home (March 17, 1776), and from here today hundreds of summer tourists embark daily for Provincetown. In the late eighteenth century, the wharf, then privately owned, was a center for fashionable smugglers, said to have included Governor Hancock.
R. from Atlantic Ave. on State St.
55. The United States Custom House (open 9-5 daily), (1847) designed
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by Ammi B. Young and Isaiah Rogers, was among the last monuments of the Greek Revival. A dome with which it was originally crowned is concealed within the tall shaft of floors which in 1915 transformed the building into a 500-foot skyscraper and a fitting mausoleum to the era of Greek affectation. The tower shows a similarity to that of the Metro- politan Building in New York, although on a much smaller scale. Peabody and Stearns were the architects of the super-structure. A balcony near the top offers a splendid panorama of Boston.
Retrace State St .; R. from State St. on Atlantic Ave.
56. India Wharf, which begins at 288 Atlantic Ave. and continues for four piers, now serves the Eastern Steamship Lines. The ancient lofts of the two middle piers were once occupied by riggers and sail makers.
57. Rowe's Wharf, 344 Atlantic Ave., a small but busy railroad terminal, was the scene of the seizure and deposition of Governor Andros (1689). The Nantasket steamer, which sails from here and offers a good view of the harbor islands, is a Boston institution.
58. The Boston Tea Party (Dec. 16, 1773) took place at the northeast corner of Atlantic Ave. and Pearl St., then Griffin's Wharf, when a group of patriots disguised as Indians boarded British tea-ships and threw the cargo overboard. A tablet on the Atlantic Ave. wall of the commercial building now occupying the site gives the Boston version of the party.
FOOT TOUR 4 (Downtown) -2.5 m.
N.E. from Atlantic Ave., at South Station, on Federal St.
59. The Shoe Museum of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation (open weekdays 9-5), 140 Federal St., exhibits 1500 pairs of shoes of all periods, styles, and countries; Egyptian sandals dating back to 2000 B.C .; boots worn by Henry IV of France; postilion boots weighing 12 pounds each; Spanish shoes made especially to protect against snakebite. Pictures and models illustrate the many stages and varied machinery involved today in making a single pair of shoes.
Retrace on Federal St .; R. from Federal St. on High St .; R. from High St. on Summer St .; straight ahead from Summer St. into Winter St .; L. from Winter St. on Tremont St.
60. Saint Paul's Cathedral (1819-20), opposite the Common, the seat of the Episcopal Bishops of Massachusetts, is Boston's earliest example of the Greek Revival. The architects were Alexander Parris, who later built the Quincy Market, and Solomon Willard. The Ionic capitals were carved by Willard. The white interior is severely plain, with high stall- like pews and no stained glass. Daniel Webster, a pewholder, was on the building committee. The dome of the present chancel is a reproduction of that in Saint Paul's, London.
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61. Boston Common, part of a tract set aside by Governor Winthrop as a cow pasture and training field, retains as paved walks the casual paths worn by grazing cattle. Here stocks and pillory once stood, ås well as a pen where those who desecrated the Sabbath were imprisoned. Several Quakers are thought to have been hanged and buried on the Common. Both British and Massachusetts regiments were mustered on it, and it is still used on occasion as a drill ground.
Free speech has always been a privilege on the Common. Group argu- ments on social and economic problems are in daily progress around the Grecian Parkman Bandstand and orators address the public along the Charles Street Mall. The Frog Pond in the center is now a shallow arti- ficial pool patronized during hot weather by little boys in various stages of undress.
62. The Crispus Attucks Monument (set back on lawn) commemorates the 'Boston Massacre' (1770), which John Adams and Daniel Webster united in calling the origin of the Revolution. Crispus Attucks, a Negro, was one of several persons killed when soldiers, taunted by a group of excited citizens, fired on the crowd.
L. from Tremont St. into Boylston St.
63. The Liberty Tree Site, facing Boylston St. on Washington St., is covered by a business block, bearing on its wall a carved tree commemo- rating this Revolutionary landmark, scene of Stamp Act meetings and frequent hangings in effigy of well-known Tories.
L. from Boylston St., diagonally across Washington St. into Essex St .; R. from Essex St. on Harrison Ave .; L. from Harrison Ave. on Beach St.
64. Chinatown begins at Harrison Ave. and Beach St. with a group of small native shops, principally markets, the latter displaying in their windows strings of strange-looking sausages and small wire hanging baskets of ancient eggs. At the corner of Oxford St. (L) is the Chinese Bulletin, a news sheet in native characters, posted daily.
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