USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
R. from Beach St. on Hudson St.
Near-by is a district crowded with Chinese restaurants and Oriental curio shops.
R. from Hudson St. on Kneeland St.
Kneeland Street is the center of the ready-made dress business of New England. Wholesale houses and workshops crowd the district, and on warm days the hum of hundreds of sewing machines can be heard through the open windows.
Straight ahead on Stuart St .; L. from Stuart St. on Tremont St.
65. The Wilbur Theatre, built in 1913 from plans by Blackall, Clapp and Whittemore, is an adaptation of late Georgian Colonial architecture. It is one of the first auditoriums to be designed with scientific knowledge of acoustics, Professor Sabine of Harvard, pioneer in the field, being the consultant.
-
163
Boston
Retrace Tremont St .; L. from Tremont St. on Stuart St .; straight ahead into Eliot St .; R. from Eliot St. through Park Sq .; L. from Park Sq. on Boylston St.
66. Statues along Boylston Street Mall are: (I) Wendell Phillips, 'Cham- pion of the Slave' (1811-84), done in bronze by Daniel Chester French; (2). Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson's handsome young Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1746-1817), the popular Polish patriot who served under Washington; (3) Charles Sumner, one of the leading abolitionist senators, by Thomas Ball.
67. Boylston Street Subway (1897), its streetcar entrance opposite the Sumner statue, was the first transportation subway in the United States. 68. The William Ellery Channing Statue, by Herbert Adams, corner of Boylston and Arlington Sts., is a tribute to a leader (1780-1842) of the Unitarian movement in America.
69. The Natural History Museum (open weekdays 9-4.30; Sun. 1-4.30), corner of Berkeley St., a Palladian structure of brick and brownstone, houses collections of minerals and fauna of New England.
FOOT TOUR 5 (Fenway District) - 2.5 m.
E. from Massachusetts Ave. on Huntington Ave.
70. The Christian Science Church (open Wed. and Fri. 10-5; services Sun. morning and evening and Wed. evening) is The Mother Church. Christian Science was discovered in 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy, who developed the theme into a Christian Science textbook, 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' and published it in 1875. In 1879, she organized the Church of Christ, Scientist, and reorganized it in 1892. The present organization, including all its branches and activities, is the direct out- growth of her work. The Publishing House across the street issues The Christian Science Monitor, widely read throughout the English-speaking world. A large terraced grass plot on Huntington Avenue, adorned with shrubs and small trees, allows the buildings to be seen in perspective.
Two church structures in actual contact with each other are connected by an interior passage. The smaller one of gray rough-faced granite with a square granite tower, erected in 1894, is the first Christian Science church building in Boston, though its congregation dates from 1879. The main church (1904), in Italian Renaissance with a great central dome, is of limestone, trimmed with granite below and with glazed white tiles above. Its vast open nave, seating 5000 people, rises 108 feet from floor to dome, with no support of pillars. The doors and pews are of San Domingo mahogany, richly carved; the walls of limestone, with windows of clear glass. The wide pulpit contains two lecterns, one for the First Reader, a man, and one for the Second Reader, a woman.
-
2
164
Main Street and Village Green
The Publishing House (open daily, 9-11.30 and 1-4, guide service) occupies a three-story limestone building, covering a city block and surmounted by six additional stories in a recessed tower, capped by yellow tiles.
Beyond the white marble entrance hall is the Mapparium, unique in the world, a spherical room, thirty feet in diameter, with walls of colored glass depicting a world map. Passage through the room is by a glass bridge.
Throughout the building marble corridors lead from room to room opulently paneled in rare woods, beautifully tiled or carpeted, hung with Venetian blinds and tapestries. Even in the halls of the presses is spotless- ness, quiet, and order.
Retrace on Huntington Ave. across Massachusetts Ave.
71. Symphony Hall, northwest corner of Massachusetts Ave., a low, oblong, red-brick building trimmed with granite, is a subdued adapta- tion of Renaissance forms designed by McKim, Mead and White (1900) and admirably suited to its specific function. The concert hall, with two balconies, seats 2500 persons. In a side room is the Casadesus Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments (open during concert hours). The Boston Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1881, by Major Henry Lee Higginson, is recognized as one of the finest in the country. In early summer a re- duced orchestra gives a ten-week season of popular concerts, affection- ately known to all Boston as 'the Pops.' For this series Symphony Hall assumes a gala appearance with gay lattices adorning the stately walls and the floor occupied by small square tables at which refreshments are served.
72. The New England Conservatory of Music, at the corner of Gains- borough St., occupies a three-story, square, flat-roofed building of gray brick, trimmed with granite and marble. It is one of the oldest institu- tions (1867) of its kind in America, as well as one of the best, offering co-educational instruction in instrumental and vocal music, in composi- tion and teaching. It has a distinguished faculty, and many of its 140,000 graduates have attained eminence.
Within the building, reached from the Gainsborough St. entrance, is Jordan Hall, the leading recital hall in Boston, with perfect acoustics and a seating capacity of 1000.
73. Northeastern University (incorporated 1916), 316 Huntington Ave., is a co-operative educational institution with a total enrollment (1937) of 5293. The student is enabled to combine classroom instruction with supervised employment, effectively uniting theory and practice. Among its professional branches the divisions of law and engineering are well known.
74. The Boston Opera House (1906), corner of Opera Place, is a massive brick building of somber Neo-Classic design. The front wall is plastered with billboards advertising downtown theatrical attractions, except dur- ing brief visiting engagements of operatic companies. On November 8,
-
-
--
165
Boston
1909, this building was the scene of the brilliant début of the new Boston Opera Company, founded and maintained at a heavy loss for three years by Eben D. Jordan, a Boston merchant.
75. The Museum of Fine Arts (open daily except Mon., 9-5, winter 9-4, Sun., 1-5; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July) occupies several buildings. These, grouped by halls and loggias, are of granite, admirably situated in a broad quadrangle on the open, sunny lawns of the Fenway. The not-too-well-designed Neo-Classic buildings derive their impress from the massiveness of the group. Directly in front of the entrance is the 'Appeal to the Great Spirit,' Cyrus Dallin's renowned American Indian on ponyback, his face lifted skyward, both arms outstretched in supplication.
The largest showings of individual painters are of Millet, Copley, and Stuart. The American Colonial silver is very fine, and includes many examples of the work of Paul Revere. Equally memorable are the Colonial interiors, consisting of entire rooms transferred from New England houses, together with their original period furniture. Notable among these in the American Wing are three complete rooms designed and executed by Samuel McIntire from his 'Oak Hill' in Peabody.
The Dancing Bacchante, a copy of a statue by Frederick MacMonnies, in the central courtyard, has a piquant past. A nude figure of a young dancer, holding aloft in one arm an infant whom she tantalizes with a bunch of grapes held high in the other hand, the original statue was placed in the courtyard of the Public Library in 1895, where it roused a storm of protest still clearly remembered by middle-aged citizens. Morals, especially the morals of youth, were regarded as imperiled and a sugges- tion was made in all seriousness that the sculptor be asked to clothe the figure. The original young lady is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
76. Wentworth Institute (open Sept .- May, 9-4, except Sat. and Sun .; in summer to shops and laboratories not in use), corner of Ruggles St., trains young men in the mechanical arts. It occupies a wide, four-story yellow- brick building trimmed with granite, set well back on a spacious lawn.
R. from Huntington Ave. on Longwood Ave.
77. The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, corner of Worthington St., was instituted in 1823, as an association of Boston pharmacists who fostered the training of apprentices in apothecary shops.
78. The Angell Memorial (animal) Hospital (open 9-9 daily; Sunday and holidays for emergency only), named for George T. Angell, founder and first president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and editor of Our Dumb Animals, occupies a handsome three- story brick and granite building at 180 Longwood Ave., opposite the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
79. The Harvard Medical School (1903-06), built entirely of white Ver-
1.
I66
Main Street and Village Green
mont marble, from designs by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, is of simple classic design adapted from the Greek and made impressive by its formal setting upon a terrace.
The Four Laboratory Buildings, set upon a lower level than the Administration Building, are symmetrical in design. The Administration Building, approached by broad steps leading up from the terrace to a gigantic Ionic portico is monumental in character. On its ground floor is a great hall of design conforming to the classic exterior, and a marble staircase rises on the axis of the building.
R. from Longwood Ave. on Avenue Louis Pasteur.
80. The Boston Public Latin School (1635) now occupies a three-story brick building, three blocks deep, with granite Corinthian columns. It is the oldest public Latin school still in existence.
L. from Avenue Louis Pasteur on Fenway.
81. Emmanuel College, 400 Fenway, a massive four-story brick and granite edifice in English Collegiate Gothic, with a broad, square, open bell-tower and wide lawns adorned with shrubbery, is a non-resident Catholic institution for women, directed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Retrace on Fenway.
82. Simmons College (for women), 300 Fenway, occupies a wide three- story yellow-brick building dating from 1902. It was the first college for women in the United States to recognize the desirability of giving stu- dents such instruction as would fit them to earn an independent liveli- hood. It offers courses in science, household economics, literary and secretarial work, and is affiliated with schools of physical education and store service. It has more than 1600 students.
83. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum ('Mrs. Jack Gardner's Venetian Palace ') (open Tues., Thurs., Sat. 10-4, adm. 25g; Sun. 1-4, free, closed in August), at junction of Fenway and Worthington St., built in 1902, is a composite of fragments and materials from Venice and other parts of Italy. Although Edward H. Sears, an architect, drew the plans, the edifice is obviously the work of a collector indulging an unbridled fancy. The Museum houses works of Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Cellini, and many other old masters. Chamber-music concerts are given in the romantic setting of the Tapestry Room (Tues., Thurs., Sat. at 2.45, Sun. at 2, no extra fee).
Mrs. John Lowell Gardner, known to Boston during her lifetime as 'Mrs. Jack Gardner,' was the most picturesque figure in the social, art, and music world of Boston in the Mauve Decade. The daughter of a wealthy New York merchant with an artistic and musical flair, she was witty and independent, flaunting social tradition, and gathering about herself a salon of artists and musicians. Her shrewd acceptance of drawbacks in her personal appearance, and her capitalization of her good points, is somewhat cryptically embodied in the small portrait of her by Zorn, representing her as flinging open her palace doors, her face a mysterious
167
Boston
vague blur without features, but her shapely arms and hands very prominent, even reflected in the doors.
Straight ahead from the front of Gardner Museum.
84. The Back Bay Fens, commonly called The Fenway, are reclaimed mud flats. This stretch of charming parkway, following the beautified meanderings of a sluggish brook far from lovely in itself, gives a rustic touch to the surrounding residential district and the art and educational institutions. The Fens, with their bridle paths and motor roads, begin a long strip of parkway winding through Brookline and Roxbury.
On the right is the Museum of Fine Arts (north front), and just beyond, the marble walls of the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children.
85. The Boston Medical Library (open Mon. and Wed. 9.30-10; Tues., Thurs., Fri. 9.30-6; Sat. 9.30-5), 8 Fenway, is a modern three-story yellow-brick building trimmed with granite, built in 1901.
R. from Fenway on Boylston St.
86. The Massachusetts Historical Society (open weekdays 9-5; Sat. 9-1; museum open Wed. 2-4), 1154 Boylston St., corner of Fenway, occupies an incongruously modern bow-front granite and yellow-brick building. Founded in 1791, the oldest historical society in the United States, it is primarily a library, rich in early books, historical documents, newspapers, manuscripts, and engravings. Of special interest are a suit of clothes worn by Benjamin Franklin in Paris, of lilac poplin, with cuffs of pleated lawn, Governor Winthrop's Bible, Shem Drowne's Indian weathervane from Province House, Peter Faneuil's mahogany wine chest, and a British drum from Bunker Hill. Casually tucked away among these is the pen with which Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
MOTOR TOUR 1 (South Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester) - 23 m.
E. from South Station, Boston, on Summer St.
87. The Commonwealth Pier, built by the State just before the World War, is a fine passenger and freight pier. Twelve hundred feet long and 400 feet wide, it provides berths for five 600-foot vessels at a time, and is used by a number of transatlantic lines.
88. The Army Base (open by approval of Officer of the Day), corner of Harbor St., comprises a 2000-foot pier and an 8-story concrete warehouse 1600 feet long. Built during the World War, it is the Army Quartermaster depot for New England, and the second largest Army base in the United States.
Straight ahead from Summer St. on L St .; L. from L St. on East Broadway. The City Point Section of South Boston is traversed by East Broadway, bordered by old bow-front brick residences reminiscent of the fashionable
168
Main Street and Village Green
forties. It has the finest situation, with respect to the harbor, of any district of Boston, and one of the best beaches near the Metropolitan Center.
89. The Boston Aquarium (open 10-5 daily), corner of Farragut Rd., is a low stucco building with octagonal, red-tiled tower and a fish weather- vane.
L. from East Broadway on Gardner Way.
90. Castle Island, so named by Governor Winthrop, who thought its natural contours resembled a castle, is a peninsular headland park, its 20 rolling acres capped in the center by the solid stone walls of Fort In- dependence (yard only open), erected in 1801 and abandoned about 1880. When exposed fortifications were of service in warfare, this fort was of great strategic value in the defense of Boston, for the harbor channel passes within a stone's throw of its northern face.
In 1827, Edgar Allan Poe, at eighteen, enlisting under the name of Perry, did five months of army service here. In 1905, an amazing parallel to Poe's story, 'The Cask of Amontillado,' was disclosed by the finding, in a sealed casemate within the fort, of a skeleton clothed in army uniform.
Motor cars may proceed only to the 'island's' edge. The short footpath around the fort offers an interesting panorama. To the northwest, surmounted by another abandoned stone fort, is Governor's Island, one of Governor Winthrop's three Bos- ton homes. To the north is Winthrop (see Tour 1A), huddled at the foot of a silver- gray water-tower. Northeast is Deer Island, identified by the long red-brick build- ings of a city penitentiary.
Due east on the far horizon rises the white tower of Boston Light, the oldest light- house in America, not to be confused with the nearer white tower of Long Island Light, a trifle southeast of it, marking the entrance to Nantasket Roads, where the British gathered their departing fleet in 1776.
Directly opposite the Clipper Ship Monument to Donald McKay (sce NEW BURY- PORT) is the Ship Channel of the inner harbor, busy at all hours with passing ves- sels, large and small.
Retrace Gardner Way; straight ahead on Columbia Rd.
91. The L Street Baths (adm. 10g), at the junction with L St., are built on the European plan of enclosed bathing areas, one for men, one for women and girls, and one for boys. The enclosure is roofed over to hold the bath- houses; the walls extend out, surrounding open-air sections of beach and water. A group of intrepid bathers known as the 'L Street Brownies' go into the ocean here every day of the year.
R. from Columbia Rd. on L St .; L. from L St. on East Broadway.
92. The Site of the Old Mount Washington Hotel, later the first building of Perkins Institution for the Blind (see WATERTOWN), is covered by the South Boston Municipal Building, 535 East Broadway.
L. from East Broadway on G St .; R. from G St. on Thomas Parkway.
93. The Dorchester Heights Monument (not open), summit of Thomas Park, is a square white marble tower 80 feet high, commemorating the
169
Boston
gunfire from this hill that was a contributive factor in the British evacua- tion of Boston on March 17, 1776.
R. from Thomas Parkway on Telegraph St .; R. from Telegraph St. on Mercer St.
94. Old Saint Augustine's Chapel (open upon application at Saint Augus- tine's Church, one block left on Dorchester St.) (1819) stands in the walled cemetery at the junction of Mercer and Dorchester Sts. The tiny brick chapel, with its irregular slate-tiled roof and its arches, small-paned clear-glass windows, nestling in a century-old graveyard under giant English elms, inevitably suggests Gray's 'Elegy.'
L. from Mercer St. on Dorchester St .; L. from Dorchester St. on Old Colony Blvd.
95. Old Harbor Village (R), framing the expansive area of Columbia Circle, is one of the largest ventures of the Federal Housing Projects in New England. Occupying 20 acres, this group comprises 1016 apart- ments in a block of three-story buildings with penthouses, play yards, and social halls. The buildings are centrally heated. The apartments have 3 to 5 rooms and rent at a moderate figure. The smaller structures, called 'low houses,' have from 3 to 6 rooms, each section with its own private entrance.
R. from Old Colony Blvd. on Columbia Rd. to the junction with Pond St. 96. The Blake House (1648) (owned by the Dorchester Historical Society, open upon application), corner of Pond St., is a two-and-a-half-story shingled cottage with steep pitched roof and diamond-paned windows. The interior, consisting only of four rooms and an attic, has hand-hewn cross-beams, slightly arched, and 'S' hinges. By the front doorsill is the Dorchester Milestone.
97. The Site of Edward Everett's Birthplace, corner of Boston St., Edward Everett Square, Dorchester, is marked by a tablet, just across the square from his Statue, by W. W. Story. Congressman, Governor, Minister to England, Secretary of State, President of Harvard, and U.S. Senator, Edward Everett (1794-1865) was in addition a graceful orator, without whom no commemorative exercises in the New England of his day were considered complete.
R. from Columbia Rd. on Boston St .; L. from Boston St. on Willow Court. 98. The Clap House (open by arrangement), 23 Willow Court, early 17th- century, still retains its gambrel roof.
Retrace Willow Court; R. from Willow Court on Boston St. to Edward Everett Sq .; R. from Edward Everett Sq. on East Cottage St .; L. from East Cottage St. on Humphreys St.
99. The Bird-Sawyer House (private), 41 Humphreys St., is a two-and-a- half-story gray clapboarded dwelling built in 1637 with broad windows, a green door with a brass eagle knocker of Federal date, and a square central chimney. Additions were made in 1804.
170
Main Street and Village Green
R. from Humphreys St. on Dudley St .; R. from Dudley St. on Shirley St.
100. The Shirley-Eustis House (not open, 1937, but present ownership plans to restore as a museum), 31 Shirley St., was once a gubernatorial mansion in the grand manner. It is a four-story square frame structure with dormer windows and cupola built in 1748. Two wide stone flights of steps lead to the second or main floor. The west flight gives access to the entrance hall, while the east flight opens into a two-story banquet hall with a musicians' gallery. The east doorway is treated with pilasters, a fan-light, and side panels of glass. The house itself is also pilastered, and has an elaborate carved cornice. The windows of the main floor reach from floor to ceiling. Originally there were piazzas north and south. Occupied by Governor William Shirley until his death in 1771, it passed through a succession of merchant princes and then to William Eustis, Governor from 1823 to 1825. Its guests have included Washing- ton, Franklin, Lafayette, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Aaron Burr.
Retrace Shirley St .; L. from Shirley St. on Dudley St .; R. from Dudley St. on Columbia Rd .; L. from Columbia Rd. on Hancock St .; R. from Hancock St. on Winter St.
IOI. The First Parish Church (Unitarian) in Dorchester (open 9-5 daily by the vestry entrance), Meeting House Hill, houses a Roman Mosaic from Dorchester, England, dating from the Conquest of Britain by Caesar. In the vestry is an Anglo-Chinese clock of 1770, the works English, the case Chinese, beautifully lacquered. This case, larger than needed for the clock, was used just before the Revolution for smuggling tea, an un- dertaking then considered so patriotic as not to disturb the conscience of the church when the gift of the clock was made.
L. from Winter St. on Adams St .; R. from Adams St. on Dorchester Ave .; L. from Dorchester Ave. on Ashmont St.
102. All Saints' Church, constructed in 1894, was the initial success of the contemporary medievalist, Ralph Adams Cram. In his autobiography he wrote: 'Into it I put all I knew or suspected of Gothic - which to tell the truth was not much .... It struck a new note in the cacophony of disintegrating Romanesque and an arid Victorianism.'
Retrace Ashmont St .; R. from Ashmont St. on Talbot Ave.
103. Franklin Field has facilities for baseball, football, tennis, and bowling.
R. from Talbot Ave. on Blue Hill Ave.
104. Franklin Park, 527 acres of open, rolling terrain, beautifully wooded and watered, contains a public golf course and motor and bridle paths. The park forms a unit in a parkway chain which circles Boston southwest and south from Commonwealth Ave. to the Blue Hills.
Franklin Park Zoo (open daily 10-5), corner of Seaver St., is one of the ranking zoos of America. Boston follows its news with absorbed interest, and new arrivals, whether by ship or by stork, are an occasion for headline stories and pictures in the press.
I71
Boston
Retrace Blue Hill Ave .; R. from Blue Hill Ave. on American Legion High- way; R. from American Legion Highway on Morton St. (second unmarked road within park).
105. Forest Hills Cemetery (plan and information furnished at office), famous for its rhododendron hedges, is the largest cemetery in New England and is known as one of the most beautiful in the United States. Here are buried Joseph Warren, William Lloyd Garrison, Fanny Daven- port, and Edward Everett Hale. 'Death Staying the Hand of the Sculp- tor,' a memorial by Daniel Chester French, marks the grave of Martin Milmore.
Straight ahead from Morton St. on Arborway; L. from Arborway on Wash- ington St.
106. Stony Brook Reservation, West Roxbury, 464 acres, is the one forest park in Metropolitan Boston. It is densely wooded with pine, oak, and birch, but traversed by trunk motor highways and many paths, some of the latter leading to knolls which offer delightful views of the Charles River Valley.
R. from Washington St. on La Grange St .; L. from La Grange St. on Centre St.
107. The Roxbury Latin School, corner of St. Theresa Ave., the third oldest school still existing in the United States, is remarkable because it was for 250 years the oldest, if not the only, free school not aided by public funds. It was established by the Apostle John Eliot and 60 families of Roxbury - practically the entire town in 1645 - by generous contributions of land, money, and labor.
R. from Centre St. on Spring St .; R. from Spring St. on Baker St.
108. Brook Farm (open as the Martin Luther Orphans' Home), 670 Baker St., was the scene of an early experiment (1841-47) in communal living by the Transcendentalists. Among actual members or associate partici- pants were Hawthorne, Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, George W. Curtis, and Margaret Fuller. Everyone had some share of work, and all members shared in educational and social enjoyments. Under the influence of Albert Brisbane, father of the late Arthur Bris- bane, the associates adopted the phalanx according to the plan of Fourier, and established primary departments of agriculture, domestic industry, and mechanic arts. In March, 1846, one of the main buildings, the Phalanstery, was burned. At this heavy financial blow, the group, already somewhat discouraged, lost heart completely and disbanded in October, 1847.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.