Street Scenes Archives - Page 54 of 96

Boston Public Library, Boston

February 27, 2023September 21, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Boston Public Library’s McKim Building at Copley Square in 1899. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2015:

This style of Renaissance Revival architecture was common for public libraries in the United States in the early 20th century, but Charles Follen McKim’s design for the Boston Public Library was the first. It was constructed between 1888 and 1895, and is one of the most architecturally significant library buildings in the country. It set the stage for similar grand libraries in American cities, including the main branch of the New York Public Library, which opened just over a decade later. Like many of Boston’s other cultural institutions, the library was strategically located in the Back Bay neighborhood, which had gone from polluted tidal marsh to affluent residential neighborhood in less than 50 years. However, one of the challenges in constructing large buildings here was the high water table and the tendency of the filled-in ground to subside. As a result, the 19th century Back Bay buildings are supported by wooden piles; the library alone has about 4,000 piles that were driven 25 to 31 feet into the ground in the 1880s.

Today, the McKim Building is well-preserved on both the exterior and interior. The interior includes a grand staircase and the massive Bates Hall reading room, along with a central courtyard, all of which was, as the inscription reads, “dedicated to the advancement of learning.” The main branch of the Boston Public Library has since outgrown the original building, so in 1972 an addition was put on the back, expanding the building to include the entire city block between Dartmouth and Exeter Streets. Named after its architect, Philip Johnson, this building houses the library’s circulating collections, leaving the original building for the library’s extensive research collections. Many of these collections are also available online, including a large number of historic photographs on Digital Commonwealth, which has been a great resource for this blog.

The greatest change in this scene, however, is the city around the library. The section of the Back Bay to the north of Boylston Street has been largely preserved in its original Victorian appearance. However, to the south of Boylston Street, as seen here, the area has become home to some of the city’s tallest buildings, including the Prudential Tower to the right, the second-tallest in New England after the nearby John Hancock Tower. Probably the oldest building in the 2015 photo other than the library is the Lenox Hotel, barely visible on the far right beyond the library. It was built in 1900, so it may have even been under construction when the first photo was taken.

553-567 Boylston Street, Boston

September 21, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Some buildings on the north side of Boylston Street, between Clarendon and Dartmouth Streets and across from Copley Square, on October 4, 1912. Image courtesy of the City of Boston Archives.

The buildings in 2015:

Like the scene a block away in this post, the 1912 photo here shows the transitions that were happening along Boylston Street in the early 1900s. When the Back Bay was filled in the late 1800s, Boylston Street was, like the other streets in the neighborhood, lined with Victorian brownstone houses. However, as the street became a major commercial district, the homes were steadily replaced with more modern commercial buildings, with storefronts on the first floor and professional offices in the upper floors. The 1912 photo shows three of these new buildings, each of which were built within about four years, and each of which had a different automobile company showroom on the first floor. The only holdout from the earlier era is the four-story rowhouse in the right-center. It was probably built in the 1870s, and it survived until around 1923, when the present-day building was put in its place.

The three car companies in the first photo were, from left to right: American Locomotive Company (ALCO), American Underslung, and Overland Motor Cars. Like most early car companies, none of them stayed in business for too long. ALCO got out of the automobile business just a year later, although one of their managers had been Walter P. Chrysler, who would later go on to establish his own company a little over a decade later. The other two companies didn’t last much longer than ALCO, and today their former storefronts are occupied by a cafe, a wine store, and a Chipotle restaurant. The buildings themselves haven’t changed too much aside from the storefronts; the only major change to any of the exteriors is the removal of the cornice on the top of 561 Boylston, the second building from the left.

647-665 Boylston Street, Boston

September 16, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The buildings from 647 to 665 Boylston Street, between Dartmouth and Exeter Streets, on April 11, 1912. Image courtesy of the City of Boston Archives.

The scene in 2015:

The first photo shows a neighborhood in transition. When this section of the Back Bay was developed in the 1880s, Victorian brownstone rowhouses were predominant along Boylston Street. However, as the street evolved into a major commercial area, the front steps and bay windows were not well-suited for early 20th century storefronts. It is hard to tell whether the buildings from the first photo were demolished and rebuilt, or if only the facades were reconstructed, but either way most of the buildings from the 1912 photo would be dramatically altered within the next decade.

There are already some signs of this already happening; the building at 661 Boylston, just to the left of the tall one, is nearing completion in the 1912 photo, with a sign in the window advertising that it will have electric elevators inside. Three of the other buildings would soon follow, and they were either demolished or radically reconstructed by the early 1920s. The only surviving brownstone in this scene is the one on the far right, at 647 Boylston. It was built in 1886, probably around the same time as the other buildings in the first photo, and is located adjacent to the New Old South Church parish house, which is partially visible on the far right of both photos.

This scene is also significant because it shows the location of finish line of the Boston Marathon, in front of the building on the far left. During the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the first explosion occurred just out of view from here, two buildings to the left of the finish line.

Boylston Street at Fairfield Street, Boston

September 11, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Several buildings on the north side of Boylston Street just west of Fairfield Street, on April 5, 1912.

The scene in 2015:

A few important things were happening in early April, 1912, when the first photo was taken. In England, workers had just put the finishing touches on the Titanic, and the ship’s first (and only) departure was less than a week away. Much closer to this scene, workers were putting the finishing touches on a far less auspicious, but as it turned out much longer-lived structure, Fenway Park. Here along Boylston Street, engineers were preparing to begin work on a subway tunnel that would run from the Public Garden to Kenmore Square. This photo, one of many taken in the spring of 1912, was likely part of the preliminary surveys of the street.

When the first photo was taken, cars were just beginning to see widespread use, and there were many businesses along Boylston Street that catered to these new motorists. Both of the buildings on the left housed tire companies: Century Tires on the far left and The Fisk Rubber Company in the five-story white building. Fisk, which was headquartered in Chicopee, Massachusetts, was one of the country’s leading tire companies in the early 20th century. To the right of that building, the 1912 photo shows billboards for auto jacks and shock absorbers, and the building at the corner of Fairfield Street appears to have had a car dealership in the ground-floor storefront, although I can’t read the name.

Today, only the former Fisk building still stands. It was built in 1910, but appears to have still needed tenants by 1912, as the first photo shows a large “Chambers to Let” sign in the window. It is now home to a Sleepy’s store, but aside from that the exterior has not changed much in over a century. The Century Tires building is gone, though, and an Apple Store now occupies its spot. On the far right, the building at the corner was probably the oldest one in the first photo, but it was gone by 1960, when a gas station was built there.

Boylston Street from Gloucester Street, Boston

September 11, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking west on Boylston Street from the corner of Gloucester Street, on August 6, 1912. Image courtesy of the City of Boston Archives.

Boylston Street in 2015:

The first photo here appears to be documenting the early stages of the work on the Boylston Street Subway, today’s Green Line of the MBTA. Prior to 1912, the present-day Green Line was only underground from North Station to Arlington, emerging onto Boylston Street at the Boston Public Garden, as seen in this post. From there, it ran through the Back Bay in the center of Boylston Street, as seen here. Because of increasing congestion, though, the trolley line was moved underground in 1914. The new tunnel ran from Arlington Street to Kenmore Square, where it came to the surface in the median of Commonwealth Avenue just east of the square. I’m not entirely sure what the workers are doing here, but they appear to be doing some sort of excavation on the tunnel – notice the planks in the otherwise dirt road, which probably cover the work that was being done. In the meantime, the trolleys needed to continue running, so the 1912 scene shows a Reservoir-bound car (today’s “C” Line) passing through the construction area.

Today, Green Line trains still run under this spot in the tunnel that the 1912 workers were building, and on the surface not much has changed on the right-hand side. Along the mile-long stretch of Boylston Street in the Back Bay, the north side of the street is primarily late 19th and early 20th century low-rise construction, while the south side is almost entirely new. This contrast can be seen here, as nearly all of the buildings from 1912 are still standing on the right, including the three-story commercial building in the foreground. It was built in 1905, and in the first photo the corner storefront is occupied by The Henley-Kimball Company, a car dealership that sold Hudson cars. It was one of many car dealerships along Boylston Street; an awning further down the street advertises for Chalmers, and there are also window signs for Stutz Motor Company and Michelin Tires.

The left (south) side of Boylston Street, however, is significantly different. In 1912, there were no buildings here; instead, this area was the site of a large rail yard for the Boston & Albany Railroad. The yard took up the south side of Boylston for three blocks, from Exeter Street to Hereford Street, but over time the land became too valuable to simply use for a rail yard. The Massachusetts Turnpike now runs through the site of the former yard, and a number of buildings have been built on top of it, including the Hines Convention Center, which can be seen on the far left of the 2015 photo.

Kenmore Square Bus, Boston

September 10, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Passengers getting off of a bus at Kenmore Square, sometime in the 1940s and probably before 1947. Image courtesy of the City of Boston Archives.

The same location in 2015:

For all that has changed in the past 70 years, not much is different between these two photos. Many of the buildings in Kenmore Square are still there today, including the Peerless Motor Company Building in the background on the right. It was completed in 1911 as the New England headquarters of the Peerless Motor Company, an early luxury car brand that was in business until 1931. The building was used for offices, showrooms, and garage space for the company, but by the time the first photo was taken, Peerless had been gone for over a decade. Today, the exterior of the building is essentially the same as it was when it was built over a century ago, and it is used as Boston University’s bookstore. It isn’t visible in the photo, but this is also the building that has the famous Citgo sign that can be seen beyond the Green Monster at Fenway Park.

The most obvious change from the 1940s photo is the bus. Not only are bus styles different today, but so is the company that operates the city’s buses. The side of the bus reads “Boston Elevated Railway,” which was the company that ran Boston’s subways, streetcars, and buses until 1947. With increased competition from automobiles, the company was no longer profitable, so its operations were sold to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which later became today’s MBTA. As seen in the 2015 photo, Kenmore Square is still a major transportation hub, and the median of Commonwealth Avenue has a reserved lane for buses next to the bus shelter, which also offers access to the Green Line station directly underneath here.