Back Bay Case Study

Words: 856
Pages: 4

At the time of construction, 951 Boylston Street (Formally 955 Boylston Street) was built in an already bustling primarily residential neighborhood. Not thirty years before 1857, the Boston Harbor began to be modified to expand the city’s overall footprint. Mill Dam, constructed from 1818 to 1831, was a mile and a half long causeway built between Beacon Hill and Sewell’s Point (known now as Kenmore Square) separating 430 acres of tidal land from the main Charles River. (Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay Overview) The initial intention of the large-scale project was to draw power from the tides by a series of mills, it proved to be unsuccessful. This would have aided in the industrializing of the area with factories.
Rather instead of
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The average street grade was set at seventeen feet above the mean low tide. For the basements to be below street level, lots were filled only to twelve feet above. The area would gradually be filled reaching Clarendon Street by 1860, Exeter Street by 1870 and later completed in 1882. (Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay Overview) Most buildings in the Back Bay were built around the same time, utilizing prominent elements of European design. What was once a residential neighborhood, has now been developed to feature religious, cultural and commercial buildings creating a vibrant urban environment in the 21st Century. (Neighborhood Association of the Back …show more content…
(Oberto) Being the first combined fire station and police station for the city of Boston, dating the structure to be older then a 100years. The building is an iconic landmark of Boylston Street, and is “a splendid example of Romanesque Revival architecture.” (Brademas 50) In 1880 the style had a resurge and got popularized by Henry Richardson, after the construction of Trinity Church in Boston, later on to be designated as a National Historical Landmark. Richardsonian Romanesque stems from the 11th and 12th- century architecture of France and Spain. (City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks