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About Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts
Boston’s Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is most famous for its rows of Victorian brownstone homes — considered one of the best preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States — as well as numerous architecturally significant individual buildings, and cultural institutions such as the Boston Public Library.
The Back Bay is also a fashionable shopping destination (especially Newbury and Boylston Streets, and the adjacent Prudential Center and Copley Place malls) and home to some of Boston’s tallest office buildings, the Hynes Convention Center, and numerous major hotels.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay considers the neighborhood’s bounds to be “Charles River on the North; Arlington Street to Park Square on the East; Columbus Avenue to the New York New Haven and Hartford right-of-way (South of Stuart Street and Copley Place), Huntington Avenue, Dalton Street, and the Massachusetts Turnpike on the South; Charlesgate East on the West.”
Back Bay Streets
The plan of Back Bay, by Arthur Gilman of the firm Gridley James Fox Bryant, was greatly influenced by Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, with wide, parallel, tree-lined avenues unlike anything seen in other Boston neighborhoods. Five east-west corridors — Beacon Street (closest to the Charles), Marlborough Street, Commonwealth Avenue (actually two one-way thoroughfares flanking the tree-lined pedestrian Commonwealth Avenue Mall), Newbury Street and Boylston Street—are intersected at regular intervals by north-south cross streets: Arlington (along the western edge of the Public Garden), Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford.
A 1874 guidebook noted the trisyllabic-disyllabic alternation attending aforesaid alphabetic appellations, and the series continues in the adjacent Fenway neighborhood with Ipswich, Jersey, and Kilmarnock Streets. West of Hereford are Massachusetts Avenue (a regional thoroughfare crossing the Harvard Bridge to Cambridge and far beyond) and Charlesgate, which forms the Back Bay’s western boundary.
Featured Videos:
“Boston’s Neighborhoods: The Back Bay”
Back Bay, Massachusetts News
The Boston Guardian
Thank you Friends of the Public Garden and all those who contributed, for making this first Mall statue lighting happen. We look forward to the others in the not-too-distant future. Let There Be Light! Neighbors and city notables gathered Tuesday evening to herald the...
The Boston Guardian
NABB and Back Bay will miss Howard's calm but determined advocacy for our neighborhood and for downtown residents. We extend deepest sympathy to his family.
Charlesgate Alliance
Neighbors, please come!Please join the Friends of the Public Garden on Tuesday, December 3rd, at 6pm for the lighting of the Samuel Eliot Morison statue on Commonwealth Avenue between Exeter and Fairfield.
Thanks to the committee for Wednesday's wonderful Homeward Bound benefit, co-sponsored by NABB and…
Thanks to the committee for Wednesday's wonderful Homeward Bound benefit, co-sponsored by NABB and the Women's Lunch Place. A great time was had by all, and funds were raised for terrific causes.
What is Recyclable?
A reminder for all Mass residents. Remember, do NOT throw away your recyclables in plastic bags. Put them straight into the recycling bin. Search your items on the Recyclopedia to see if it can be recycled.
Timeline Photos
Cold nights like this call for piping hot french onion soup topped with some roasty toasty cheese, because it’s what everyone deserves!
About Boston Town Information Site
Boston, MA Town Information is brought to you as a public service by: Massachusetts Association of Buyer Agents, a non-profit organization devoted to the home buyer.
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Massachusetts Association of Buyer Agents Boston, MA
Massachusetts Association of Buyer Agents is a non-profit organization that practices in single agency representation and is dedicated to the home buyer. Click Here for help finding a buyer agent.