View the new site boundariesPaper 2 - Changes over time
A city is constantly in flux. Everyday, new buildings are erected, old buildings are demolished, and businesses hold grand openings or closing-out sales. Capturing the location and state of every residence, every institution, and every store front at any point in time would require an immense amount of labor and resources; even then, one would be hard-pressed to do justice to the multitude of market forces and individual value judgments that determine the development of city structure. Despite this, we can glean a great deal of useful information from less-frequent observations, by placing them in historical context and identifying patterns of city development that we have seen in similar investigations. I used this method to analyze the growth of my chosen Boston site over time, using Sanborn fire insurance maps from the years 1887, 1897, 1937, 1951, 1964, and 1990 as my primary sources. Some investigation of the general origins of Back Bay before 1887 was also necessary to explain certain building patterns that followed.
Ultimately, what I found were several broad forces acting in turn with each generation of mapping. Geographical constraints and the presence of railroads determined the initial layout of streets and blocks during Back Bay filling prior to 1887. Early zoning regulations intended to shape Back Bay into an upper-class residential city zone dominated development decisions on my site in the years 1887 and 1897. By 1937, my site had outgrown these restrictions, with commercial and institutional land uses taking the place of residential land uses. In the 1951 and 1964 maps, the rise of the automobile renders some structures obsolete, while necessitating open land for parking space. Further consolidation on the part of the Church of Christ, Scientist leads to its domination of much of the site in the year 1990 along with a restructuring of street patterns to facilitate ease of access to Church facilities. At present, the current Christian Science Plaza site and the Church-owned apartments across Massachusetts Ave are actually assimilated from parts of many previously separate blocks. This would prove to be a problem for the purposes of my investigation.
Upon inspection of the earlier Sanborn maps of my site, it became evident that the site’s boundaries encompassed too many separate blocks for a detailed investigation of its individual features. The giant Christian Science Plaza, which currently covers a single unbroken block, actually occupies the space where five separate blocks once resided. In addition, the long block currently on the west side of Massachusetts Ave is composed of the ends of three former blocks, now reshaped for reasons that will be explored later. Thus, I decided to further restrict the boundaries of my site, pulling back the eastern edge to contain only two of the five blocks in the Christian Science Plaza. In addition, I split up blocks inside my boundaries to more accurately reflect their relative shapes for most of the time period in question. There are now eight blocks, as shown on the map graphic, each assigned a number for convenient identification.
Colonization – 1852
Much of the area of the site can be estimated to be underwater in the Back Bay during the 18th and 19th centuries. The portion of the site aboveground was located on Gravelly Point, a landform jutting into and dividing the Back Bay in two. Early maps show little to no development on this landform, presumably because it was too marshy and unstable to support permanent settlement. By 1852, however, railroads linking Roxbury on the west bank of the Back Bay and Boston on the east were spanning the Back Bay, and crossing through Gravelly Point. A long dam was also built to contain the Back Bay, with the intent of harnessing hydro power to operate mills. Along with the railroads, Mill Road (built along the dam) became a transportation link between Boston and the Roxbury suburb, and each predicated the development of strips where they passed over Gravelly Point. My site is the product of the colliding development patterns of the two railroads crossing Gravelly Point. 1
The decision to fill Back Bay with land came when poor sewage planning and the aforementioned dam transformed Back Bay into a dirty cesspool. Ownership of the future land was split between the city government and Boston Water and Power Company, which owned the mills and dam. Boston Water and Power lagged behind the city in the filling process, and I suspect that because of this, the land it was responsible for (which included the portion of my site not sitting on Gravelly Point) diverged from the grid patterns of other portions of Back Bay. Arrangement of streets in the area of my site is subject to the orientation of its closest neighbor strips, Albany Railroad to the north and Providence Railroad to the south, rather than the careful rectangular grid organization around Boylston St (originally Mill Road) further north. Blocks in the north half of the site run roughly parallel to Albany Railroad, now the Interstate-90, while blocks south of the site run parallel to Providence Railroad. When these patterns converge, we are left with incongruous, triangular blocks like block 6 in the map. Boylston St, though far north past the Albany Railroad, also exerts influence on street patterns in the form of its perpendicular counterpart Massachusetts Ave, which cuts down the middle of the site and forms oblique angles wherever it touches. 2 3
Ultimately, all of this pre-construction land development had a huge bearing on the pattern of development in my site and Back Bay as a whole. Because the land was filled and made available in a relatively short amount of time (1850-1890), it was subject to extensive pre-planning and contracting. Aside from the strips radiating outward from the railroads, there was no “front” for encroaching building construction. As we will see in the following early maps of the site, this resulted in an orderly, almost suburban style of home construction.
1887
The first Sanborn maps of the Back Bay area appear in 1887, just after completion of filling and street layout. Building construction is spotty and widely distributed, with only a few projects in development on each block. Most of the building projects are residential, in the form of single family apartment buildings called French flats. Wherever these buildings appear, they are usually packed in closely and uniform in architecture and orientation. Blocks 1, 2, 3, and 6 all contain such apartment buildings, each one at least two stories high. In a newly opened tract of land with spacious, untouched development space, why would tightly packed, singly family apartment buildings be the first to stream in from the city?
By some accounts, this was the intended use of the land. Filling of the Back Bay was backed by commercial interests with a stake in marketing the real estate to middle-to-upper class citizens of Boston. With downtown Boston filling up rapidly with European immigrants and inner city congestion on the rise, the rise of the suburb was at hand, as well as the resulting outflow of wealth from the city when its wealthy citizens moved into suburban townhouses. We have already seen that railroads linking Boston to such areas as Roxbury existed well into the 19th century. Back Bay apartment housing was designed to counteract this by offering attractive and spacious housing options that were conveniently located closer to the heart of the city. From the beginning, Back Bay was designed to be a competitive alternative to the more rural suburbs, while still retaining aspects of city design to set it apart. Restrictions were placed on building visible stables, commercial buildings, and apartments under three stories tall; this was an early form of zoning regulation, to which my site was subjected. The concentration of apartment buildings in the triangular block 6 is a result of its high visibility as a “break,” making that block an attractive and marketable site for its unique geometry. 4 5
One exception to this pattern is the Boston Storage Warehouse Company, located on block 8. What is a storage warehouse doing in the middle of a residential zone? I predict that such a facility in close proximity would have been useful for construction purposes. According to the map, the storerooms had no heating or lighting, making them useful for storing few things besides raw materials and equipment. With the rapid rate of building going on in the next few years, however, this would be enough to justify its continued existence. As we shall see in future maps, not only will the warehouse company still be around, but it will evolve to meet the changing needs of the surrounding site.
1897
Sanborn maps of 1897 show further growth of apartment housing in blocks 1 through 6, the continued occupation of warehouses in block 8, and new institutions cropping up in key locations. This pattern of growth seems consistent with the planned model for a residential urban community. Looking past the boundaries of the site, we see a Catholic church, utilities, and a vocational high school to the north of block 3, along with rows of French flats to match those within the site. In blocks 1 and 2, the completion of “The Havilland” and “The Renaissance” mark the arrival of high-class housing in the site, while “Hotel Brookline” in the corner of block 6 has captured prime location in the middle of this desired break. The rows of apartments started in 1887 now occupy space in blocks 1, 4, and 5, and extend at least halfway across these blocks. Alleyways are forming between the backs of apartment buildings, presumably to facilitate disposal of waste and house horse stables away from the public eye. The extension of these rows of apartments into entire city blocks suggests that the site will soon match the intended vision of Back Bay respectable upscale housing. However, there are a few signs that this may not be the case for long.
Most plainly visible is the construction of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in the highly visible corner of block 6 (there are few structures around it to obscure its presence). This institution would have been considered radical amongst the predominantly Protestant citizens of Boston, yet it is encroaching on the properties of their homes. On the west edge of block 5, facing Massachusetts Ave, shops are taking root, and above them are small apartments for bachelors, not families. These are the first signs of strip development around Massachusetts Ave, which becomes increasingly important at this time with the completion of the Harvard Bridge connecting the Back Bay with Cambridge (ultimately making Massachusetts Ave a primary artery for automobile traffic). The undeveloped portions of block 2 and 7 are thus likely candidates for future commercial and institutional building activity.
1937
Jumping forty years ahead, it is not surprising to see significant changes in the configuration of the site. For the sake of clarity, I will discuss each block individually, as every block has important changes to note. Block 1 still comprises mainly of French flats lined up with an alley behind, much as it did in 1897. However, “The Havilland” is gone, its building occupied by shops instead. There could be two reasons why this once fashionable, upper-class home was sold into commercial use: either it became prohibitively expensive to live in such a home, or the forces towards suburbanization shifted that class of citizen out of the city proper. Likely some combination of the two prompted the abandonment of such expansive homes, because in block 2, not only was “The Renaissance” divvied into store space, but all of its French flats facing Massachusetts Ave were converted as well. Larger, more intentional stores appear in the once vacant part of block 2, signaling the rise of Massachusetts Ave as the primary affecter of development in the increasingly shopping-oriented section of the site. The presence of a parking lot points to the new importance of the automobile in determining commercial activity around a site.
To a lesser degree, blocks 3 and 4 feel the same encroachment of commercial land uses. Both ends of each block house shops facing the wider streets Massachusetts Ave and Dalton St. A rather large utilities building owned by New England Telephone and Telegraph Company is entrenched in the middle of block 3. Block 5, however, has been engulfed completely by the Christian Science Publishing Society, a periodical publisher closely associated with the Church of Christ Scientist. The publishing office, spanning the entire block, is designed in the neoclassical style and exists to this day, albeit performing a different function. Its presence mirrors the Church’s sudden leap in prominence in the block 6.
Block 6 has undergone radical changes since 1897. The first obvious change is the remodeled First Church of Christ Scientist, expanded from its original size to about a third of the block. It too still exists today, and takes advantage of a variety of architectural styles (Gothic, neoclassical) to stand out as a unique institutional building. A less obvious change in the layout is the elimination of nearly all residential zones; the inner flats have been taken over by administrative offices of the Church of Christ, Scientist, while the flats facing Massachusetts Ave have become storefronts. Clearly, the late 19th century notions of zoning gave way to forces of enterprise and religious institution in this part of the site, and in general we can expect to see scant numbers of residential building projects in the future of the site.
Block 7 demonstrates two sides of cultural growth in the area of the site. A newly built dancing school and dance hall are signs of growing interest in the fine arts, while a large movie palace, the Loews State Theatre, serves as a bastion of pop culture in the 1930’s. The golden age of Hollywood movies may be enough to explain the appeal of a large movie palace, but the dance hall may point to a more significant movement in the context of urban planning: the City Beautiful movement. By this point in time, we are past the prime of the movement, but because of the close proximity of the site to Huntington Ave (also known as the Avenue of the Arts) perhaps we can justify the attention paid to both the dance hall and the ornate architecture of the Christian Science buildings.
Finally, we come to block 8, on which still resides the Boston Storage Warehouse Company. Why would such an old structure still exist this far past the initial construction phase of most of the site? Upon close inspection of the Sanborn map, one finds that many improvements have been made to the warehouse since 1897, including refrigeration. Indeed, underneath the warehouse’s title, the phrase “Storage of household goods” appears, showing that the company adapted its storage capabilities to again meet the needs of residents and businesses around the area.
1951, 1964
Updated Sanborn maps from 1951 exist, but they are essentially unchanged from 1937. The remainder of vacant space in 1937 saw construction of stores by 1951, and few buildings shifted function between residential and commercial. I take this to mean that the site reached a measure of equilibrium at this point; Massachusetts Ave was entrenched as a shopping venue, the Christian Science institutions were firmly established, and existing apartments retained market demand for their convenient location.
In 1964, another updated version of the 1937 Sanborn appears, with two notable changes. First is the elimination of a set of apartments in block 3, replaced with a parking lot. Second is the elimination of the warehouse complex in block 8, also replaced with a parking/vacant lot. Again, the continuously growing influence of the automobile effects significant alterations to the site, not only directly by requiring parking space, but also indirectly by increasing mobility of fresh goods (making cold storage obsolete) and access to homes further away.
1990
The most recent Sanborn maps are dated 1990, and it is these that we shall take to represent the present situation. Surprisingly, very little has changed in blocks 3, 4, and 5 since 1937. They continue to encompass long rows of century old French flats, offices, and a few small businesses facing Massachusetts Ave. Norway St and Falmouth St, both bordering block 6, are now closed off to vehicles and have become integrated with the greater Christian Science Plaza. The old administrative building has disappeared (the offices moved to a newer building on the other side of the plaza) and the stores on block 6 facing Massachusetts Ave are gone now, replaced with an open grassy area. Both blocks 5 and 6 are part of the greater whole of the Christian Science Plaza, and the removal of streets and neighboring buildings constitutes a type of “turfing,” setting aside the property for restricted use. It is hard to imagine these two blocks to be anything but part of the plaza without prior knowledge. 6
Remnants of “The Havilland,” the classy, expensive apartment in block 1, are completely gone now, replaced by a public playground. While this smells like urban renewal, it is on too small a scale to consider a part of some larger movement towards city planning. Instead, I hypothesize that the playground, adorned with quotes from Superman and images of Louis Armstrong, is more the result of a local community effort. In this sense, the block is retaining an aspect of residential family zoning suggested at its first conception.
Blocks 2, 7, and 8, in contrast, have undergone drastic changes since 1964. As a sign of its potent influence on the nature of my site, Massachusetts Ave has transferred its power to the next parallel street (Edgerly Rd) on the other side of block 2, making it cut straight through existing buildings and street patterns and extending to the end of block 8. Now, these three blocks are combined into one long block, with the south half of the block covered by a newly constructed building. Ironically, this building combines the three most important conflicting types of land use we have seen in the site as a whole; it is primarily an apartment building, owned by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and its first floor is comprised of stores open to the public. Again, I believe that an individual, localized effort to improve the quality of construction and architecture of this portion of the site is what predicated the drastic change in its layout in 1971 (the noted date of construction). 7
Conclusion
As we saw in the 1990 map, individual creativity is becoming a significant force in further development of my site. It was instrumental in the distinctive architecture and layout of Church buildings in blocks 5, 6, and 7. The playground in block 1 is certainly inspired by a particular fondness of an individual’s childhood heroes. Yet, creativity has always been present in the development of the site since the 19th century. The vision of elegant, efficiently packed rows of French flats was a novel countermeasure to the threat of polarizing suburbs in 1887. Adapting a crude warehouse complex to meet the needs of families and small businesses was an inventive way of staving off obsolescence in 1937. As our abilities to manipulate our environments increase and defy prior restraints, the role of individual creativity in determining the design of city spaces will become more important. Perhaps this will be the next great force dictating the growth of my site.
References
1 Clay, Grady. Close-Up: How to Read the American City. Chicago, 1980. p. 90-99
2 Warner, Sam Bass. Mapping Boston. MIT Press, 1999. p.124-128.
3 Clay, Grady. Close-Up: How to Read the American City. Chicago, 1980. p. 42-50
4 Warner, Sam Bass. Mapping Boston. MIT Press, 1999. p.204.
5 Shand-Tucci, Douglass. Built In Boston: City and Suburb, 1800-2000. UMass Press, Amherst, 1999. p. 101-130
6 Clay, Grady. Close-Up: How to Read the American City. Chicago, 1980. p. 165-173.
7 Clay, Grady. Close-Up: How to Read the American City. Chicago, 1980. p. 90-99
Sanborn maps scanned from Boston map collections from 1887, 1897, 1937, 1964, 1990.
Pre-1887 maps of unfilled Back Bay created in http://www.mapsovertime.com/index.htm.
All other photographs taken by David Lee