Photos taken in either August or September of 2012 during a random trip, plus 2 taken in the first snow of the year during that Nor'Easter that was never that big of a deal (though being on the last plane into Logan meant a lot of sweaty sick passengers and a rough landing!).
I seriously love this city...total epitome of a great city with great people and tons of culture and stunning architecture.
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1. Alleyway on Newbury at night.
2. Newbury St - 1.25 miles of shopping ranging from frozen yogurt and coffee to Marmot/North Face/Barbour to G-Star/Rag & Bone to Gant/Jack Spade/Jack Wills/Ball & Buck to Forever 21/Nike/H&M to Valentino/Gucci/Prada/Chanel. Union Square in SF might command much higher rents, but the Back Bay in Boston has a seemingly larger selection of shops (Newbury + Huntington + Boylston + Prudential Center + Copley Place).
3. View from the hotel room (Taj Boston)
4. Views from Prudential Center...~700 ft up.
5. Hills in NH in the background?
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8. Seaport in the background...everyone's interested in Seaport these days!
9. Vertex construction/infrastructure work?
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13. South End!
14. Telegraph Hill...totally not as cool as Telegraph Hill by my house
15. Liberty Mutual Tower (22 floors) UC in the foreground...exterior was basically complete last time I was in town.
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20. Streets present from right to left: Boylston (with Copley Plaza), Newbury (non-descript high shopping street), Commonwealth (with the trees)
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22. The Rotunda at MIT
23. Cambridge (commercial/Tech area)
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25. The Apple Store is on Boylston across from Prudential Center.
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28. Look closely, someone was playing with a toy powered boat in the pool. The smaller little church is the original First Church of Christ, Scientist (1894), while the larger domed church is the Domed Mother Extension (1906).
29. I believe this area contains much of Harvard Medical (likely the newer MOB/research looking buildings). I believe, while you can’t see it, Northeastern is in this area, too.
30. Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (1878, towers added 1910). 215 ft tall and 215 ft long. This was Ted Kennedy’s church, where his funeral was.
31. Columbus, South End and Lower Roxbury?
32. Former Christian Science Administration Building (26 floors), designed by I.M. Pei for the church in the 70s. The church just sold it subject to a ground lease to Beacon Capital Partners in 2012, and HFF is blasting emails out to all equity groups/developers who may be interested in developing an additional 950,000 SF of multifamily/office space around the plaza. All buildings/future buildings around the Plaza are on land owned by the church.
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34. 111 Huntington Ave, possibly my favorite post-modern skyscraper in Boston. I’ve been in the building and it is even better inside than its exterior gives away. According to the Globe,
Linde, chief executive of Boston Properties Inc., learned as much when he proposed building a 36-story tower in the Back Bay. Menino took one look at the design and shook his head.
“I said, ‘Guys, flat roofs don’t make it,’ ’’ Menino said.
Linde and his architect returned to City Hall, armed with the miniature tops. When Menino came into the Eagle Room, a wood-paneled hall near his office, they placed each top on the model, until they reached the regal crown.
35. As in many large cities across the country that traditionally don’t go through “booms”, (SF also comes to mind), there is a lot of construction happening, most of it multifamily.
36. First Baptist Church, Boston. You thought the South had a Baptist tradition? This is one of the first Baptist churches in the country, founded in 1665. Current structure built in 1872 and designed by H.H. Richardson!
37. Old South Church (1874), located catty corner to the famous Trinity Church on Copley Square.
38. Iconic Trinity Church right on Copley Square (where the McKim Mead & White designed Boston Public Library sits opposite the church and where the famous Copley Plaza Hotel sits next door). Constructed 1877 and also designed by H.H. Richardson.
39. This is the “First Church in Boston” steeple (structure built in 1860s). After it burned in the 1960s, the Second Church in Boston merged with the First and added a weird structure to the steeple. So that is what you see.
40. Is this the original Liberty Mutual building? This is that large building on Newbury where so many new retailers are going (the 2nd block in from the Commons). Maybe it’s the original Globe building? It once served as HQ for something large.
41. Church of the Covenant (First Presbyterian) built 1867.
42. Park Street Church (1810) and the Nine Zero Hotel in background (I recommend this…Kimpton).
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48. The Historic Taj Boston (old + new tower) with JHC in the background.
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51. MA State House (1798) designed by Charles Bulfinch and Charles Brigham.
52. I love Boston for these views of dead-end streets. I think this is One Federal Street, which went up for sale last year (not sure who picked it up).
53. Custom House Tower (1915) now part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection…points to stay in that building!
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58. Longfellow Bridge (~30,000 cars, ~90,000 MBTA passengers cross daily). I’ve heard stories from MIT/Harvard alum about walking across the bridges in the winter…I can only imagine! This one opened in 1906.
59. There’s your MBTA Red Line crossing it right now!
60. I LOVE smokestacks…if your city has them, I automatically give your city a 5/10 and it can only go up from there
I like older stacks better than new ones, but these new ones are cool as they are a sign of the modern industrialism that defines the area.
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62. BU
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64. It’s been so long since I took this pic, but isn’t this student housing for MIT? I love all the new student housing around MIT…
65. East Cambridge.
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67. I thought this home was cute…very atypical for the area architecture.
68. Views from an office on Newbury Street.
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71. So what’s interesting about the area is the demographics…a mixture of establishment and young prof/students and very gay friendly, too (not like South End though!). So you can rent apartments on Newbury and actually find some deals (though you’ll still be paying $1600 for a 300 SF studio with a tiny kitchenette and of course no AC), or you can buy a brownstone for $5MM. I really like the area for its demographics and its vibe.
Even in this pic, you can see that the buildings are very old and a bit neglected. You’ll have top market retail below, and either office or apartments above…totally class B/C office for dentists and real estate companies, etc, and apartments are a real mix of crap and renovated. Of course who care’s how crappy when you’re 25 years old…this is where you want to be!
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A few more to come later!