A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New England or the United States. While National Landmark or National Register status can provide tax incentives for the owner of an income-producing property, local landmark status provides more control over modifications to a designated historic structure or place. [1]
For a group to start a designation procedure, they first meet with Boston Landmarks Commission staff to discuss the petition process. Once a complete petition is submitted, a preliminary hearing is scheduled to determine if the Commission will accept the petition for further study. If the Commission accepts the petition, the building or site is added to the pending Landmarks list. Preparation of a study report on the proposed Landmark is the next step. A public hearing process follows to present the draft study report. A 2/3 majority vote of the Commission is necessary for a property to be designated as a Boston Landmark. The decision must then be confirmed by the Mayor of Boston and by the Boston City Council. The Boston Landmarks Commission determines if a property is eligible for landmark status based on whether it
Once designated, any proposed alterations must be reviewed and approved by the Boston Landmarks Commission. [2]
In 2016, a commissioner submitted a petition to the Boston Landmarks Commission to designate the Citgo sign above Kenmore Square, when its support building at 660 Beacon Street was in the process of being sold by Boston University. The petition was accepted and the sign is a pending Landmark, with research for the study report underway. [3]
Since two unrelated designations in 2016, as of July 2018 [update] no pending landmarks have been approved. A number of sites have remained pending since the 1980s. [4]
The 1840 Roswell Gleason house in Dorchester was granted landmark status in 1977. It was destroyed by fire in 1982. [5]
Boston Landmarks | Location | Date Designated [6] | Image | References |
---|---|---|---|---|
20–30 Bromfield Street | 20–30 Bromfield Street | 1983 | [7] | |
39 & 41 Princeton Street (Stephen Huse Whidden House & Joseph Henry Stephenson House) Architectural Conservation District | East Boston | 1991 | [8] | |
5–7 Broad Street | 5–7 Broad Street | 1983 | [9] | |
Aberdeen Architectural Conservation District | Brighton | 2001 | [10] | |
Adams-Nervine Asylum | 990–1020 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain | 1977 | [11] | |
Alvah Kittredge House | 10 Linwood Street, Roxbury | 2016 | [12] [13] | |
Arlington Street Church | 355 Boylston Street, Back Bay | 1978 | [14] | |
Armory of the First Corps of Cadets | 97–105 Arlington Street | 1977 | [15] | |
Austin Block | 90–92 Main Street, Charlestown | 1981 | [16] | |
Back Bay Fens | The Fenway | 1983 | [17] [18] | |
Batterymarch Building | 54 Battermarch Street, Jamaica Plain | 1995 | [19] [20] | |
Bay State Road / Back Bay West Architectural Conservation District | Bay State Road | 1979 | [21] | |
Bay Village Architectural Conservation District | Bay Village | 1983 | [22] | |
Blackstone Block Street Network | Blackstone Block | 1983 | [23] | |
Boston Common | Beacon Street | 1977 | [24] | |
Boston Young Men's Christian Union Building | 48 Boylston Street, Theater District | 1977 | [25] | |
Boylston Building | 2 Boylston Street, Theater District | 1977 | [26] | |
Brook Farm | 670 Baker Street, West Roxbury | 1977 | [27] | |
Burrage House | 137 Beacon Street, Back Bay | 1992 | [28] [29] | |
Charles River Esplanade | Beacon Hill / Back Bay | 2009 | [30] | |
Charles River Speedway Administration Building | 1420–1440 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton | 2013 | [31] | |
Charlestown Savings Bank Building | 1–4 Thompson Square, Charlestown | 1981 | [32] | |
Christian Science Center Complex | Fenway | 2011 | [33] | |
Church Green Buildings | 101–103,105–113 Summer Street | 1979 | [34] | |
Commonwealth Avenue Mall | Back Bay | 1977 | [35] | |
Cox Building | 1–7 Dudley Street, Roxbury | 1980 | [36] | |
Donald McKay House | 80 White Street, East Boston | 1977 | [37] | |
Dorchester North Burying Ground | Columbia Road, Dorchester | 1981 | [38] | |
Dorchester Pottery Works | 101–105 Victory Road, Dorchester | 1980 | [39] | |
Ebenezer Hancock House | Marshall Street | 1978 | [40] | |
Edward Everett House | 16 Harvard Street, Charlestown | 1996 | [41] | |
Elizabeth Peabody Bookstore and Circulating Library | 13–15 West Street | 2011 | [42] [43] | |
Eustis Street Architectural Conservation District | Roxbury | 1981 | [44] | |
Exchange Building | 53 State Street | 1980 | [45] | |
Faneuil Hall | 1–10 Faneuil Hall Square | 1994 | [46] | |
Federal Reserve Bank | 30 Pearl Street | 1978 | [47] | |
Fort Point Channel Landmark District | South Boston | 2008 | [48] | |
Fowler-Clark Farm | 487 Norfolk Street, Mattapan | 2006 | [49] | |
Franklin Park | Roxbury | 1980 | [50] | |
George Milliken House | 44 Virginia Street, Dorchester | 2007 | [51] | |
Gibson House (Interior) | 187 Beacon Street, Back Bay | 1992 | [52] | |
Harrison Loring House | 789 East Broadway, South Boston | 1984 | [53] | |
Hayden Building | 681 Washington Street, Theater District | 1977 | [54] [55] | |
International Trust Company Building | 45 Milk Street | 1978 | [56] | |
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | 280 The Fenway | 2013 | [57] | |
Jacob Wirth Buildings | 31–39 Stuart Street, Theater District | 1977 | [58] | |
James Blake House | 210 East Cottage Street, Dorchester | 1978 | [59] | |
James Michael Curley House | 350 Jamaicaway, Jamaica Plain | 1989 | [60] | |
Lewis–Dawson Farmhouse at the Arnold Arboretum | 1090 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain | 2007 | [61] [62] | |
Liberty Tree Building | 628–636 Washington Street, Theater District | 1985 | [63] | |
Loring–Greenough House | 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain | 1999 | [64] | |
Malcolm X – Ella Little-Collins House | 72 Dale Street, Roxbury | 1998 | [65] | |
McCormack Post Office and Courthouse | 5 Post Office Square | 1998 | [66] | |
Mission Church Complex | Mission Hill | 2004 | [67] | |
Modern Theatre | 523–525 Washington Street | 2002 | [68] | |
Oak Square School | 35 Nonantum Street, Brighton | 1979 | [69] | |
Old State House | 208 Washington Street | 1994 | [70] | |
Paramount Theater | 549–563 Washington Street, Theater District | 1984 | [71] | |
Proctor Building | 100–106 Bedford Street | 1983 | [72] | |
Public Garden | Beacon Street | 1977 | [73] | |
Quincy Market | Faneuil Hall Market Place | 1996 | [74] [75] | |
South End Landmark District | South End | 1983 | [76] [77] | |
St. Botolph Street Architectural Conservation District | St. Botolph Street | 1981 | [78] | |
St. Gabriel's Monastery Building | 159 Washington Street, Brighton | 1989 | [79] [80] | |
Theodore Parker Unitarian Church | 1851 Centre Street, West Roxbury | 1985 | [81] | |
Trinity Neighborhood House | 406 Meridian Street, East Boston | 1981 | [82] | |
Tugboat Luna | Charles River | 1985 | [83] | |
United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building | 140 Federal Street | 1983 | [84] | |
Vienna Brewery Complex | 133 Halleck & 37 Station, Roxbury | 1999 | [85] | |
Wilbur Theatre | 250 Tremont Street, Theater District | 1987 | [86] | |
William Monroe Trotter House | 97 Sawyer Avenue, Dorchester | 1977 | [87] [88] |
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; all adult residents of the commonwealth are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million items, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In fiscal year 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.
Faneuil Hall is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain. It is now part of Boston National Historical Park and a well-known stop on the Freedom Trail. It is sometimes referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty", though the building and location have ties to slavery.
Post Office Square in Boston, Massachusetts is a square located in the financial district at the intersection of Milk, Congress, Pearl and Water Streets. It was named in 1874 after the United States Post Office and Sub-Treasury which fronted it, now replaced by the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse.
Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed between 1824 and 1826 and named in honor of mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt. The market is a designated National Historic Landmark and a designated Boston Landmark in 1996, significant as one of the largest market complexes built in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. According to the National Park Service, some of Boston's early slave auctions took place near what is now Quincy Market.
The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution and other parts of history. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974. Seven of the eight sites are connected by the Freedom Trail, a walking tour of downtown Boston. All eight properties are National Historic Landmarks.
Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall.
The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction, opening on September 1, 1897. It was originally built, under the supervision of Howard A. Carson as chief engineer, to get streetcar lines off the traffic-clogged streets, instead of as a true rapid transit line. It now forms the central part of the Green Line, connecting Boylston Street to Park Street and Government Center stations.
Bay Village is the smallest officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. As of 2010, its population was approximately 1,312 residents living in 837 housing units, most of which are small brick rowhouses.
The James Blake House is the oldest surviving house in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The house was built in 1661 and the date was confirmed by dendrochronology in 2007. Dorchester Atheneum. Retrieved on 2017-09-13.</ref> It is located at 735 Columbia Road, in Edward Everett Square, and just a block from Massachusetts Avenue. The Dorchester Historical Society now owns the building and tours are given on the third Sunday of the month.
The Blackstone Block Historic District encompasses what was once a waterfront business area in Boston, Massachusetts. Due to the infill of land it is now slightly inland from the waterfront. The district is bounded by Union, Hanover, Blackstone, and North Streets, not far from Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. It includes the Union Oyster House, a National Historic Landmark building erected in the 1710s, and a collection of commercial buildings dating from the late 18th and 19th centuries. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It also includes the c. 1770s Ebenezer Hancock House, a Federal-style wood-frame house that is the only building left in the city which was known to be owned by John Hancock. The building was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1978 for its notable exterior and interiors. In 1983, the surrounding ca. 1676 Blackstone Block Street Network was also designated by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Dorchester Pottery Works is a historic site at 101-105 Victory Road in Dorchester, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston. The Dorchester Pottery Works was founded in 1895 by George Henderson and made stoneware. The Dorchester Pottery Works closed in 1979. The building was designated as a Boston Landmark in 1980 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The Alvah Kittredge House is an historic house in the highlands of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story Greek Revival mansion was built in 1836 for Alvah Kittredge, a leading real estate developer of the time. It was originally located at the site of the Roxbury Low Fort, a defensive earthworks of the American Revolutionary War, and was moved to its present site after 1896. It was the home of noted Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee for 30 years.
The Jacob Wirth Restaurant was a historic German-American restaurant and bar in Boston, Massachusetts at 31-39 Stuart Street. Founded in 1868, Jacob Wirth was the second oldest continuously operated restaurant in Boston when it closed in 2018.
The Harvard Square Subway Kiosk is a historic kiosk and landmark located in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was built in 1928 as the new main headhouse for the previously-opened Harvard Square subway station. After the station closed in 1981 for major renovations, the kiosk was moved slightly and renovated. The Out of Town News newsstand, which opened in 1955, occupied the kiosk from 1984 to 2019. As of 2019, the City of Cambridge plans to convert it for public use.
Roxbury Heritage State Park is a history-themed heritage park in the oldest part of Roxbury, a former town annexed in 1868 by Boston, Massachusetts. It is anchored by the Dillaway–Thomas House, a large colonial structure built in 1750 and thought to be the oldest surviving house in Roxbury. The location includes an adjacent 1-acre (0.40 ha) landscaped park with views of the Boston skyline, and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
The Modern Theatre is located on Washington Street in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It opened as a movie theater in 1914 in a former commercial building that had been repurposed by noted theater architect Clarence H. Blackall. In 2009 Suffolk University demolished the long-vacant building after removing and storing the facade, and constructed a new building on the site. Suffolk's new Modern Theatre opened on November 4, 2010.
Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell (1872-1888) was an architecture firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principals were Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (1829-1888), Walter Thacher Winslow (1843-1909) and George Homans Wetherell (1854-1930). Most of the firm's work was local to Boston and New England, with a few commissions as far afield as Seattle and Kansas City.
20-30 Bromfield Street is a historic commercial row in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is significant as being one of the few surviving 19th century commercial granite structures in the downtown area.
The Boston Citgo sign is a large, double-faced sign featuring the logo of the oil company Citgo that overlooks Kenmore Square in Boston. The sign was installed in 1940 and updated with Citgo's present logo in 1965. The sign has become a landmark of Boston through its appearance in the background of Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park.
Roswell Gleason was an American manufacturer and entrepreneur who rose from apprentice tinsmith to owner of a large manufacturing concern that initially produced pewter objects for domestic and religious use, and later added Britannia ware and silver-plated goods to its catalog. He was instrumental in bringing the process of silver electroplating to America, creating a new market for less expensive substitutes for luxury goods.