The Back Bay Area

Boston's Back Bay transformed from a tidal saltwater marsh into one of America's best-preserved 19th-century urban residential and architectural districts. Gravel and soil were hauled via steam trains 24 hours a day, six days a week from leveled hills in Needham, Massachusetts.  The massive filling operation created roughly 460 acres of new land, completing the main Back Bay area by 1882 and the Fens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted by 1900.  The Back Bay Fens is a 100-acre park and is part of the famous Emerald Necklace park system. Olmsted created the park in 1878 to fix severe tidal flooding and drainage issues in the area. He combined landscape architecture with sanitary engineering and turned a saltwater marsh into a scenic tidal pool with wooded banks. The area became a freshwater lagoon in 1910 after the Charles River was dammed.

Charlesgate Bridge at the entrance to the Back Bay Fens

Architect Arthur Gilman laid out the Back Bay neighborhood on a strict, orderly grid inspired by 19th-century Parisian boulevard renovations. Five main avenues run lengthwise in the area:  Beacon Street, Marborough Street, Commonwealth Avenue with its famous wide pedestrian mall, Newbury Street and Boylston Street. Early restrictions mandated brick and masonry materials, height limits and deep setbacks which produced the iconic uniform rows of Victorian brownstones. 

Post-Civil War growth brought iconic civic structures to Copley Square including H. H. Richardson's Trinity Church (1877) and Charles Follen McKim's Boston Public Library (1895)

Commercial activity expanded onto Boylston and Newbury streets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by mid-20th-century skyscrapers like the Prudential Center. The Prudential Center is a destination by and for the city that inspired it.  A place that lives firmly at the intersection of history and innovation.  Where legacy is honored and forward thinking finds a home. The Prudential Center is an enduring part of Boston .. riveting, ready and above all, real.