Let’s Take a Walk Down Red Brick Row: St. Botolph Architectural Conservation District
The St. Botolph Architectural Conservation District, which was a landfill project home to many craftsmen and artists, consists of eight blocks of mostly red brick buildings.
This is the fourth in a nine-part series on Boston.com about historic districts in the city of Boston.
Nestled between the South End, Back Bay, Copley Square, and the Prudential Center, St. Botolph Street and the historic district that surrounds it are easily overlooked.
Like the Back Bay and Bay State districts, the St. Botolph Architectural Conservation District sits on land that was a part of a large-scale landfilling process in the 19th century. This eight-block area was filled in 1857, but development began around 1881 and lasted about 20 years, according to the Boston Landmarks Commission.
“Really for me it’s one of Boston’s hidden gems that a lot of people don’t realize exists between Back Bay and the Prudential Center and the South End, which everyone knows,’’ said Meghan Hanrahan Richard, who is the preservation planner for the St. Botolph district. “One day you end up on [St. Botolph Street], and you say, ‘Wow, this is special.’’’
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According to the Boston Landmarks Commission, by the end of the 1880s, half of the district was developed, with 90 percent of those structures being single-family residential homes.
Given that it was built over a 20-year period, varying architectural styles emerged in the district.
Though the style varied, the majority of the buildings were constructed out of red brick. In 1891, a public elementary school became the first yellow brick building.
In the 1960s and 70s, when the Prudential Center and the Christian Science Plaza were being built close to St. Botolph, residents began thinking it was time to turn the neighborhood into a historic protected district.
“There was concern that this is a special neighborhood, and they wanted some protection, so it wasn’t redeveloped as well,’’ Richard said. “There was a movement in the neighborhood. They had been through quite a bit and realized their neighborhood was special.’’
A 1975 study report from the city’s Landmarks Commission concluded that “the St. Botolph area is architecturally significant as a substantially intact area of the late 19th century Victorian style buildings, represented by the Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne, and as an extension and completion of the Back Bay, one of the nation’s most architecturally important neighborhoods.’’
The commission proposed the area be designated a historic district, which finally happened in 1981.
“It is also historically significant for its contributions to the arts and crafts,’’ the report continued, “specifically stained glass design and bookbinding, still taught and practiced in the neighborhood nearly a century later.’’
Historically this area was home to a variety of artists, writers, musicians, and craftspeople such as Bela Lyon Pratt, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Philip Henry Savage.
“I think of Huntington Avenue and its proximity to it,’’ Richard said. “Its nickname is Avenue of the Arts. It’s close to Symphony Hall, and the musicians’ union headquarters were on St. Botolph Street, and it was close to the places they were performing at.’’
In the early 1900s, the Museum of Fine Arts was in Copley Square, which was just being built up. After the residences in the St. Botolph district were built, according to the study, “a ‘westward movement’ along Huntington Avenue had begun to occur.’’
The movement included Horticulture Hall (1900-1901), Symphony Hall (1900), the Chickering Piano Factory (1901), the New England Conservatory of Music (1902), and the Boston Opera House (1908).
The major arts were accompanied by a vibrant craftsmanship scene.
The Society of Arts and Crafts was formed in Boston in 1897 when English influence and had a significant impact on the arts community in the St. Botolph area. One of the trades included bookbinding. According to the study, a book bindery formed in the district on Harcourt Street called Huegle, Quinby & Company ¬ it was one of 47 book binderies in Boston.
The area also became known for making stained glass thanks to Charles J. Connick, who founded a studio on Harcourt Street in 1913. According to the Landmark Commission’s study, he made stained glass for churches in Martha’s Vineyard, St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Cathedral of St. John Divine in New York, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and chapels at Princeton University and Boston University.
Francis B. O’Duggan eventually opened a second stained glass studio in the district in 1935 at 116 St. Botolph Street.
Architectural Styles
“There are some similarities to the Back Bay, and there are some differences,’’ Richard said. She made it clear that not every red brick row house is the same.
There are four architectural styles that can be found in the district: Classical Revival, Georgian Revival, Romanesque Revival, and Queen Anne. But the latter two styles are what make it unique.
According to the Boston Preservation Alliance, Romanesque Revival is known for its arches over windows and entryways, thick walls, irregular roof lines and brick façades.
Though the Queen Anne style, according to the Boston Preservation Alliance, is typically seen in a sprawling house form, here in the St. Botolph district you can find it in the row house style with turrets, decorative bay windows, and porches in unexpected places.
The district’s backbone is St. Botolph Street, with eight smaller streets running perpendicular to it in alphabetical order: Albemarle, Blackwood, Cumberland, Durham, Follen, Garrison, and Harcourt streets. One other street, West Newton Street, lies between Durham and Follen.
According to the Landmarks Commission study, “The small size of the St. Botolph area, divided as it is into relatively narrow streets of limited length, coupled with its development within two decades, creates an atmosphere of greater intimacy and architectural cohesion than in Back Bay Proper with its wide streets and architectural evolution over considerably more than half a century.’’
Famous Sites in the St. Botolph District
Yellow Brick Schoolhouse (145 St. Botolph St.): In 1891, this building became the first yellow brick building in the neighborhood, as the rest of them were red brick. Edmund Marsh Wheelwright, the city architect at the time, designed it. Today it is no longer a schoolhouse, but has been turned into an apartment building.
Harcourt Street Studios: 9-11 Harcourt St. housed the Connick Studio from 1913 to 1986. In 1916, 17 Harcourt St. was acquired by Huegle, Quinby & Company, which did bookbinding in the area.
Musicians Mutual Relief Society (52-56 St. Botolph Street): According to The BrickBuilder, an architectural monthly, this building was one of the first of its kind to be constructed in the country in 1886. There were offices, meeting rooms, and ballrooms for the society. About 20 years ago, it was converted to a residential apartment complex.
Regulations
There are not many unique Landmark Commission regulations to this area, other than the fact there are only rules for residential buildings. The regulations state that, though some buildings were altered before the district became official in 1981, “they are not retroactive, but apply only to changes proposed after the formal designation of the district.’’
The regulations also make it clear that the district as a whole is more important than individual needs and changes. It states, “In all cases, the design approach to a proposed change in a district should begin with an understanding of the fact that the overall character of a district is greater than the sum of its parts, and that a pattern exists within a district, which is made up of each building, each landscape element and each detail. It is the aggregate character which is most important.’’
People should be more cautious when making changes that are irreversible than ones that can be easily changed back to the building’s original state, according to the regulations.
No new windows can be made, any changes to doors must be approved, and original doors should be kept intact if possible. Furthermore, the regulations state that all decorative elements of the home should be maintained.
Materials such as brick are not allowed to be painted if they have “never been or were not intended to be painted.’’
Regulations also stipulate that anything that needs to be replaced should also look as original as possible.
Any questions, concerns, or proposals for exterior change should be brought up with the Boston Landmarks Commission.
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