Bay Village is the smallest officially recognized
neighborhood of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. , its population was approximately 1,312 residents living in 837 housing units, most of which are small brick
rowhouse
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United Sta ...
s.
Description
The
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
is the southern boundary of the neighborhood, which coincides with the right-of-way of the former
Boston and Worcester Railroad
The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. P ...
, laid down in the 1830s. Marginal Road and Cortes Street are the surface roads that parallel "the Pike". Across the Pike to the southwest lies the
South End neighborhood; to the southeast of the Pike and Tremont Street is the southern edge of
Chinatown. To the west of Berkeley Street and north of Columbus Avenue (west of Arlington Street) is the
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
neighborhood. To the north of Stuart Street is
Park Square, and to the east of
Charles Street is the
Washington Street Theatre District
The Boston Theater District is the center of Boston's theater scene. Many of its theaters are on Washington Street, Tremont Street, Boylston Street, and Huntington Avenue.
History
Plays were banned in Boston by the Puritans until 1792. Bost ...
.
In 1983, the area bounded by Cortes Street, Tremont Street, Piedmont Street, and Isabella Street was designated as the "Bay Village Historic District" by the
Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975
History
Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Presid ...
. The exterior appearance of buildings is protected by a Historic District designation administered by the Bay Village Historic District Commission.
The narrow one-way network and irregular grid arrangement of the streets make the interior urban spaces of Bay Village relatively quiet and pedestrian-friendly, due to sparse automobile traffic. Most of the sidewalks are paved with
brick, and are lit by
gas streetlamps at night. One small street is still paved with original
cobblestones, while the remainder have long ago been repaved with asphalt.
There are a few "
vest-pocket parks" located within or nearby Bay Village, including Eliot Norton Park, which although technically located in the Theatre District, is just across Charles Street from the eastern boundary of the neighborhood.
The
Boston Public Garden
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to ...
and
Boston Common
The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beac ...
are located just two blocks away from the northern edge of Bay Village.
Traditionally middle to lower-middle class, the neighborhood has become relatively more expensive and upscale, beginning around the 1990s. The Bay Village Neighborhood Association (BVNA) is very active in controlling urban nuisances, such as traffic, litter, graffiti, and pet wastes (an approved
dog walking
Dog walking is the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog's residence and then returning. Leashes are commonly used for this. Both owners and pets receive many benefits, including exercise and companionship.
Description
...
area is located next to Eliot Norton Park). The BVNA is also known for organizing Spring and Fall Cleanup days, a book club, and the Bay Village Annual Neighborhood Block Party. The party includes restaurant seating and service in the middle of the narrow streets, weather permitting.
History
The western part of the neighborhood was originally part of the body of water known as the
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
, west of the
Boston Neck
The Boston Neck or Roxbury Neck was an isthmus, a narrow strip of land connecting the then-peninsular city of Boston to the mainland city of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston). The surrounding area was gradually filled in as the city of Bos ...
isthmus
An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...
. This area was once known as South Bay, as the original waterline was in the area of Charles Street and Broadway (formerly Carver Street and Pleasant Street).
In the 1820s, the neighborhood was
landfilled by developer
Ephraim Marsh,
in partnership with Francis Cabot Lowell Jr, before the more extensive landfills of the adjacent Back Bay and South End neighborhoods.
Through its history, the neighborhood has been known at different times as the Church Street District, South Cove, and Kerry Village.
Architecturally, many Bay Village homes look like smaller versions of
Beacon Hill townhouse
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...
s. This is largely because many of the craftspeople who built the Beacon Hill residences settled in this area and built the local residences for their own use.
Fayette Street, named for the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
soldier
Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...
, has numerous houses dating from the
Federal Period
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
. Grander five-story townhouses in the
Greek Revival style may be found on Melrose Street. After the area west of Ferdinand Street was filled in, developers built luxury residential "hotels" in the
Victorian style on Cortes and Isabella Streets.
Raising the Village
![Church St District Boston Fayette St Facing West, North Side, Being Raised 1868](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Church_St_District_Boston_Fayette_St_Facing_West%2C_North_Side%2C_Being_Raised_1868.jpg)
In 1868, the majority of what is now Bay Village was raised in order to eliminate sewage problems created by the filling of the adjacent
South End and
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
neighborhoods.
Some 457 houses and 24 other structures were raised by 12 feet (4m) to a grade of 18 feet (6m) above mean low water, with cellars, gardens and vacant lots raised to 6 feet (2m) above mean low water.
[Documents of the City of Boston for the Year 1868, Document Number 41, Report and Orders in Relation to the Church Street District, April 13, 1868. ] The total cost of this massive engineering feat was $632,700, compared to a total estimated value of $1,668,120 for all of the structures raised.
To complete the work, the City of Boston temporarily took possession of all the structures in the area, exchanging them for City bonds with the property owners. There were 3,528 displaced individuals in total, coming from 867 families, and the work took around two years to complete. Once the structures and streets were raised, and the new sewer system was functional, the structures were returned to the property owners.
![Church St District Boston Church Being Raised 1868](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Church_St_District_Boston_Church_Being_Raised_1868.jpg)
Many of the raised structures were modified with new entrances into what had previously been the second floor. Visitors can see evidence of this today by noting the location of the basement windows in some of the buildings on Fayette Street, as well as arches opening to horsewalks that ran under the houses to stables in the rear. In addition, some private gardens were never raised, and remain near their original elevations.
The Church Street Church, for which Church street was named, was raised and "much altered by 1868 (at the time of the raising of the district)."
The church, which was located between the current Winchester and Piedmont Streets, was later demolished in 1924.
Edgar Allan Poe
The American writer
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
was born at the edge of Bay Village; his parents were both actors in the Theatre District nearby. A commemorative plaque on Boylston Street is a couple of blocks away from the actual location of Poe's birth.
The house which was his birthplace at 62 Carver Street no longer exists; also, the street has since been renamed "Charles Street South".
A "square" at the intersection of Broadway, Fayette, and Carver Streets had once been named in his honor,
but it disappeared when the streets were rearranged. In 2009, the intersection of Charles and Boylston Streets (two blocks north of his birthplace) was newly designated "Edgar Allan Poe Square".
A residential condominium a few streets away within Bay Village is also named in his honor, but otherwise has no known connection to the author.
In 2014, a permanent memorial bronze sculpture by Stefanie Rocknak was installed at Edgar Allan Poe Square. ''
Poe Returning to Boston'' depicts a life-sized Poe striding against the wind, accompanied by a flying
raven; his suitcase lid has fallen open, leaving a "paper trail" of literary works embedded in the sidewalk behind him.
Cocoanut Grove fire
![Cocoanut Grove Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Cocoanut_Grove_Memorial.jpg)
Bay Village was the site of the November 1942 fire at the
Cocoanut Grove nightclub, in which 492 people lost their lives. Its terrible aftermath led to the creation and enforcement of stringent
fire code
Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and eff ...
s across the US, in the hope of preventing other such tragedies. Marking the 50th anniversary of the incident, the Bay Village Neighborhood Association placed a memorial plaque in the brick sidewalk near the club's former site on Piedmont Street, now partially occupied by the Revere Hotel (formerly the Radisson Hotel).
The plaque states:
The Cocoanut Grove. Erected by the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, 1993. In memory of the more than 490 people who died in the Cocoanut Grove fire on November 28, 1942. As a result of that terrible tragedy, major changes were made in the fire codes, and improvements in the treatment of burn victims, not only in Boston but across the nation. "Phoenix out of the Ashes"
A smaller inscription in the lower left corner says, "This plaque crafted by Anthony P. Marra, youngest survivor of the Cocoanut Grove fire".
On November 30, 2013, a short street running through the former site of the Cocoanut Grove Club, and previously named "Shawmut Extension", was renamed "Cocoanut Grove Lane". The on-site renaming ceremony was attended by several survivors of the fire and around 250 guests and spectators. Speakers included
Marty Walsh
Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
, who had recently been elected mayor of Boston, but not yet sworn into office.
The plaque was removed in 2014 for the construction of new condominium residences on the site,
but was reinstalled in June 2016 as previously agreed to by the developer.
However a few weeks later, the plaque was relocated to the corner of Cocoanut Grove Lane nearby, at the request of some condominium owners. The relocation was objected to by the surviving daughter of Anthony P. Marra (who had designed the plaque), with support from other interested parties.
According to a ''Boston Globe'' article, the condo owners stated "We now occupy these homes with our families as part of the Bay Village neighborhood and would like to enjoy our homes in peace, without tragic memories, hanging wreaths at our doors and tourists peeking into our houses".
One of the condominium developers has claimed that the new placement of the plaque is closer to the original location of the infamous revolving door at the entrance to the nightclub, which had become jammed in the panic and had trapped many victims.
Demographics
Race and ancestry
According to the 2012-2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the largest ancestry groups in
ZIP Codes 02116 are:
Transportation
,
Walk Score
Walk Score, a subsidiary of Redfin, provides walkability analysis and apartment search tools. Its flagship product is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the United States, U ...
rates Bay Village as the fourth most
walkable
Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport ...
neighborhood in the City of Boston, which itself is rated the third most walkable city in the US, and has a high Transit Score as well.
Bay Village has been assigned a Walk Score of 98, and a Transit Score of 100; its lower Bike Score of 71 is still considered "Very Bikeable".
Several
MBTA rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
stations are located just beyond the boundaries of Bay Village, which is also served by several local bus routes.
Commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...
and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
long-haul trains stop at
Back Bay Station
Back Bay station (also signed as Back Bay · South End) is an intermodal passenger station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located just south of Copley Square in Boston's Back Bay and South End neighborhoods. It serves MBTA Commuter Rail and ...
and
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
, within walking distance to the west and east of Bay Village, respectively. Inter-city bus services depart from the regional
South Station Bus Terminal
The South Station Bus Terminal, owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is the main gateway for long-distance coach buses in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at 700 Atlantic Avenue, at the intersection with Beach Street, ...
.
Nearby MBTA stations include:
*
Arlington (
Green Line)
*
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
(
Orange Line)
*
Boylston Boylston may refer to the following communities:
;Canada
* Boylston, Nova Scotia
;United States
* Boylston, Massachusetts
* Boylston, New York
* Boylston, Wisconsin
* Boylston Junction, Wisconsin
It may also refer to:
* Helen Dore Boylston, au ...
(
Green Line)
*
Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center (until 2008 Tufts-New England Medical Center) in Boston, Massachusetts is a downtown Boston hospital midway between Chinatown and the Boston Theater District.
The hospital is a community based medical center for biomedical ...
(
Orange Line)
On-street parking is very scarce within Bay Village, and is mostly reserved for holders of Residential Parking stickers. Commercial parking is available in numerous surface lots and
parking garages located near or in the neighborhood. Entrance ramps to the
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
(
I-90) and the
Central Artery
The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts; it is designated as Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3.
The original Artery, constructed in the 1950s, was named aft ...
(
I-93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
) are a minute's drive away.
Local media
In addition to the larger
metropolitan Boston publications, several local weekly newspapers are distributed free in Bay Village. The neighborhood is so small that it is often included in the South End or Back Bay neighborhoods.
''
The Boston Courant'' covered the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Downtown, Fenway, South End, and the Waterfront neighborhoods of Boston, and included dedicated real estate listings for South End / Bay Village, and events calendar listings. However, the newspaper announced that it would permanently shut down, in its February 6, 2016 edition.
Shortly after that announcement, the ''Back Bay Sun'' changed its name to the ''Boston Sun'', and expanded its coverage from the Back Bay to also include the South End and Fenway-Kenmore neighborhoods of Boston. The paper is owned by
The Independent Newspaper Group (ING), which also publishes ''The Beacon Hill Times''. This latter newspaper has had some coverage of Bay Village, and is of interest because of the close proximity and historical connections to the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
In 2016, the previous publisher of the defunct ''Boston Courant'' debuted a reborn publication under the new banner of the ''
Boston Guardian
The ''Boston Guardian'' was an African-American newspaper, co-founded by William Monroe Trotter and George W. Forbes in 1901 in Boston, Massachusetts, and published until the 1950s.
In April 2016, an unrelated publisher launched its own ''Boston ...
'', serving the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Downtown, Fenway, South End, and North End/Waterfront districts of Boston. The new publication's title stirred up some controversy over the alleged appropriation of a historic journalistic name.
In addition, the Bay Village Neighborhood Association occasionally distributes its free quarterly newsletter in the area, and back issues can be downloaded from its website.
Adjacent neighborhoods and districts
*
Back Bay, Boston
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
*
Chinatown, Boston
Chinatown, Boston (Cantonese: 唐人街; Jyutping: ''Tong4jan4gaai1'') is a neighborhood located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving historic ethnic Chinese enclave in New England since the demise of the Chinatowns in ...
*
Park Square (Boston)
Park Square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts is bounded by Stuart, Charles Street South, Boylston, and Arlington Streets. It is the home of the Boston Four Seasons Hotel, the Boston Park Plaza, and nearly a dozen restaurants. To the north acro ...
*
South Bay, Boston
*
South End, Boston
*
Washington Street Theatre District
The Boston Theater District is the center of Boston's theater scene. Many of its theaters are on Washington Street, Tremont Street, Boylston Street, and Huntington Avenue.
History
Plays were banned in Boston by the Puritans until 1792. Bost ...
References
External links
Bay Village Neighborhood Association (BVNA)Historic Bay VillageBay Village Historic District Study Report, 1983
{{BostonMA
Neighborhoods in Boston
1820s establishments in Massachusetts