The Commonwealth Avenue Historic District of
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
, encompasses roughly the eastern half of
Commonwealth Avenue, extending from Waban Hill Road, near the city line with
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 ...
, westward to Walnut Street. The roadway was laid out in 1894 and completed in 1895. Its design was influenced in part by the local residents, who were willing to give land for some of the route, and the design of Boston portions of the road, in which
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...
was involved. Construction of the roadway was followed by the construction of fashionably large residences along its route, which took place mostly between the road's construction and about 1920. The district includes 188 residential properties, which are mainly built in the revival styles popular in the early 20th century.
The district was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1990.
Description and history
Commonwealth Avenue in Newton was built in 1895 as an extension of the boulevard of that name that ran through Boston, that would pass through the central part of the city, providing vehicular and street car service to an area not well served by its Circuit Railway. It was modeled to some degree on that road and
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston U ...
in
Brookline, as a wide right of way with space for a street car line. (The
Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway
The Middlesex and Boston Street Railway (M&B) was a streetcar and later bus company in the area west of Boston. Streetcars last ran in 1930, and in 1972 the company's operations were merged into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA ...
connected with the
Boston Elevated Railway
The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Rai ...
streetcars near the Newton-Boston boundary at
Boston College). It differs from those roads, in that the terrain is much hillier, requiring the road to wind in a more picturesque manner, and in the city's aversion to multiunit apartment blocks.
[
A significant number of houses lining Commonwealth Avenue were designed by architects. The most prolific was Harry Morton Ramsay, who is documented to have designed at least 17 of them. Ramsay's work was in a variety of styles, with the Colonial Revival predominating in his work along this road. Most of these houses were built for well-to-do Boston businessmen and professionals. There are two areas along the road where small commercial blocks were built: near the eastern end in the vicinity of Boston College, and at the corner of Centre Street.][
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Newton, Massachusetts
Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts