The Commonwealth Avenue Historic District of

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

, encompasses roughly the eastern half of Commonwealth Avenue, extending from Waban Hill Road, near the city line with

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, 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, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 east–west street in Boston, Massachusetts, and its western suburbs of Brookline, Massachusetts, Brookline and Newton, Massachusetts, Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, includ ...

in Brookline, as a wide right of way with space for a street car line. (The Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway connected with the

Boston Elevated Railway The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a Tram, 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 R ...

streetcars near the Newton-Boston boundary at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

). 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

, and at the corner of Centre Street.

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

Description and history

See also

References