Horticultural Hall (1865–1901) of

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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, was the headquarters of the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to Mass Hort or MHS, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusettsbr>It describes itself as the oldest formally organized horticultural institution in the United States ...

in the later 19th century. It stood at no.100-102 Tremont Street, at the corner of Bromfield Street, opposite the

Granary Burying Ground The Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. It is the burial location of Revolutionary War-era patriots, including Paul Revere, the five victims of the ...

. Architects Gridley J.F. Bryant and

Arthur Gilman Arthur Delevan Gilman (November 5, 1821, Newburyport, Massachusetts – July 11, 1882, Syracuse, New York) was an American architect, designer of many Boston neighborhoods, and member of the American Institute of Architects. Life and career G ...

designed the building. Sculptor Martin Milmore created horticulturally-themed statuary for the building's exterior: "three ancient Roman goddesses ... Ceres, goddess of agriculture;

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

, goddess of flowers; and Pomona, goddess of fruit trees." In the 1880s: "the ground floor asoccupied by stores; the second story by the Library Room of the society and a hall for the weekly exhibitions; and the upper story by a large and elegant hall used ... at the annual and other important exhibitions. Both of these halls

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

often used for concerts and the better class of entertainments. The society's library, comprising over 4,000 volumes, asthe most valuable collection of horticultural works in the United States. The halls

adorned with portraits and busts of the presidents, founders, and benefactors of the society." By 1899 the society's rooms in the building seemed old-fashioned, small, inconvenient, and expensive to maintain. After internal debate the society sold Horticultural Hall in 1900 and leased space there for some months thereafter. In 1901 the society transferred to its new building in the Back Bay, and the building on Tremont Street was demolished the same year. At the time, Milmore's architectural statues were removed to the home of society president Albert C. Burrage (later the

Glen Urquhart School Glen Urquhart School is an independent, coeducational day school for students in grades pre-K through grade eight, located in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts. History Established in 1977 as North Shore Middle School, in a local church, Glen Urqu ...

) in Beverly, Massachusetts. In the mid-1990s the society restored Milmore's statues (only torsos survived) and installed them in their new headquarters in Wellesley, Massachusetts.Bill Evans, the sculptor hired to restore the Millmore statues, carved new faces for two of the figures as portraits of 1990s donors Diane DiCarlo and Jeanne Leszczynski. (Boston Globe, August 23, 2002 )

Images

File:Horticultural Hall Tremont St., Boston, Mass, by Soule, John P.jpg, Horticultural Hall, unknown date File:HorticulturalHall TremontSt StrangersGuideToBoston 1883.png, Interior, from ''Stranger's Illustrated Guide to Boston and its Suburbs'' Image:1867 HarpersWeekly 13April.png, ''Harper's Weekly,'' 1867; cover story about Horticultural Hall Image:1887 HorticulturalHall Boston.png, Seating chart of auditorium, 1887 Image:1891 TremontSt Boston.png, Tremont Street in 1891, with Horticultural Hall (left), Studio Building (center),

Park Street Church Park Street Congregational Church, founded in 1809, is a historic and active evangelical congregational church in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The Park Street Church is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Confer ...

(right) Image:1896 BromfieldSt Boston map byStadly BPL 12479 detail.png, Detail of 1896 map of Boston, showing Horticultural Hall, opposite Granary Burial Ground File:1883 cats HorticulturalHall BostonGlobe Oct14.png, Advertisement, Cat show, 1883 File:1887 tent HorticulturalHall BostonGlobe 3April.png, Advertisement, Novel exhibition, 1888 File:1891 HorticulturalHall BostonGlobe Oct10.png, Advertisement, Hypnotism show, 1891 Image:1897 Chinese village HorticulturalHall BostonGlobe Dec29.png, Advertisement, Chinese village, 1897 Image:2007 Millmore ElmBank Wellesley MA USA.jpg, Statuary by Milmore, restored in 1990s (photo 2007)

References

External links

* Bostonian Society. Photos: *
100-122 Tremont Street
July 12, 1895 *
Tremont Street, 1895
Dec. 14, 1:45 pm ("the columns on the right are Horticultural Hall") *
Tremont Street, c. 1896-1901
Tremont Temple (center), Horticultural Hall in distance (at far right) *
Tremont Street, c. 1907-1915
shows new building on site of former Horticultural Hall {{Coord, 42, 21, 25.96, N, 71, 3, 40.01, W, type:landmark_region:US-MA, display=title Commercial buildings completed in 1865 Former buildings and structures in Boston Buildings and structures demolished in 1901 19th century in Boston Financial District, Boston

Images

See also

References

Further reading

External links