Boston Flora

Tag: Boston Landmarks Commission

  • May, 2016 – Boston Preservation Month: Keep the Change

    The Boston Landmarks Commission invites you to learn more about Boston’s history, architecture, archaeology, and historic neighborhoods by participating in Preservation Month activities during the month of May.  For a complete calendar of activities visit http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/PM16%20Calendar_tcm3-53174.pdf.  Here, however, are some highlights, by no means the complete list of lectures and walking tours, but something to whet your appetite:

    Sunday, May 1 – Revitalizing Roxbury’s Meetinghouse: A Presentation and Tour.

    Tuesday, May 3 – Tour of the Boston Custom House with Rosanne Foley, Executive Director of the Boston Landmarks Commission.

    Wednesday, May 4 – A Necessary Haze: Drinking in Colonial America with author Corin Hirsch at Old North Church.

    Thursday, May 5, 6 pm, Boston Public Library: Keynote Event Panel Discussion on how old and new can coexist in Boston, using examples of recent projects at the BPL, the Burnham Building (Filene’s), and in the South End Landmark District.

    Saturday, May 7 – A Lion, A Unicorn, and a Time Capsule: Preservation Surprises at the Old State House, 206 Washington Street

    Wednesday, May 11 – A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts with Joseph Bagley at the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street.

    Wednesday, May 18 – Restoring USS Constitution, America’s Ship of State, in the 21st Century, at the Charlestown Navy Yard.

    Thursday, May 19 – Art Deco Walking Tour in Boston’s Financial District.

    Wednesday, May 25 – SAVED: Old South Meeting House and Historic Preservation in America, with Erica Lindamood and Alison Frazee, at 310 Washington Street.

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  • Tuesdays, May 5 – May 26, 12:00 noon – Preservation is U

    A special midday tour series will take place every Tuesday, May 5 – May 26 at noon, as part of the City of Boston’s 2015 Preservation Month.  Long celebrated as the Athens of America, Boston is home to more than 2 dozen colleges, universities, and professional schools.  Not surprisingly, these institutions number among their campuses many architecturally significant properties.  Often converted for academic use rather than originally planned for that purpose, these buildings run the aesthetic gamut from Gothic to Art Deco, and include distinguished works by architects both famous and obscure.

    But what makes these properties so attractive to institutions?  With vacant city land always at a premium and new construction hardly a bargain, colleges recognize that the superior design, materials and workmanship of historic structures make them ideal candidates for adaptive reuse.  Smart university administrators understand that whether converted to classrooms or offices, residence halls or performance spaces, old buildings have many decades of useful life ahead of them.  And they have learned that they can ask for no more enthusiastic partners in this effort than our historic commissions and the resourceful professionals who staff them.

    Concentrated in central Boston, the historic buildings now owned by Boston University, Emerson College, Northeastern University and Suffolk University reflect a common appreciation for the city’s built heritage: both as the vessel of a storied past, and as a vehicle to an exciting future.  We’ll be exploring many of the best examples in a month-long series of lunch hour walks we’re calling Preservation is U. Please join the Boston Landmarks Commission each Tuesday in May for an informal graduate course in this familiar but seldom-considered aspect of Boston’s architectural record.

    May 5 – Downtown Boston.  Elizabeth Stifel, Boston Landmarks Commission Staff Architect. Contact elizabeth.stifel@boston.gov today to reserve a place.

    May 12 – Beacon Hill.  Erin Doherty, Beacon Hill Architectural Commission Staff, and Joe Bagley, City Archaeologist. Contact erin.doherty@boston.gov before May 8 to reserve a place.

    May 19 – South End. Meghan Hanrahan Richard, South End Landmark District Commission Staff.  Contact meghan.hanrahan@boston.gov before May 15 to reserve a place.

    May 26 – Bay State Road. William Young, Director of Design Review. Contact william.young@boston.gov before May 22 to reserve a space.

  • Thursday, March 12, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – A Spin in the Park

    The Friends of the Public Garden is delighted to be partnering with the Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) on an event that will kick-off their 40th anniversary year. Mayor Martin J. Walsh recently announced a series of free events scheduled throughout 2015 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BLC. Titled BLC XL, this anniversary series will feature four seasonal programs celebrating Boston’s historic places and the progress made during the past four decades to protect and enhance the city’s unique identity.

    On March 12, 2015, please join us at the winter BLC XL program, “A Spin in the Park,” a free guided tour of the Boston Common. On this early-evening ramble, the Friends will present the colorful history of the Common, a designated Boston Landmark since 1977, and their ongoing efforts to restore and maintain it. BLC staff will reveal how the Common’s significant fences, statuary and fountains help define one of the city’s foundational places. This spin through the park will then take to the ice with skating at the Frog Pond, where rental skates will be made available to registered attendees at no cost along with a complimentary hot chocolate. Image from bostonfrogpond.com. Online registration is available here: blcxlwinter.eventbrite.com.

  • Thursday, May 1, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Mated for Life: Boston and the Swan Boats

    Quick: What do Calvin Coolidge, Princess Grace, and Cyndi Lauper have in common? If you’re guessing that they all wanted to have fun, you’re getting warm. Give up? Why, they’ve all ridden on the Swan Boats, of course! So have you, probably. (And if you haven’t, you’re certainly missing out!) Swan Boats have been gliding along the Public Garden lagoon since Victorian days, delighting passengers of all ages and from all walks of life. Befitting the first botanical garden in the United States, the Swan Boats are the only watercraft of their kind in the world. Offering splendid views of the venerable trees and vivid flower beds of the Public Garden and the handsome historic buildings beyond, each jaunt aboard the Swan Boats invites us on a journey in time and tradition.

    Join The Boston Landmarks Commission at the storied Taj Boston for our Preservation Month 2014 Keynote Event on Thursday, May 1 at 6 pm. At this historic hotel overlooking the Public Garden,Lyn Paget, the descendant of the original Swan Boat operators, shares with us her fascinating account of this little flotilla, from its earliest launch to date. Lyn will explain how in 1877 her great-grandfather Robert Paget first adapted the now-familiar swan imagery from Wagner’s Lohengrin for his very first paddleboat. The actual birds’ legendary attributes of gracefulness and fidelity seem reflected by the fleet’s continuation and growth, after Robert’s untimely death, by his widow Julia, a pioneering businesswoman. Remaining a Paget family enterprise to this day, the Swan Boats bloom perennially as both a tourist attraction and a source of seasonal employment for the vigorous young people whose deft pedal work keeps them afloat. Now well into their second century, the Swan Boats grow yearly in fame through the ever- popular works of children’s authors Robert McCloskey and E. B. White, attracting generations of new enthusiasts the world over, Bostonians and visitors alike. Come hear Lyn’s interesting facts and anecdotes, learn how the vessels are operated and maintained, and revel in the surprising history of these beloved symbols of Boston itself. Reception to follow.

    Free and open to the public. As space is limited, pre-registration is required. Contact tonya.loveday@boston.gov to sign up.

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  • Esplanade Association Update

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay provided two grants to The Esplanade Association in 2010 in support of its work with trees – updating the tree inventory and replacing storm damaged trees.  We have received a note from Executive Director Sylvia Salas at The Esplanade Association which we’d like to share with our readers:

    “1. Tree inventory: We have been working with Joyce Husseni from Nitsch Engineering and David Rines on this project. David has assessed the condition of every tree on the Esplanade and has input this data into an Excel spreadsheet for Joyce to import into a database. David also has re-plotted tree locations on the maps, as needed. The assessment and data update include approximately 90 new trees, including the Yoshino cherries. The updated inventory will prove very useful to DCR as well as TEA in identifying and prioritizing tree work. We hope next to re-tag the trees.

    2. Replacement trees and tree care: The process of planting, even pruning, trees on the Esplanade is somewhat complicated because of oversight requirements by the Massachusetts Historic Commission and Boston Landmarks Commission, but we have managed to work through all of the DCR requirements to move forward with tree work. We are planting 10 willows at Otis Grove this spring and we intend to plant trees, as well as shrubs, ground cover and other plants at Eliot Plaza. The Eliot Plaza project is a significant one, encompassing a redesign of the plaza’s current landscape to convert it into the classic room within the park as intended by Arthur Shurcliff. We also have managed to get nearly 200 trees pruned around the Hatch Shell and are working with DCR to have as many as 300 trees pruned in the Otis Grove, Esplanade Café and Sherborn exercise areas this spring.

    Please express our gratitude to the members of the garden club for their support of The Esplanade Association’s ongoing work to improve the health and care of the Esplanade.”

  • Wednesday, June 30, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Boston Modern: The Spirit of Reinvention

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation invites the public to a free event – Boston Modern: The Spirit of Reinvention -  on Wednesday, June 30, beginning at 6:30 pm, celebrating the history and debating the future of the Boston area’s Modern and recent past architecture.  Join some of the preservation movement’s sharpest thinkers and most outspoken commentators for a provocative evening exploring the critical, and often controversial, issues facing the future of Greater Boston’s 20th century structures and landscapes.  Journalist and author Anthony Flint of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy will moderate a panel featuring David Fixler, FAIA of EYP and DOCOMOMO-US/New England, Kathy Spiegelman, Chief Planner, Harvard’s Allston Initiative, and others.  After hearing the experts, add your voice to the conversation during the public forum.

    A Special Insiders Tour of The First Church at 6:30 pm will be limited to the first 45 registrants.  The reception and program will begin at 7 pm.  RSVP to my.PreservationNation.org/BostonModern.

    The Boston Modern event is presented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Modernism + Recent Past Program and Northeast Office, in partnership with the Boston Preservation Alliance, Boston Landmarks Commission, Boston Society of Architects, Common Boston, DOCOMOMO-US/new Engld, Historic New England, and Preservation Massachusetts, with sponsorship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Henry Luce Foundation.

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