Copley Square is one of Boston’s most architecturally significant and instantly recognizable public locations. This urban square is home to Trinity Church, the Boston Public Library, Old South Church and the Hancock Tower, among other important landmarks. The square defines the city, as well as the evolution of American architecture and urban design, from colony toward the sophistication of global European squares, moving creatively from Beaux-Arts style to International Style and Modernism. On March 27 at 6 pm in the First Floor Commonwealth Salon at the Boston Public Library, architectural historian Leslie Humm Cormier explores this contemporary place from its origins as an estuary to its vital significance as a stylistic link between old-world style and new-world design.
Leslie Humm Cormier, PhD, writes on the history and theory of art, architecture and urban design in Europe and America. She received her doctorate from Brown University as a Kress Fellow, affording her study in London and Paris. She is the author of a book on the Early Modern era in American architecture, as well as many articles on modern architecture and urban design in architectural encyclopedias. Previously a faculty member of Harvard University Extension and Radcliffe Seminars, Cormier is currently affiliated with the Boston Architectural College. For more information email ask@bpl.org
An elegant (and fun!) affair, the Gibson House Museum’s annual benefit is a major fundraising opportunity for the museum. All proceeds support the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing this unique time capsule of Boston life. This year they will honor Jean Carroon, a principal with award-winning Boston design firm Goody Clancy, for her career as a preservation architect and her role in the stewardship of more than a dozen National Historic Landmarks, including Trinity Church, Old South Church, Church of the Covenant, Arlington Street Church, and the Ayer Mansion. The evening will take place April 11 beginning at 6 pm at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.thegibsonhouse.org/2018-benefit.html
Back in 1971, then Garden Club of the Back Bay President Myrna Esser, along with John N. Williams of The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, initiated Blossomtime: Newbury Street, a project to adorn 35 lamp posts on the entire stretch of Newbury Street with 70 baskets of petunias and vinca in hanging double planters. In preparation for this endeavor, she wrote to our area churches asking for their help in caring for the floral baskets. She was especially concerned with watering from May through the fall. The baskets were to be hung “above vandalism height but reachable by a solid length of hose and sprayer attachment hooked into a 17 1/2 gallon tank on wheels.”
Reverend Frederick Meek of Old South Church responded that after exploring several possibilities in person and by letter, he was unable to assume the responsibility, although he felt warmly toward the project. The Reverend Charles W. Griffin of the First Baptist Church was also contacted but appears not to have responded. Dr. Theodore Ferris of Trinity Church contributed financially to the project, but due to the fact that the planters would not be visible from the Church, was having trouble finding anyone willing to push around the tank.
A college age girl, unidentified in our archives, was found to try the job, and arrangements were made to keep the tank in the garage at Bonwit Teller’s (now Restoration Hardware) on Newbury Street. Anyone with pictures of the baskets is encouraged to forward them to info@bostonflora.com.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, and The Friends of Copley Square will celebrate the holidays with the annual Copley Square Tree Lighting on Tuesday, December 2, from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.
The free event will feature appearances by Mayor Walsh, WHDH-TV’s Janet Wu, Santa Claus, and Rudolph along with live entertainment including members of the Boston Pops Brass Ensemble, the Trinity Church Choristers, vocalist Sheree Dunwell, and a holiday sing-along.
The Old South Church bell will toll when the tree is illuminated. Light refreshments will be provided by local businesses and the Fairmont Copley Plaza will host a family reception immediately following for all in attendance.
The reception will include cookie decorating, photos with Santa and treats from Georgetown Cupcake, Pain d’Avignon, and the Fairmont Copley Plaza.
In addition, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Copley Square will become a spot for family revelry with jugglers, stilt walkers, and festive music provided by Magic 106.7, Boston’s holiday music station.
Even more festivities will take place in and around Copley Square on December 2. The Boston Public Library and The Catered Affair will host a Storytime and Candy Cane Tea at The Fairmont Copley Plaza from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The tea is free but reservations are required by calling (617) 859-2282.
For additional information please call the Boston Parks and Recreation Department at (617) 635-4505. To learn more about The Friends of Copley Square, please visit www.friendsofcopleysquare.org.
Please join the members and friends of the Gibson House Museum for a tour of churches of the eastern Back Bay lead by architectural historian Ed Gordon. We will view ecclesiastical edifices built in the eastern part of the neighborhood from Arlington to Dartmouth Streets during the first twenty years of the Back Bay’s massive land making project. During the course of the tour we’ll touch on topics ranging from architect Arthur Gilman’s unusual choice of English Georgian as the style for the Arlington Street Church (below) through Richard Upjohn’s early use of Roxbury puddingstone for the Church of the Covenant to the roles played by colorful personalities such as H.H. Richardson and Phillips Brooks in shaping the design of Trinity Church.
Meeting Place: The Gibson House Museum, 137 Beacon Street, Boston (between Arlington and Berkeley Streets)
Admission: $10 Members GHM & VSA/NE $12 Non Members. For information, visit www.thegibsonhouse.org.
On Tuesday, February 28, beginning at 7 pm, James Jiler will speak at Trinity Church, Copley Square, in a program co-sponsored by Trinity Church and The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University entitled Growing Potential: Gardening Behind Bars. James Jiler is former Director of the GreenHouse Project, a renowned horticultural job training program for inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island prison and is author of Doing Time in the Garden. He is currently director of GreenWorks, a re-entry program in Florida offering vocational training in “Greencollar” jobs, both inside and outside prison walls. Jiler will discuss horticultural therapy, the role of gardens inside and outside of prison walls and the human and landscape transformations he has witnessed. Jiler was featured in the documentary Dirt! which explores the life-changing effects that dirt and “doing time in the garden” have had on improving/reclaiming the lives of inmates. Book-signing to follow.
Trinity Church, Copley Square, will host a special pre-Thanksgiving event on Sunday, November 20, from 2 – 4 pm, with Father Leo Patalinghug. In his book Grace Before Meals: Recipes and Inspiration for Family Meals and Family Life, Father Leo, the same Father Leo who defeated Bobby Flay on Throwdown) helps make family meals a way of life. He has appeared on CBS, PBS, BC, EWTN, FOX, and The Food Network. Pre-registration required – contact Kathy Acerbo-Bachmann at kacerbobachmann@trinitychurchboston.org, or call 617-536-0944, ext. 217.
Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University team up once again as part of their Garden and Spirit: The Power of Landscapes to Transform series on Tuesday, November 29, from 7 – 8:30, hosting Wade Graham, designer, historian, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. In his book, American Eden, Wade Graham argues that how we design and garden shows more than simply how green are our thumbs. Gardens reveal information about who we are as a nation—where we have come from, and where we might be headed. From ethics to aesthetics, from politics to political correctness, Graham will speak about the history of gardening in America and how it has shaped and been shaped by daily life. The lecture is entitled American Eden: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are. The event will take place at Trinity Church, and the fee is $15 for Arboretum members, $20 for non-members. You may register online at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.
John La Farge’s Christ Preaching (1883) –newly returned to Trinity Church after a multi-year restoration–is Trinity Church’s crowning glory and one of the artist’s most significant windows. Julie Sloan, consultant to the restoration, will explore the window’s history, design, and restoration and La Farge’s relationship to Trinity Church in a lecture to be held Tuesday, November 1 beginning at 7 pm.
Julie Sloan is one of the leading stained-glass consultants in North America. She is the author of Conservation of Stained Glass in America and is adjunct professor of historic preservation at Columbia University, where she has taught stained glass restoration since 1985. Ms. Sloan’s conservation projects include Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, New York; H. H. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston; Harvard University’s Memorial Hall; Princeton University’s Chapel, and the State Houses of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Her conservation and research projects have won many awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Samuel Kress Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and the Arts & Crafts Fund.
Tickets: $10 per person, available at The Shop at Trinity (206 Clarendon St.) or by phone 617.536.0944 x225. Questions: Kathy Acerbo-Bachmann, kacerbobachmann@trinitychurchboston.org.
Patsy Cannon Boyce, a Past President of The Garden Club of the Back Bay has passed away at the age of 77 at her winter home in Arizona from congestive heart failure and complications from dementia.
For over twenty years, Patsy Boyce was one of the most active residents in Back Back, instrumental in the founding and growth of The Garden Club of the Back Bay. Additionally, she served on both the Building Committee and Vestry of Trinity Church in Copley Square, and supported both the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and the Boston Public Library. Her BPL Courtyard design served as a popular urban oasis for many years, prior to the most recent Library renovations.
Born in Bellingham, Washington in 1933 to George Frederick and Carolyn Ruth Cannon, Patsy traveled the world before moving to Boston in 1963. Graduating from Gonzaga University with a degree in Nursing, Patsy was one of the original flight attendants for Pan American Airways, flying on several prestigious routes for the airline, including the first commercial flight over the North Pole and on the airline’s “Royal†charters, which served leaders and monarchs around the world.
After leaving Pan Am, she was the social director on the S.S. Brazil, the same cruise ship that was later re-fitted and served as the model for “The Love Boat.†Immediately prior to marrying her husband Jim Boyce, she was then Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s personal secretary, leaving his employ in August 1963 to be married and move to Massachusetts.
According to her long time friend, Congressman Barney Frank, Patsy was a force for good as Boston’s Back Bay became the neighborhood it is today. In a recent letter, Barney writes “When you look at the revitalization of Back Bay in the 1970s and 1980s, you have to look at people like Patsy, who as the first ‘urban environmentalist’ did so much for this part of Boston.â€
Armed with a graduate degree in landscape design from Radcliffe College, Patsy was involved in many of the projects that helped turn the Back Bay into what it is today, including her personal favorite, maintaining the observatory at the Webster-Ames Mansion for owner/developer Ted Raymond. Patsy is survived by her son, James Cannon Boyce, her two sisters, Carolyn McKinnon and Neila McNamara, her husband Joseph Sidlovsky, two beloved grandchildren, Oliver Cannon Boyce and Phoebe Jean Ann Boyce, their mother Paris Ann Boyce and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at Trinity Church in Copley Square at 10:00 am, on October 1, 2011. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Garden Club of the Back Bay. Contributions may be mailed to Elisabeth Lay, Treasurer, 239 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA 02116, and please note on the check that the contribution is made in memory of Patsy Cannon Boyce.
