Category: urban development series (5)

When the modern Rowes Wharf was conceived in 1982, it was a design competition with a bold vision of a new Boston. Learn why this building was such a breakthrough, and how it remains at the center of 21st-century Boston. Our hour-long, accessible, quarter-mile tour will lead you through memories of colonial wharves and elevated trolleys, schooners and steamships, and into the transformed city. Presented in partnership with the Boston Harbor Hotel find out more

Explore the engineered world of Fort Point Channel. On this tour of discovery, you will experience the history and engineering marvels of this industrial waterway that has become the centerpiece of this neighborhood's revival. Learn how the Channel came to be through the activities of the Boston Wharf Company, South Station development, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, and recent activation efforts. Explore the workings of its three remaining historic bridges, plus the memories of the Mt. Washington, the rolling bridges at South Station, and the ambitious cofferdam. Uncover why Fort Point Channel was the most difficult undertaking of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, the I-90 extension, and the great changes the Channel has experienced since. Prepare to walk from one end of the Channel to the other and see this area like you have never seen it before! find out more

Take a walk through the heart of Victorian Boston on this tour of Commonwealth Avenue! Boston's grand boulevard, Commonwealth Avenue, provides an enduringly popular stroll. The tour parallels the 19 ^th century filling and development of the Back Bay from its origin at Arlington Street down the seven blocks along the tree-lined, grassy Mall. See how careful effort over 150 years has preserved the "grandness" of the Avenue. find out more

Join us on a 90-minute walking tour exploring the city's rebirth after the Great Fire of 1872. Follow the route of the progression of the Great Fire, a disaster in Boston's commercial district that proved more costly than the legendary Chicago Fire the year before. Hear how the city's architectural design contributed to the spread and speed of the devastating conflagration, and learn how these fires reformed our fire prevention policies in America. find out more