Back Bay 2: Commonwealth Avenue

Continuing on Newbury Street eventually led to a cross intersection with Clarendon Street, and turning left and walking about about 75m led me to the First Baptist Church along Commonwealth Avenue. I didn’t notice it was a church initially until I saw an elderly gentlemen putting up notices at a board on the lawn:

The First Baptist Church was established along Commonwealth Avenue in 1882 and architect Henry H. Richardson’s first major designs in the Romanesque-style. One of its distinctive features is its tall, ivy-covered tower:

At the top of the square tower is a frieze and decorative arches with an overhanging roof, and designed by Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor who also created the Statue of Liberty .

The Commonwealth Avenue stretches on both sides of Clarendon Street, and it being Boston’s first fully planned neighborhood is stylized after the city of Paris’ elegant boulevards. The Avenue runs around a long strip of grassy mall, adorned with statues of William Garrison and John Glover among others. It’s not in the pictures below, but in the second video below.

Many swanky residences along the Avenue:

My map route so far:

Leaving Commonwealth Avenue, I started walking back on Dartmouth Street and making my way back to Trinity Church. Very colorful and scenic short walk:

Verizon Building – I think – in the above picture. I stopped at Trinity Church for a visit after this point (see next blog post). But after leaving that church, I continued along Dartmouth Street and past Copley Square lied the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, Forbes three-star, AAA four-diamond hotel. The hotel has received a lot of celebrities and dignitaries.

Map of the second segment of my exploration of Back Bay, and videos too:

Whew. Long post. My notes on Trinity Church next.:)