Amazing Old Birds-Eye Views Of Boston

briv

briv

Senior Member
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
2,083
Reaction score
3
I was cleaning out hard drive and came across these old hand-drawn aerial maps of Boston I downloaded a long time ago. I forget where I got them from, so I cant post a link. I believe they came from the Library Of Congress site, but Im not sure.

Anyway, they're really beautiful, and the level of detail is absolutely amazing. They also serve as a fairly accurate illustration of Boston at their respective times. Just thought I'd share them here. If anyone is interested in the files just PM or email me and I'll gmail them to you.

When I find time I'll take more captures and post them in this thread to a few comparisons.




Boston 1870:
1870.jpg


1877:
73.jpg


1899:
99.jpg


1905, my favorite:
05.jpg


Look at the level of detail in these:
1.jpg


2.jpg


3c.jpg


4.jpg


More to come...
 
Very cool. Do you know whether photographs from balloons were used to help draw these?
 
Ron Newman said:
Very cool. Do you know whether photographs from balloons were used to help draw these?
Click to expand...

Im not positive, but I would think so. Theyre just way too accurate.

Here's a comparison between 1899 and 2006 of the area that includes parts of the Backbay, South End, and where the Pike now runs past Pru Center:
ge_bb_pike_99z.jpg

pike_06.jpg
 
Which reminds us of two things:

- the Mass Pike 'gash' was always there; it just used to be railroad tracks rather than a highway

- Much of Boylston Street had buildings on only one side. We're still trying to correct that legacy today.
 
I have that first Birds-eye view as a framed color poster. It's hanging in my living room. The detail is amazing, it's fun to try and locate currently existing buildings on it, or see what was in a certain location at that time.
 
Wow Boston was so dense back then. Look at the street layout. It's so much more confusing back then than now.
 
Magnificent pictures!

DarkFenX is right. It certainly seems a lot more dense and confusing than it is now. I think that having tall buildings thrown into the mix helps one to get his/her barings down. It's amazing how anyone got around then with those dense cowpaths.
 
These works are AMAZING! does anyone know where I can purchase some of these prints/duplicates? thanks!
 
Ron Newman said:
Which reminds us of two things:

- the Mass Pike 'gash' was always there; it just used to be railroad tracks rather than a highway]


Since much cargo moved out of the very busy port by steam trains, the coal particulates must have been pretty bad at Ned's house. Add all the horse dung in the streets, and its little wonder people got away in the summer.
Click to expand...
 
Ron Newman said:
Which reminds us of two things:

- the Mass Pike 'gash' was always there; it just used to be railroad tracks rather than a highway

- Much of Boylston Street had buildings on only one side. We're still trying to correct that legacy today.
Click to expand...

I may have posted this elsewhere (it's a thought I started recently, but probably never finished).

An old neighborhood guy was bitching about the Mandarin and how "he remembered the Mechanics Hall was across 'the way' on Huntington. And it was only 4 stories tall." He went on, why does it have to be so damn tall, etc., etc.

Of course, that's untrue. But, looking across the railyard from Boylston Street bridge, I bet it seemed only that tall.

The long and short is that, for so long, the south side of Boylston between Mass Ave/Fairfield was open, or fairly open. The Back Bay can't handle the inevitable development of the last pieces of free real estate in the city. That's where so much of the conflict comes from. Yet, I think we'd all agree that some proper buildings are better and healthier for Boston than a gaping gash (and much better than the dirty railyard).
 
re-examining the blown up photos posted earlier, i notice how extensive the public transit was back in 1899.

3c.jpg
 



Unfortunately the wrong kind of steel was used for the construction of the shed. By 1931 the combination of sea salt and corrosive compounds from engine exhaust rusted out the structure to the point it had to be dismantled for safety reasons. Who knows if it would have survived the demolition of the wings in the 1970s even if it had survived.

I wonder if Dewey's monument is ever going to cease it's current incarnations as benches and a pillar over at Boston College and return to the square?
 
Lurker said:
I wonder if Dewey's monument is ever going to cease it's current incarnations as benches and a pillar over at Boston College and return to the square?
Click to expand...

The neighborhood is alot taller than in 1899. A monument in the 100 to 200 foot range would be better scaled to the square.
 
I love how the person in 1899 added people and horse-drawn carriages. That's realism!

Anyone know - the 1899 rendering shows East Cambridge / MIT as facing large swaths of either sand or dirt. What became of this? Is this picture at low-tide - was this filled with water? Did the water level rise when they added the locks at the Museum of Science? Or, did this become Memorial Drive?
 
That was new land created where it had previously been swamps/tidal flats, ect. Originally MIT's campus and much of the Kendall/Cambridgeside Galleria area were under water, and it wasn't until the creation of the Charles River Park and Charles River Road (now Memorial Drive) that the current waterfront came into existence. It was also in this era that saw the creation of the Mass Ave bridge and Boston's Esplanade, as well as the locks.

Here's a 1903 topo map clearly showing the added land and the initial street grid, layed out like that in anticipation of a fashionable new residential quarter being created there. The only structure built following that vision is the building at the northwest corner of Memorial and Mass Ave, the Riverbank Court Hotel (now MIT graduate housing), opened in 1901.

cambridge01903mapdp8.jpg


Taken from here: http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Boston.htm
 
I believe that two other MIT dormitories were originally intended as fashionable apartment residences as well: Bexley Hall on Mass. Ave. and Burton-Conner on Memorial Drive. The same may be true for a couple of Back Bay-like townhouses now used as MIT fraternity houses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top