World-class Boston

[ablarc]

WORLD-CLASS BOSTON

Reflecting a cultured aristocracy, Boston?s Art Museums are world-class. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner, the Fogg and the Sakler are as good in their categories as most of their competitors worldwide.

A couple of decades ago, I had occasion to show a cultivated European woman around Boston. Naturally, I was interested in her reactions. Omitting museums, here?s a list of places she singled out for special acclaim:

Harvard University and Harvard Square
Beacon Hill
Christian Science Center
Durgin-Park
Commonwealth Avenue, Back Bay
Paul Revere House
Old North Church and the Old State House
Newbury Street
Quincy Market
Fenway Park

Her take on each:

Harvard: The Yard, the Town, the Houses, the Museums --all very classy.
Beacon Hill: European-quality neighborhood.
Christian Science Center: obviously the HQ of a major religion --like the Vatican.
Durgin-Park: authentic remnant miraculously preserved and serving regional cuisine.
Commonwealth Avenue, Back Bay: a quality boulevard of fine residences.
Paul Revere House: a disarming, totally unexpected relic of medieval days.
Old North Church: remembered from poem; Old State House: like an antique jewel.
Newbury Street (even way back then): moments of great elegance.
Quincy Market (this was way back, before it nosedived): a cornucopia of tasteful things.
Fenway Park: bored by the ballgame, not by the charming old stadium.

She had a final item on her list --Filene?s Basement-- but it has passed away, and may or may not be resurrected.

If she had itemized her choices a hundred years ago, her list would have contained all above items but the Christian Science Center. The world-class stuff has been around for a while, and hasn?t been much augmented in recent times. Think about it.

Choose three from the above list.

 

[Ron Newman]

Would her list really have included Newbury Street in 1909? When I got here in the 1970s, the shopping area petered out around Dartmouth or Exeter street. Only in recent decades was it extended all the way to Mass. Ave., by converting lower floors of residential brownstones to shops and restaurants.

 

[underground]

Cue all hell breaking lose.

 

[ablarc]

Would her list really have included Newbury Street in 1909?

Guess I should have said "could have".

 

[Ron Newman]

Right. I don't think Newbury Street emerged as what you call 'world-class' until some time in the 1980s.

 

[ablarc]

I don't think Newbury Street emerged as what you call 'world-class' until some time in the 1980s.

Right.

I lived on Newbury Street in the Seventies. It may have been a little sleepy, but it was definitely stirring.

And the seeds were there all along...

 

[Ron Newman]

I'd add Symphony Hall to the list (now, 20 years ago, or 100 years ago). Maybe in combination with nearby Jordan Hall.

 

[ablarc]

I'd add Symphony Hall to the list...

I would too. Definitely world-class.

If we had attended a concert there, I'm sure it would have appeared on her list. She was well aware the Boston Symphony was world class.

 

[statler]

Most would probably disagree, but I would include Rowes Wharf.

Paul Revere House: a disarming, totally unexpected relic of medieval days

I seem to recall hearing that very little of this structure is authentic. Just a few beams in the framing. Not that it really matters, it's just the grandfather's ax problem.

 

[Beton Brut]

I'd add Symphony Hall to the list (now, 20 years ago, or 100 years ago). Maybe in combination with nearby Jordan Hall.

I would too. Definitely world-class.

If we had attended a concert there, I'm sure it would have appeared on her list. She was well aware the Boston Symphony was world class.

You beat me to these choices. There are a handful of halls on earth that could compete with either. If it was baseball season, both halls were likely dark (and in the case of Jordan Hall) uncomfortably warm, unless she visited in October of '86 or '88 (frustrating post-seasons for Sox fans).

My choices, Harvard, the Christian Science Center, and Fenway, may seem an odd grouping. I didn't choose iconic streets and neighborhoods (surely among Boston's treasures) because they're somewhat less unique than my choices. There's only one Harvard. Pei's CSC is among his best works, and a sterling example of Modernism at its finest. Fenway, though significantly modified, is in a class of two (and Wrigley is worth the trip).

 

[blade_bltz]

What aspects of those two Halls are you guys considering world-class? Are we talking acoustics, architecture/design, or the actual content of the performances? A music professor (at Stanford) once mentioned that Boston Symphony Hall has easily some of the best acoustics of any concert hall in the world. I don't know much about Jordan Hall, except that I have witnessed some unbelievably cutting-edge music in those confines.

*Ok I just googled Jordan Hall. Look at this: "It is located one block away from Symphony Hall, and together they are considered two of America's most acoustically perfect performance spaces for classical music."

World-class indeed.

 

[Beton Brut]

Are we talking acoustics, architecture/design, or the actual content of the performances?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Rivals for Symphony Hall:

• The Musikverein in Vienna
• The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
• The Teatro Col?n, in Buenos Aires (opera rather than concert venue)

I'm sure there are some beautiful rooms to accommodate 900-1200 in Europe, but so far as I know, Jordan Hall is the best on our side of the pond...

 

[ablarc]

I seem to recall hearing that very little of this structure is authentic.

Most material in the building isn't old, but the reconstruction is done with authentic techniques and a zeal for accurate replication. You can choose to ignore the smoke detectors.

Not that it really matters, it's just the grandfather's ax problem.

Exactly.

 

[czsz]

Not MIT and Kendall Square - the former for the history/architecture, the latter for biotech/innovation?

Or even the great concentration of hospitals at Longwood?

For most people, "the streets" would likely be just a small part of what makes the city world class, after the universities, the hospitals, the research labs, the concert halls, and the art museums.

 

[Ron Newman]

I think Jordan Hall now has air-conditioning, but didn't twenty years ago.

One or more of the following should be in a list of 'world-class' landscapes: The Public Garden, the Arnold Arboretum, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Forest Hills Cemetery. A hundred years ago, the entire Emerald Necklace would belong on the list, when it still conformed largely to Olmsted's design.

 

[Ron Newman]

Christian Science Center: obviously the HQ of a major religion --like the Vatican.

'Major' is stretching it, maybe not so much in 1989 but certainly these days. Last Friday they published the last-ever daily Christian Science Monitor. They've entirely moved out of both the high-rise and the colonnade building. The latter now houses mostly Northeastern University offices, I think. All of this goes along with steady shrinkage of congregations throughout the world.

 

[czsz]

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Forest Hills Cemetery

I think this is stretching it a bit. These cemetaries are fascinating, beautiful places, but Boston is hardly renown for them.

Last Friday they published the last-ever daily Christian Science Monitor.

It's only the last ever daily paper version...and the newspaper barely had anything to do with the religion. It has more to do with the death of the newspaper industry, and it's more of a loss for the media - and for Boston - than for the Christian Science Church.

 

[city on a hill]

The Museum of Fine Arts should definitely be on the list. With the addition of the New Amercian Wing it will make the MFA the best in Colonial American Art, as it should be; and at the end of construction should make the museum one of the largest in the country.

 

[ablarc]

The Museum of Fine Arts should definitely be on the list.

Indeed! And it is on the list:

Reflecting a cultured aristocracy, Boston?s Art Museums are world-class. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner, the Fogg and the Sakler are as good in their categories as most of their competitors worldwide.

... Omitting museums, here?s a list of places ...

It's so obvious, in fact, that it doesn't need us to vote on its inclusion in a poll that only has ten slots. It's like Symphony Hall in that respect: so evident that it's hors cat?gorie.

 

[Ron Newman]

Mount Auburn was the first US garden cemetery, inspired by P?re Lachaise cemetery in Paris. It was a landmark of landscape design and preceded almost all urban parks.