Page 68 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Boston

66  BOST ON AREA B Y AREA

anachronistic tower rising
495 ft (150 m), which means
that for the best part of the
20th century, the Custom
House was Boston’s only
bona fide skyscraper. Four
sculpted eagles and a four-
sided illuminated clock add
decorative flourishes. The public
has free access to a small
museum of maritime history in
the 19th-century rotunda. It
displays objects on loan from
the Peabody Museum in Salem,
including maritime paintings,
nautical instruments, items that
Gallery of the Greek Revival main dome in Quincy Market’s central hall depict Boston’s trade with
China, and several pieces of
e Quincy Market 1825, was planned as an decor ative art. The observatory,
extension to the first Faneuil which offers panoramic views,
Between Chatham & Clinton Sts.
Map 2 D3. Tel (617) 523-1300. Hall Markets, which had is also open to the public. The
 Government Center, State. Open become overstretched by rest of the build ing, occupied
10am–9pm Mon–Sat, noon–6pm Sun Boston’s rapid development. by a Marriott hotel and
(restaurants and bars open later). 7 Originally called the New timeshare apart ments, is
∑ faneuilhallmarketplace.com Faneuil Hall Market, the build ing not open to the public.
came to be known as Quincy
This popular shopping and Market after the mayor, Josiah
dining complex attracts in the Quincy, whose original vision
region of 14 million people was responsible for the new
every year, and was developed market’s creation. The façade’s
from the buildings of the former four Doric columns were, at the
Faneuil Hall produce and meat time of construc tion, the largest
market, or Quincy Market. single pieces of granite ever to
These buildings had fallen into be quarried in the U.S. The 535-
disrepair before they underwent ft (163-m) long colonnaded hall
a widely acclaimed restoration is now filled with fast-food stalls
by the architects Benjamin and a large seating area, located
Thompson & Associates in the in the spectacular Rotunda.
1970s. The imposing center- Completing the ensemble are
piece, a granite Greek Revival twin North and South Market Glass fountain on the Pearl Street
structure (see p34) dating from buildings – these individual side of Post Office Square
warehouses have been refur-
bished to accommodate t Post Office Square
boutiques, restaurants, pubs, Between Congress & Pearl Sts.
stores, and upstairs offices. Map 2 D4.  State, Aquarium.
This beautifully landscaped
r Custom House park, a small island of green
situated amid the soaring
3 McKinley Square. Map 2 E3. Tel (617)
310-6300.  Aquarium. Museum: skyscrapers of the financial
Open 8am–9pm daily. Tower: Open district, replaced an ugly
2pm and 6pm Sat–Thu. & concrete garage that once
∑ marriott.com stood here – it was demolished
and rebuilt as an underground
Before landfill altered parking facility in 1990. Vines
downtown topography, climb a 143-ft (44-m) long
early Boston’s Custom House trellis along one side of the
perched at the water’s edge. park, and a foun tain made of
A temple-like Greek Revival green glass cascades on the
structure with fluted Doric square’s Pearl Street side. On
columns, the granite building Angell Memorial Plaza across
had a skylit dome upon the road, a fountain dating
Greek Revival Custom House tower, one of completion in 1847. Since 1915, from 1912 commemorates
Boston’s most striking sights however, it has sup ported an George Thorndike Angell,

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