Page 96 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Boston

94  BOST ON AREA B Y AREA

1 The Esplanade
Map 1 A4.  Charles/MGH.
Open 24 hrs daily. 7
Running along the Boston side
of the Charles River, between
Longfellow Bridge and
Dartmouth Street, are the
parkland, lagoons, and islands
known collectively as the
Esplanade. The park is used
extensively for in-line skating,
cycling, and strolling and it
is also the access point for
boating on the river, including
gondola rides. It is also the site
of the city’s leading out door
concert venue.
In 1929, Arthur Fiedler, then
the young conductor of the The original Victorian-style library of the Gibson House Museum
Boston Pops Orchestra, chose
the Esplanade for a summer popular Italian Renaissance 3 First Baptist
concert series that became a Revival style for the widow Church
tradition. The Hatch Memorial Catherine Hammond Gibson,
Shell was constructed in 1939, who was one of the few women 110 Commonwealth Ave. Map 3 C2.
and its stage is widely used by to own property in this part of Tel (617) 267-3148.  Arlington.
Open for Sunday worship.
musical ensembles and other the city. Her grandson Charles 5 11am Sun. ^ 7
groups throughout the summer. Hammond Gibson, Jr., a noted ∑ firstbaptistboston.com
Fourth of July con certs by the eccentric, poet, travel writer,
Boston Pops, which are followed horticulturalist, and bon vivant, The Romanesque-style First
by fire works, can attract upward arranged for the house to Baptist Church on the corner of
of 500,000 spectators (see p37). be come a museum after his Commonwealth Avenue and
death in 1954. As a prelude to Clarendon Street was Henry
this, Gibson began to rope Hobson Richardson’s (see p34)
off the furniture in the 1930s, first major architectural
instead inviting his guests to sit commission and became an
on the stairs to drink martinis instant landmark when it was
made with his own bathtub gin. finished in 1872. Viewed from
One of the most modern Commonwealth Avenue, it is
houses of its day, the Gibson one of the most distinctive
House boasted such technical buildings of the city skyline.
advancements as gas lighting, Richardson considered the
indoor plumbing in the base ment, nearly freestanding bell tower,
and coal-fired central heating. which he modeled roughly
Visitors can see a full dinner setting on Italian campaniles, to be
Fountains at the Esplanade, next to the in the dining room or admire the the church’s most innovative
Charles River whimsical Turkish pet pavilion. structure. The square tower is
But it is Gibson’s preservation of topped with a decorative frieze
2 Gibson House the 1860s decor (with some modi- and arches protected by an
overhanging roof. The frieze was
fications in 1888) that makes the
Museum museum a true time cap sule of modeled in Paris by Bartholdi,
Victorian life in Boston. the sculptor who created the
137 Beacon St. Map 1 A4.
Tel (617) 267-6338.  Arlington. Statue of Liberty, and
Open obligatory tours at 1pm, 2pm, was carved in place by
3pm Wed–Sun. & ^ 8 Italian arti sans after the
∑ thegibsonhouse.org stones were set. The
faces in the frieze, which
Among the first houses built in depict the sacraments,
the Back Bay, the Gibson House are like nesses of
preserves its original Victorian prominent Bostonians of
decor and furnishings through- that time, among them
out all six stories. The 1860 Henry Wadsworth
brownstone and red-brick Detail of Bartholdi’s frieze atop the distinctive Longfellow and Ralph
structure was designed in the square tower of the First Baptist Church Waldo Emerson (see p33).

094-095_EW_Boston.indd 94 09/01/17 12:14 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm