Historical Points

397 Massachusetts Avenue During the early 1950’s, civil activist Martin Luther King lived in thisVictorian brick bow-front townhouse while he was attending the Boston University School of Theology. At the time, the house was divided into apartments. While living here, he began dating his future wife, Coretta Scott King. 397 Massachusetts Avenue, the Victorian brick bow-front townhouse Dr. Martin Luther Continue Reading

1724 Washington Street Although it appears to be one house, this elegant Federal-style structure is actually two mirror-image townhouses that share a party wall. Built in 1806-1807for William Porter, they are the oldest surviving houses in the South End.

1682 Washington Street Saved and restored after decades of abandonment, the Allen house is one of Boston’s most ornate Victorian townhouses. Built in 1859 for furniture dealer and real estate developer Aaron Hall Allen, the house originally had a garden and carriage house at the rear, facing Worcester Square. The elaborate brownstone carving is unmatched in Boston.

Blackstone and Franklin Square (green parks) First laid out by architect Charles Bullfinch in 1801, Blackstone and Franklin Squares are the oldest garden squares surviving Boston. Originally designed as a single large oval square known as Columbia Square, the two were fenced andcreated as separate squares in 1847. The original cast-iron fountains, each supportedby four dolphins, survive today.

Corner of E. Berkeley and Washington Street The corner of Washington and East Berkeley Streets is the site of the first fortifications of Boston, which included the town gates. Soon after Boston was founded in 1630,the colonists chose the narrowest point, only 100 feet wide, on the “Neck” that connected the new town and the Shawmut Peninsula to the mainland.