Spring Lecture & Field Trip Series

1630-1776. The settling of the Shawmut Peninsula by the Puritans and their development of a successful mercantile economy produced a densely populated town of Colonial and Georgian homes, buildings and churches.

Field Trip: Historic Downtown Area

1785-1820. Charles Bulfinch emerges as the architectural leader of the Federal style with important contributions such as the Massachusetts State House, the Tontine Crescent and the Colonnade. Beacon Hill develops as a neighborhood for the affluent featuring many of Bulfinch's works and that of his followers.

Field Trip: Beacon Hill

1850-1900. With great influence from Paris, the Back Bay land-making project enables the wealthy moving up from the South End to build large mansions as well as providing great structures for art, learning and worship. The Victorian period ushers in a variety of architectural styles featuring the works of H.H. Richardson, C.F. McKim, and Cummings & Sears.

Field Trip: Copley Square and Back Bay

1900-present. Follow the progression of 20th and 21st century architecture through the modern and post-modern office buildings, government buildings, condos, skyscrapers, convention centers and hotels of Boston.

Field Trip: Government Center & the financial district

Under the city is a dense network of pipes, conduits, sewers and tunnels that serve the utility and transportation needs of a growing city. In 1987, Boston began the largest public works project in U.S. history to submerge an aging elevated highway amidst existing roads, structures, subways, railroads, utilities, businesses and homes, and in the process transformed the downtown landscape into a shining example of 21st century urban renewal.

Field Trip: the Big Dig, Kennedy Greenway and downtown infrastructure