A lot of streetcars

By adamg on Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:09am

The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this photo. See it larger.

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Copley Square. The Fairmont

By anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:22am

Copley Square. The Fairmont Copley is at right. Trinity Church is at left. Current site of the John Hancock Tower is at center.

St James Ave, Copley

By alex
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:23am

Approx view today: https://goo.gl/maps/t5xrNzs3P9m

Copley Square. Trinity Church on the left, the Hotel Westminster in the middle (now the site of the John Hancock tower,) and the Copley Plaza on the right. The Westminster was forced to lose the top bit because of a law limiting buildings in Copley Square to no more than 90 feet in height.

Copley Sq!

By Sarah
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:25am

You can even compare it with a new version: https://goo.gl/images/RcfUsM

Current site of the Park

By anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:26am

Current site of the Park Street station? Late 1800's with the bend in the track to get around the half-dug subway tunnel?

Copley Square

By Saul
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:27am

Easy one today.

Copley Square.

The Fairmont Hotel at right and Trinity Church at left.

https://goo.gl/maps/NuT5mZ6okr32

The building that the Hancock Tower replaced is identified as the Westminster at http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=1706

Copley Square

By Rob
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:29am

Copley Square

Hotel Westminster, near the site of the Hancock Tower:

http://lostnewengland.com/2016/01/hotel-westminste...

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a22997/

Copley

By Morgan
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:32am

In front of the Fairmont Copley Hotel looking east towards Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower on St. James Ave

Looking east on St James from

By Hugo
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:33am

Looking east on St James from Copley Sq with Trinity Church peaking out from the left would be my guess.

Copely Sq, between the church

By Kamell
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:35am

Copely Sq, between the church and hotel.

Copley Square...Trinity

By Chocolate Chip
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:51am

Copley Square...Trinity Church on the left.

Next to 200 Clarendon

By downtown-anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:54am

All references to the Hancock tower are wrong.

John Hancock is now in the

By Section77
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 1:11pm

John Hancock is now in the center if this pic

They changed the name when Hancock sold

By downtown-anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 2:23pm

So the name is now 200 Clarendon.

OK, Previously know as Hancock Tower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200_Clarendon_Street

(I doing my best to insert important new names of long established landmarks. Shilling for the Real Estate people.)

Yes, But

By APB
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 3:34pm

No Bostonian in her right mind would call it that simply because some realtors told her to. Yes, they changed the name but that doesn't mean we need to pay attention.

It's the Hancock, and it will always be the Hancock. And the old one will always be the old Hancock.

As I've said before, if the Hancock Insurance people don't want us calling their buildings whatever the heck we want, they shouldn't leave so many of them lying around in our neighborhood.

Kind of a protest

By downtown-anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 10:11pm

Since identification of the location was so simple I felt compelled to mix it up a bit. I didn't anticipate the complexity identifying the date.

Picking nits

By Allstonian
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 2:24pm

downtown-anon is nitpicking over the fact that the building commonly known as the Hancock Tower was renamed "200 Clarendon" about a year ago. Given that my husband mocks me for still occasionally referring to the Hynes Convention Center stop on the Green Line as "Auditorium," I find this quibble silly and deeply un-Bostonian.

Auditorium is the name I use ...

By Lee
Thu, 04/20/2017 - 6:13am

... except when giving directions to tourists.

But the date people.

By Nate
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 11:58am

My guess is 1919 or 1920 based on the 1919 Pierce Arrow limo in front of the Copley Plaza. Also because the John Hancock Building isn't there yet (completed in 1922).

[img]http://www.woodrowwilson.org/assets/images/pierce_...

1912-1914

By Ari O
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 12:44pm

Probably summer 1913 (short shadows). Fairmount opened Aug 20, 1912, so it wasn't that summer.

And, aha! Saint James was cleared in late 1913, so the photo is from 1913.

1913

By bohhh
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 1:04pm

Correct. Streetcars are on St. James Ave in lieu of Boylston St. because of construction for the Boylston Street Subway, which opened in 1914.

Good call

By Nate
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 2:15pm

You're right. More research on Pierce Arrow indicates that the headlights were on the fenders starting in 1914. So this is likely a 1912 or 1913 model.

[url]http://theoldmotor.com/?p=2275[/url]

And the old Hancock building, with the weather color thing?

By Ari O
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 3:56pm

It was completed in '45.

The old, old hancock building was completed in 1922

By Nate
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 5:07pm

Not the one with the weather thing, but the smaller one connected to it. It's at 197 Clarendon and is now called the Stephen L. Brown Building.

1928 Bromley Atlas: [IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/dvhxsg.jpg[/IMG]

Underground miniature railway between the buildings.

By theszak
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 8:07pm

Check out the underground miniature railway for moving mail between the older Hancock Buildings. A group of urban archeologists from Waltham Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation tour mechanics of the railway from time to time.

Please post photos!...

This is visible?

By JohnAKeith
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 7:53pm

Where are the chutes? On the map? I did research on the pneumatic tube network several years back.

Pneumatic tube systems. BPL Giant Walk in Safe.

By theszak
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 8:12pm

Copley Square Library may still have the pneumatic tube systems for viewing by folks with an interest as well as the giant walk in safe pictured in an old National Geographic with the then Boston Public Library Director Milton Lord.

Ariel of location - late 20s?

By downtown-anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 10:18pm

This is on wikipedia, and appears to be early-mid 20s. Lot of open space. Matches buildings on map.
Larger version here: http://memory.loc.gov/award/mhsdalad/120000//12007...
[img]http://memory.loc.gov/award/mhsdalad/120000//12007....

Copley, Back Bay.

By anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 12:04pm

No question.

Nah

By perruptor
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 12:19pm

This is a picture of the long-forgotten 1916 Indy Car race.

Get to know RAIN Records and Archives in the News...

By theszak
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 3:21pm

Boston City Archives could do more to acquire Documents of Boston City Council/Councilors/Council Staff !... please see Archives at https://budget.boston.gov/img/pdfs/volume-3-by-cab...

Get to know RAIN Records and Archives in the News
at
http://paper.li/RAINbyte/rainbyte#/

I love these old pics!

By anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 1:46pm

I love these old pics!

These old pictures fill me

By anon
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 2:35pm

These old pictures fill me with lament.

I miss how quiet the city was on Sunday mornings, before the blue laws went away.

This is indeed Copley Square, we estimate to be about 1914.

It is part of our Transit Department photograph collection, you can see some of the other photographs on our Flickr page: https://flic.kr/p/nmeKW1

We'll work on finding some trickier photos for you!

Yasss

By JohnAKeith
Wed, 04/19/2017 - 7:43pm

So this pre-dates the Hancock, the Old Hancock, and the Old Old Hancock, right? Cool.

A lot of streetcars

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