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Source Description
The largest and most detailed bird's eye view of Boston proper, this view depicts the city from the southeast as if the bird's eye is positioned above South Boston. Consequently, the artist places in the foreground the rail lines terminating around present-day South Station and the busy eastern waterfront, with the central business district dominating the central portion of the drawing. By this time, the burned district had been rebuilt and Back Bay completely reclaimed, although this new real estate was only partially developed. While this view observes the city from almost the same perspective as the 1872 and 1873 images, it displays a totally different style of presentation. Almost all the buildings within the city are shown in fine, realistic detail. Only structures in the distant suburbs of Brookline, Brighton, Newton, Cambridge, Somerville, and Charlestown are more impressionistic as these communities fade into the horizon. The legend in the bottom margin identifies (by letter and number) 59 important buildings and localities dispersed throughout and on the fringes of the central business district, highlighting the political, commercial, transportation, religious and cultural activities in the city. These include the State House (A), Post Office (3), Customs House (4), City Hall (5), Faneuil Hall (8), the original Boston Public Library building on Boylston Street across from the Common (9), the original Museum of Fine Arts on Copley Square (11), and Boston Common (58).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
3f463445x
label
The City of Boston
core
obj
dtoType
map
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
3f463445x
contentType
map
stage
normalized
title
The City of Boston
description
The largest and most detailed bird's eye view of Boston proper, this view depicts the city from the southeast as if the bird's eye is positioned above South Boston. Consequently, the artist places in the foreground the rail lines terminating around present-day South Station and the busy eastern waterfront, with the central business district dominating the central portion of the drawing. By this time, the burned district had been rebuilt and Back Bay completely reclaimed, although this new real estate was only partially developed. While this view observes the city from almost the same perspective as the 1872 and 1873 images, it displays a totally different style of presentation. Almost all the buildings within the city are shown in fine, realistic detail. Only structures in the distant suburbs of Brookline, Brighton, Newton, Cambridge, Somerville, and Charlestown are more impressionistic as these communities fade into the horizon. The legend in the bottom margin identifies (by letter and number) 59 important buildings and localities dispersed throughout and on the fringes of the central business district, highlighting the political, commercial, transportation, religious and cultural activities in the city. These include the State House (A), Post Office (3), Customs House (4), City Hall (5), Faneuil Hall (8), the original Boston Public Library building on Boylston Street across from the Common (9), the original Museum of Fine Arts on Copley Square (11), and Boston Common (58).
date
["1879"]
year
1879
rights
No known copyright restrictions.
rightsUri
No known restrictions on use.
reuseAllowed
no restrictions
language
English
identifierLocal
06_01_001564
creators
O.H. Bailey & Co
O.H. Bailey & Co
Armstrong & Co. (Boston, Mass.)
institution
Boston Public Library
collections
Urban Maps
Boston and New England Maps
Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center Collection
subjects
Boston (Mass.)--Aerial views
subjectsGeographic
Boston
Massachusetts
North and Central America
Suffolk (county)
United States
genreBasic
Maps
typeOfResource
Cartographic
country
United States
state
Massachusetts
county
Suffolk
city
Boston
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
pageCount
1
source
import
pubPlace
Boston
publisher
O.H. Bailey & J.C Hazen
Source extras
institutionArkId
sf268508b
collectionArkId
9s1621613
schema:latitude
42.35
schema:longitude
-71.05
extent
1 view ; 65 x 109 cm.
notes
Bird's-eye view.
Indexed for points of interest.
hasTranscription
no
dcId
3f463445x
type
map
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
668d34154d54d1e3