Fenway–Kenmore
Fenway-Kenmore | |
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 Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, is located in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood | |
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| Country | United States |
| State | Massachusetts |
| County | Suffolk |
| Neighborhood of | Boston |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern) |
| Area code | 617 / 857 |
Fenway-Kenmore is an official neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. While it can be considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, in reality it is composed of numerous neighborhoods with two very different feels, and is rarely referred to as a single entity in casual conversation ("The Fenway," and "Kenmore Square" or simply "Kenmore", are far more commonly spoken). Furthermore, the Fenway neighborhood is divided into two distinct sub-neighborhoods commonly referred to as the East Fenway/Symphony and the West Fenway. Fenway is named after The Fenway, a main thoroughfare laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted.
It is the home of Fenway Park, the famous Citgo sign, Kenmore Square, The Art Institute of Boston, The Forsyth Institute, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Northeastern University, the New England Conservatory, portions of Boston University (including the Myles Standish Residence Hall), portions of the Harvard Medical School, Berklee College of Music, The Boston Conservatory, Massachusetts College of Art, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Simmons College, Wheelock College, Emmanuel College, the New England School of Photography, The Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The Fenway is a neighborhood bounded on the south by Mission Hill, the Back Bay Fens and Columbus Avenue, on the north by the Mass Pike, and on the west by the Longwood Medical Area and Brookline. The neighborhood consists almost entirely of five- to six-story apartment buildings typically constructed between 1880 and 1930, with rare small, independently-owned shops scattered throughout.
When planned, it was thought that the buildings built upon the Fenway would house high-wealth residents and that the whole area would be a high-class neighborhood.[1] As property values rose, however, it was educational institutions that sprung up along the Fenway's route. By 1907, there were twenty-two educationally focused organizations, including nine college and universities which had made their homes on the Fenway.[1] Residential buildings that were built needed their frontages to be approved by the Park Board so that a "poor looking building [did not] depreciate the value of the whole neighborhood".[2] Additionally, the Board had discretion on whether it felt a proposed building was suitable for frontage along the park and parkway. The hope of these building restrictions was that there would be an improvement in the look of the Fenway compared to neighboring streets.[2]
The West Fenway features streets named after Scottish cities and towns present in Robert Burn's literary works; Peterborough, Kilmarnock, Queensbury. This was a result of influence by the Robert Burns (literary) Society influencing the city of Boston when a decision was made to simplify the original neighborhood plan by Frederick Law Olmsted's office. As originally planned As originally planned in 1894, the street naming system was to continue the system originating in the Back Bay of naming streets in alphabetical order. Where the Back Bay proper ends at Hereford Street, the Fenway was to continue Ipswich, Jersey, Kenyon, Lansdowne, Mornington, Nottingham, Onslow, Peterborough, Queensbury, Roseberry, Salisbury, Thurlow, Uxbridge, Vivian, Westmeath, X omited, York, and Zetland.
The parkways The Fenway, Park Drive surrounding the Back Bay Fens are named after various parks which are part of the Emerald Necklace park system. Various other streets in the Fenway are named after institutions or civic minded patrons within the neighborhood: Palace Road nee. Wigglesworth Street, Forsyth Way, Evans Way, Forsyth Street nee. Rogers Avenue, Hemenway Street nee. Parker Hill Avenue, Agassiz Road named after Ida Agassiz, Yawkey Way nee. Jersey Street, Symphony Road nee. Batavia Road, St. Stephens Street (St.Stephens Church became St.Anns, which is now known as the Fenway Center), Opera Place (The Boston Opera House was demolished in 1958), Speare Place nee. part of St.Stephens Street which itself was formerly Falmouth Street.
Racially, Fenway is predominantly white but also has a large population of Asian & African Americans. The East Fenway still has a large student population. The West Fenway was formerly known as a student haven because of its proximity to many of the city's colleges and universities, but rising interest in the neighborhood has raised rents and it is now full of young professionals and families, many of whom work in the neighboring Longwood Medical and Academic Area. The crime rate in the neighborhood remains relatively low.
In the last few years, development in the Fenway has picked up, particularly from developer Samuels and Associates.[3] Recent developments include the renovation of the Landmark Center; the 2003 addition of Hotel Commonwealth on the site of the Rathskeller bar; and the 576-unit, 17-floor Trilogy apartment building on Brookline Avenue and Boylston Street. 1330 Boylston, a second high-rise apartment building, was completed in 2008 and contains 210 apartments, 85,000 square feet (7,900 m2) of office space contained within 10 floors and the new home of Fenway Community Health.
Planned developments include a 24-story mixed use development at the confluence of Bolyston Street and Brookline Avenue, likely including retail, dining, and luxury hotel/apartments.[4][5] Other plans include the renovation of the Howard Johnson motel on Bolyston Street, to be rehabbed as an upscale hotel. Additionally, developer John Rosenthal is planning to build a complex named One Kenmore over the Mass Pike alongside the Beacon Street Bridge, comprising 525 units in one 17 floor tower and one 20 floor tower. Concerning infrastructure, in 2007 the MBTA renovated the Fenway Green Line stop, and is planning to renovate the nearby Yawkey Way Commuter Rail Station.[citation needed] Finally, the Museum of Fine Arts is in the midst of a $425 million expansion, and the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum is undergoing construction of a second building.
Kenmore is located north and west of Fenway, and shares many of the same attributes of Fenway. Fenway Park is in fact located in Kenmore, right across the Mass Pike from Kenmore Square. Many students from nearby Boston University and Northeastern University reside in the neighborhood. The area is almost entirely brick, walk-up buildings and brownstone townhouses, although over the last 20 years almost every residential building in Kenmore has been purchased by Boston University and turned into dorms, especially in the Audubon Circle area between Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue.
The Fenway is separated from the Back Bay neighborhood by the Muddy River, which flows through the Back Bay Fens and into the Charles River.
Transportation
The neighborhood is ringed by the MBTA Orange Line Ruggles stop and the following MBTA Green Line stops:
- Kenmore - B, C, D
- Fenway - D
- St. Mary's Street - C
- Symphony - E
- Northeastern - E
- Museum of Fine Arts - E
Yawkey Station on the Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail is also in the neighborhood. Fenway-Kenmore is served by a number of MBTA buses.
The Fenway and Park Drive circulate around The Fens. Boylston Street is a major east-west route, as are Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue, which cross at Kenmore Square. Huntington Avenue (Route 9) is on the southern border. Brookline Avenue proceeds southwest from Kenmore Square. Massachusetts Avenue forms the eastern border, and is a major north-south route. There is no access to the Massachusetts Turnpike, except westbound only at Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street.
External links
Notes and references
- ^ a b Smith, Alfred Emanuel (1907). New Outlook. Vol. 86. The Outlook. p. 895. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
{{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Peabody, Robert S. (1912). Annual report of the Park Department. Boston Park Department. p. 8. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
{{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "[1]." Samuels and Associates Website. Retrieved on July 2, 2009.
- ^ "[2]." CBT Architects. Retrieved on July 2, 2009.
- ^ "[3]." Retrieved on July 2, 2009.