| Overview – 1855-1859 – 1860-1864 – 1865-1869 – 1870-1874 – 1875-1879 – 1880-1884 – 1885-1889 – 1890-1899 – 1900-1909 – 1910-2015 |
By the end of the 1870s, the land fill operations had extended to Massachusetts Avenue (then West Chester Park).
Detail from 1881 plan of the Back Bay; A Set of Plans Showing the Back Bay 1814-1881, by Fuller and Whitney; courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum
The map to the right, prepared by civil engineers Fuller and Whitney, shows the progress of the land fill by 1881.
The slow pace of building construction that had begun in 1873 continued through most of the decade, with the low point in 1875, when only three houses were constructed. Construction increased in 1879; of the 145 buildings built in the residential portion of the Back Bay between 1875 and 1879, 60 (41%) were built in 1879.
The map below indicates when a building was first constructed on a specific lot through 1879. Included are lots within the residential portion of the Back Bay, as defined for purposes of this website, plus buildings on the north side of Newbury. The dates used are based on original permit applications or similar documentation, when available. When no such documentation is available, the dates provided in Bainbridge Bunting’s Houses of Boston’s Back Bay are used.
Following the map is a list of the 145 buildings constructed between 1875 and 1879 in the residential portion of the Back Bay.
Original construction through 1879
Click here for a link to maps showing the progress of construction from 1855 through 2015, in slideshow format.
Below is a list of the 140 buildings constructed between 1875 and 1879 in the residential portion of the Back Bay. Houses indicated as demolished were replaced by 2015.
Back Bay Houses 