Located at 941 and 951
Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, two adjoining Richardsonian
Romanesque buildings were originally constructed to house the local police and
fire stations. It was the first
combination police and fire station in the city of Boston. Designated
landmarks by the City of Boston, the eastern building still functions as a fire
house, but the western building has been extensively altered on the interior
and repurposed twice since the mid-1970s.
City Architect Arthur H.
Vinal designed the buildings in 1886 in the then popular style based on the
work of Boston’s most celebrated architect, H. H. Richardson. Vinal was a prolific architect who designed
many buildings in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.
Chestnut Hill Pumping Station (Photo courtesy of HAER)
His most celebrated design is the Chestnut
Hill Pumping Station on Beacon Street in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood,
completed in 1888. The Pumping Station
is even more of a direct homage to Richardson, reminding one of the series of libraries
Richardson designed late in his career.
Police District 16 occupied
the larger four story building at 951 which was noted as “the handsomest
station house in America” in 1888, a year after its completion. By the
early 1900s, the police needed additional space and a small building at 955
Boylston was constructed in the Classical Revival style. (It now houses Dillon’s Restaurant, named for
a police captain who served here from 1920 until 1950). Both buildings continued to serve their original
function until 1975, when District 16 was consolidated with another nearby
police district. At that time, the four
story building was completely gutted and renovated by Graham Gund Architects
for use by the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Galleries and other spaces were created around a centralized
staircase. The Institute moved to larger
quarters in 2007, and the building was acquired by the Boston Architectural
College, which has its main building immediately to the north facing Newbury
Street. The College spent $14 million to
purchase and renovate the building, which opened in 2012. It was the first building added to its campus
in 50 years. The Newbury and Boylston
buildings are connected by way of a green alley sustainability project.
The eastern building has
always functioned as home to Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 15. It is connected to the police station by a
central bay with a large opening that led to shared stable yards behind the
buildings.
Two huge arched openings on
the fire station accommodated the equipment including the first ladder truck in
Boston to be equipped with a three-horse hitch, and the first turntable aerial
truck. Plaques at the entrances
memorialize four Boston firefighters killed in the line of duty who served out
of the building: Cornelius J. Noonan (d.
1938), Richard F. Concannon (d. 1961), Richard B. Magee (d. 1972), and Stephen
F. Minehan (d. 1994).
A tall turret at the northeast corner of the building was designed so that the heavy canvas hoses could be hung to dry.
A tall turret at the northeast corner of the building was designed so that the heavy canvas hoses could be hung to dry.
Classic Richardsonian
Romanesque features of the buildings include numerous arches over doors and
windows, carved foliate decoration, heavy rusticated stone, and clusters of
engaged columns between windows.
Fire alarm box on Boylston Street;
side of building visible at far right
