[Rarebooks] fs: Boston Urban Renewal -1824 style...

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

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RRPORT (Report) OF THE COMMITTEE CHOSEN BY THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITY OF 
BOSTON, to take into consideration the expediency of authorizing the City 
Council to make sale of the Upland and Flats, lying west of Charles Street.

Apthorp, Jno. T., et al.
Boston; 1824.

One of the opening salvos in the fight that would eventually lead to the 
construction of much of what is today thought of as the Best of Boston- the 
Back Bay, bordering the Boston Common and Beacon Hill. In 1824 this area 
adjacent to Charles Street and the Common was mud flats, and the city 
proposed to sell some of it off to developers to be filled in and built 
upon. This raised the ire of some Boston citizens, as this report shows. 
Amongst other things, citizen were concerned that-

       "At the season of the year most exposed to pestilence,
        the prevailing winds blow over the open green fields of
        the country, directly through the City, from one extremity
        to the other. There is over the open space, which it is
        now proposed to alienate, a constant current of fresh air,
        which revives and purifies the entire atmosphere of the
        City... diluting the force of disease and scattering the
        malaria which are generated by the hourly avocations
        of so many thousand beings in so limited a space...".

But that is not all-

       "The Committee cannot recommend to their fellow citizens
        to adopt a plan, which in their humble apprehension would
        sacrifice one of the most splendid Panoramas in the world,
        to a mean cupidity for money...The magnificent prospect
        which is now enjoyed from the Common; the rich and
        diversified and luxuriant scenery, which spreads itself
        before us; the picturesque hills, that rise majestically,
        around this beautiful spot... would, by the proposed buildings,
        be wholly concealed behind a range of brick walls".

Of course, today we find the brick walls charming and the lack of green 
space was solved by Frederick Law Olmstead and his "Emerald Necklace". A 
scarce item- OCLC finds only 4 original copies, including copies at the 
Boston Athenaeum, the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. 
Hardcover. 5.5"x9.25", 21 pages, 1 map; pamphlet bound into 19th century 
marbled boards with a linen spine. Covers with some soil, pages browned and 
with some soil. [05016] $475.00

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