Boston's architectural wealth
The capital of Massachusetts boasts a particularly rich architectural history. Bostonians are proud of monuments such as Faneuil Hall (1742), Old North Church (1733) and the Old State House (1789), some of the oldest buildings in the country. The Freedom Trail pedestrian route takes you past some of the city's oldest buildings. The sixteen sites to be discovered along the four-kilometre stretch of red brick pavement all relate to the American Revolution. These include the Boston Common, the oldest garden not only in the city, but also in the United States, inaugurated in 1634! The Massachusetts State House (1798), theOld Corner Bookstore(1718), the home of revolutionary goldsmith Paul Revere, the wooden frigate USS Constitution, and the city's main historical monuments: Park Street Church, King's Chapel (1688) and its cemetery, Boston's oldest, etc., are all here. A stroll along this urban route is a must to discover the city's architectural wealth: from one building to the next, visitors can admire the main styles that make up the essence of New England.
New England Historical Styles: Georgian, Federal and Victorian
The first Europeans to land on the U.S. East Coast in the early 17thcentury built their homes using the materials available to them. The first colonial houses resembled those the settlers had left behind in England. A few examples can be seen reconstructed at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth. At first rustic and humble, they were made of wood, but later equipped with fireplaces and porches, they became more comfortable and became the famous "saltboxes" found on Cape Cod and Nantucket Island. Saltboxes, typical of New England, are distinguished from other colonial houses by their asymmetrical facades, longer rear roofs and cedar siding. They were two-storey on the front facade and one-storey on the back. Their asymmetry is reminiscent of the wooden boxes used to store salt, which gave them their nickname.
The buildings constructed between the late 17th and early 18th centuries follow the broad lines of the Georgian style, which was very much in vogue in England at the time. Examples include the Old State House, Paul Revere's house, theOld Corner Bookstore, Old North Church and Old South Meeting Housein Boston. In Salem, The House of the Seven Gables (1668) is another fine example of colonial architecture, built for merchant ship owner John Turner, and has become one of the region's favorite historic landmarks. It inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous 1851 Gothic novel of the same name.
From the 1780s onwards, houses became more imposing and sophisticated. They became rounder, moving away from the Georgian style so popular in Britain. The Federal style that emerged borrowed the forms of neoclassicism to become a pure product of America. One of its precursors was Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch (1763-1830). Bulfinch's career was divided between Boston - where he designed many buildings, including the Capitol (Massachussets State House or New State House, 1797), recognizable by its gilded dome - and Washington, where he was responsible for the construction of the dome. He adopted a neoclassical style, and his work is renowned and admired for its simplicity and balance. In Boston, he built Faneuil Hall (1805), Harvard University Hall in Cambridge (1813-1814), Boston Hospital,Massachusetts General Hospital(1818-1823), Quincy Market, the Third Harrison Gray Otis House (1806), now home to the American Meteorological Society, and the Charles Street Meeting House.
The mid-19th century saw the emergence of a new trend. Victorian architecture, divided into several styles, became more opulent and less symmetrical. The trend is eclectic and difficult to define, but here are a few of its characteristic features: a superimposition of gables, often patterned, asymmetrical windows and doors, arches alongside hexagons, resulting in buildings that are often surprising in their shapes and proportions. In Massachusetts, the gingerbread cottages of Martha's Vineyard offer a rather extraordinary vision of Victorian architecture. Built by Methodists, these 318 houses have a unique style sometimes referred to as Carpenter Gothic. Excessively open, earning them the nickname "gingerbread", they display a palette of pastel tones. Their mantling, balustrades and other decorative motifs on the facades make them rivals in originality.
Another Victorian derivative, the Stick style became popular in the second half of the 19th century. It is recognized by the timber-framed facades of its half-timbered buildings.
Boston's finest examples of Victorian architecture include Trinity Church, the Boston Public Library, Old Boston City Hall and New Old South Church. The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, marks the pinnacle of Victorian Gothic architecture.
Elsewhere in New England
In the rest of New England, from Maine to Massachusetts, the coast has been preserved from mass urbanization. Bourgeois homes blend harmoniously with luxury hotels, as do the small Victorian houses on Cape Cod and the rectangularsaltbox houses. In Newport, billionaires' mansions line Bellevue Avenue, splendid relics of the American Gilded Age (1865-1901). Away from the coast, a few unattractive motels adorn the landscape, but remain in the minority. In New Hampshire, two towns in particular stand out. Portsmouth, on the coast, has a fairly long history (for the country) and has carefully preserved its 19th-century buildings. In the mountains, don't miss the resort of Wolfeboro, on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. It's the oldest in the country. It's a far cry from the clichés of Palm Beach and its high-rise buildings.
The locals are very proud of their "architectural history", and strongly preserve their old buildings, some of which date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. In Vermont, for example, the Shelburne Museum brings together small old buildings in a single space. Modest and middle-class homes have been moved as they were from their original locations to the museum site.
Providence
The city most representative of New England's Gothic atmosphere is undoubtedly Providence, birthplace of the legendary H. P. Lovecraft. It was also for its characteristic Victorian Gothic architecture that the town attracted Resnais for Mon oncle d'Amérique, whose location shots were filmed there. Providence immerses us in 18th- and 19th-century America, so well preserved has it been. A trip to the campus is a must: the city is home toBrown University, a member of the exclusive Ivy League club. Brown has the distinction of having expanded over time, acquiring Victorian houses in the vicinity of the original campus, where it set up its various departments. Don't miss the John Hay Library, or the golden dome of the Old Stone Bank, whose Greek Revival building is reminiscent of a temple. Another of the city's architectural gems is the Fleur-de-Lis Studio, designed by the painter R. Burleigh and the architect Edmundston. Burleigh and architect Edmund R. Willson in 1885, a magnificent example of the American Arts & Crafts movement.
Modern and contemporary period
In the 1900s, skyscrapers began to spring up thanks to advances in the steel industry. In major cities, architecture became vertical. In Boston's Financial District, skyscrapers blend harmoniously with Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. One building, however, aroused a great deal of grumbling among residents. It's Boston City Hall. In 1969, Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles designed the Brutalist temple of Boston City Hall, a building that is still misunderstood today. Together with the plaza in front of it, they form the Government Center, witness to Boston's urban renewal in the 1960s.
When it comes to skyscrapers, the John Hancock Tower, at 241 metres, is the tallest in the city and in the whole of New England - all the more so as it stands in a neighbourhood of low-rise 19th-century buildings. The building has a bad reputation: its engineering flaws have cost a lot of money in reinforcements, lest it fall in a gale. When it comes to contemporary architecture, Cambridge and its faculties are the place to be.
Cambridge campuses
On the other side of the Charles River, Cambridge is home to two of America's most prestigious universities. The Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campuses are distinguished by the achievements of the greatest masters of the 20th and 21st centuries. Le Corbusier (1887-1965) designed the Carpenter Center of Visual Arts at Harvard, while Frank Gehry (1929-) designed the Ray and Maria Stata Center at MIT. But they're not the only ones: among them, the celebrated Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) designed a student residence, Baker House (MIT). Simmons Hall is home to the institute's undergraduate residents. Steven Holl (1947-) is responsible for this brutalist architectural monster, inspired by a sea sponge with hundreds of cells. Behind its geometric envelope lie much more organic forms, with corridors acting as arterial light shafts running through the building. The Harvard Science Center was designed by Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983), who also designed the Miró Foundation in Barcelona. There's no doubt that universities were the architects' laboratories.
