CultureNOW - Paul Revere Mall: Peter Vanderwarker

Paul Revere Mall

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ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
"Paul Revere Mall is the most European space in Boston, maybe in the United States, because it feels as if it has been carved out of a solid mass of urban tissue, the ·way the old squares of Europe do. Like them, it’s a true outdoor room, tightly walled by the city around it, with the sky for a blue ceiling. The mall was sliced through the densely packed dwellings of the North End in 1933, to give the neighborhood's residents some breathing room.

The designer was a Boston landscape architect named Arthur Shurcliff. Among other things, Shurcliff was the chief planner for the restoration of the lawns and gardens of Williamsburg, Virginia. No doubt he was thinking of European precedents when he shaped the mall. But so was James Michael Curley, Boston’s legendary mayor. Curley had seen the Prado, the famed museum in Spain, and he wanted something equally grand for Boston. In its early years, the mall was called the Prado. It's still called that, sometimes, by locals.

In the old photo, we see the scene that preceded the mall. This was Webster Avenue, a squalid but picturesque alley lined with tenement houses. It was typical of immigrant neighborhoods like the North End. Why, we wonder, have the children assembled? Were they fascinated by the photographer, with his strange tripod and black hood? Why was the photograph made? Perhaps the purpose was to demonstrate the crowded and dangerous conditions.

The new photo is dominated by the statue of Paul Revere, which didn't arrive until the mall was seven years old. A man named Cyrus Dallin modeled it in clay in 1885. But Dallin couldn't find a buyer. Not until 1940 did the city of Boston cast his statue in bronze and install it in the mall. Fifty-five years after shaping his statue, Dallin was still around to attend the unveiling.

In the distance, to the left of the statue, is the spire of Boston's oldest church, Old North, from the window of which shone the lantern signal for Paul Revere's midnight ride. Behind us, across Hanover
Street, is St. Stephen's Church, the only surviving Boston church by architect Charles Bulfinch, who also designed the Massachusetts State House. The mall is thus a path between two churches.

Bronze plaques on the mall's brick walls tell of some of the people and places in this historic neighborhood. A double row of trees provides shade. Paul Revere Mall is a delightful place, one of Boston's best, and in good weather always seems to be filled with everyone from seniors playing checkers to babies in their carriages."

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - Scenes from a Mall," Boston Globe, 18 July 2004

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Location

Clark Street & Hanover Street
Boston , MA 02113
United States

Nearby Items

Paul Revere		39 feet
St. Stephen's Church		159 feet
Hanover Street at Clark Street		171 feet
The Memorial Garden		383 feet
North End		468 feet
North Bennet Street School		760 feet
North End at North and Lewis Streets		0.2 miles