941–955 Boylston Street

The building at 941–955 Boylston Street in the Back Bay district of Boston, Massachusetts was designed by Arthur H. Vinal in 1886, while he was City Architect, as the city's first combined fire and police station. The building, constructed in 1887, is in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, as was Vinal's most notable other work, the Chestnut Hill Water Works pumping station, built at about the same time. It has been designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.

The fire station at 941 Boylston, which is still active, houses Boston Fire Department Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 15. The police station, 955 Boylston, was home to Boston Police Department Division 16 until 1976. From 1976 to 2007, the police station was home to the Institute of Contemporary Art; in 2007 it was acquired by Boston Architectural College for $7.22 million.

A courtyard between the two buildings originally led to shared stables for fire department and police horses. Division 16 would later add a single-story building immediately to the west (out of frame in the photo above). By 1976, the advent of motorized patrols had led to a consolidation of Boston's smaller police divisions, including division 16, into larger police districts, resulting in the closure and redevelopment of the police station.

500 Boylston Street

500 Boylston Street is a 1.3 million square foot Post-Modern building located in the Back Bay section of Boston and part of the city's High Spine, completed in 1989. It sits next to the landmark Trinity Church, Boston. It dominates the western half of the city block bounded by Boylston, Clarendon and Berkeley streets and St. James Avenue. It was designed by John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson, with structural engineering by LeMessurier Consultants and MEP/FP engineering by Cosentini Associates, Inc. The construction project was managed by Bond Brothers. It cost $100,000,000 to build. The site contains approximately 137,000 square feet (12,700 m²) of land area, with approximately 500 feet (150 m) of frontage on Boylston Street.

The first six floors are retail and small office space. Above that there is a 19-story office tower with Class A office space. It has approximately 715,000 square feet (66,400 m²) of office space. It has an underground parking lot for 1,000 cars that it shares with 222 Berkeley Street.

Boylston Street

Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston street was known as Frog Lane in the early 18th century and was later known as Common Street. It was later again renamed for Ward Nicholas Boylston (1747–1828), a man of wealth and refinement, an officer of the Crown, and philanthropist. Boylston, who was a descendent of Zabdiel Boylston, was born in Boston and spent much of his life in it. The Boylston Market was named after him as was the town of Boylston, Massachusetts.

Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs, Newton and Brookline.

Boylston Street, Boston

From west to east, Boston's Boylston Street begins at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Avenue as a two-way, six-lane road in Boston's Fenway neighborhood where it runs through three blocks of recently developed and currently under construction (as of 2015) high-rise, mixed-use buildings one block south of Fenway Park before forming the northern boundary of the Back Bay Fens at the Storrow Drive/Commonwealth Avenue right-of-way. Traffic traveling west on Boylston here cannot continue on Boylston Street, and must use Ipswich Street to continue west. Then, Boylston Street enters the Back Bay neighborhood where it becomes a major commercial artery carrying three lanes of one way traffic eastbound after Dalton Street. As it travels through the Back Bay, it forms the northern boundary of busy Copley Square and provides the southern limits to the Boston Public Garden before becoming a two-way street running along Boston Common's southern edge from Charles Street to Tremont Street. After Tremont Street, Boylston returns to carrying one way traffic east before ending at Washington Street in the downtown area where it changes to Essex Street.