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|
 Newbury Street (westbound) at Arlington Street, nearBoston Public Garden | |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°20′57″N71°5′3″W / 42.34917°N 71.08417°W /42.34917; -71.08417 |
| East end | Arlington Street |
| West end | Brookline Avenue |
Newbury Street is located in theBack Bay area ofBoston,Massachusetts, in theUnited States. It runs roughly east–west, from theBoston Public Garden toBrookline Avenue. The road crosses several major arteries along its path, with an entrance to theMassachusetts Turnpike westbound atMassachusetts Avenue. Newbury Street is known for its retail shops and restaurants.[1]
East of Massachusetts Avenue, Newbury Street is a mile-long street lined with historic 19th-centurybrownstones that contain hundreds of shops and restaurants, making it a popular destination for tourists and locals. Most of the "high-end boutiques" are located near theBoston Public Garden end of Newbury Street. As the address numbers climb, the shops become slightly less expensive and more bohemian up to Massachusetts Avenue.
West of Massachusetts Avenue, the street borders theMassachusetts Turnpike on its unbuilt southern side, while the northern side is reserved mainly for parking and rear service entrances for buildings onCommonwealth Avenue. Newbury Street is interrupted by theMuddy River and Charlesgate Park. It then continues to border the Turnpike on its southern side until it meets Brookline Avenue. The shopping district might be able to expand as a result of a major project that is being considered for decking over the Turnpike to the west of Massachusetts Avenue.
Newbury Street has a mix of shops and eateries. Its renovatedbrownstone buildings feature coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants, with stores at all retail levels. However, due to the concentration of upscale luxury stores at its easternmost end, it is known as one of the most expensive streets in the world.[2]
Donlyn Lyndon, the Eva Li Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Urban Design at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, writes that west of Clarendon Street
Newbury Street develops its own very distinctive and appealing character and becomes one of the nicest shopping streets in Boston, or anywhere. Renovated town houses with large glass bays on the ground floor produce a delightful urban landscape.... Owners and tenants... have further animated the street by using the 25-foot (7.6 m) space between the building and the sidewalk for various purposes. Some areas are paved and used for displays or sidewalk sales. Others have thick planting... Some lots have stairs up and down to shops and galleries; others have show windows and display cases for flowers or fashions or other items for sale. But each contributes something extra, and together they make these blocks of Newbury Street genuinely attractive.[3]
Since 2000, the City of Boston has experimented with closing Newbury Street between Berkeley Street and Massachusetts Avenue to vehicular traffic on Sundays during the summer. This "Open Newbury Street" program was extended by the addition of two December weekends as of 2024[update].[4]
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Newbury Street'sname celebrates the victory of thePuritans in the 1643Battle of Newbury in theEnglish Civil War. Newbury Street was one of the earliest roads in Boston, its portion was renamedWashington Street by the end of the 18th century. The current road was created during the filling in ofBack Bay in the mid-19th century.
The 1893 edition ofBaedeker's United States catalogs Boston's "finest residence streets" as Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street, Marlborough Street, Newbury Street, and Mt. Vernon Street. William J. Geddis, however, notes that it was "the least fashionable Street in Back Bay."
Owen Wister's novel,Philosophy 4, set in the 1870s, mentions Newbury Street:
When you saw [Harvard student Oscar Maironi] seated in a car bound for Park Square, you knew he was going into Boston, where he would read manuscript essays onBotticelli orPico della Mirandola, or manuscript translations ofArmenian folksongs; read these to ecstatic, dim-eyed ladies in Newbury Street, who would pour him cups of tea when it was over, and speak of his earnestness after he was gone. It did not do the ladies any harm; but I am not sure that it was the best thing for Oscar.
The first commercial establishments opened around 1905. By the late 1920s, lower Newbury Street had begun to establish itself as a destination for well-heeled society. With the establishment of Boston's Junior League in 1907, formal dances became very fashionable, and elegant apparel shops prospered. By 1911, 24 Newbury St. featured a salon for lessons in "social and aesthetic dance."[5] As more retailers moved in, many lower floor shops began to feature wide glass windows to exhibit luxury goods. In the late 1950s, fashionable boutiques included Darée, Charles Sumner, Miss Harvey (at #32), furriers and Joseph Antell. One of Newbury's oldest and most established retailers is theBrooks Brothers department store which occupies its original quarters at the corner of Berkeley St.[6]
The transformation that turned Newbury Street into a trendy shopping district probably began in the 1970s with the opening of the originalNewbury Comics.
From 1970 until the late 1990s, lower Newbury Street was lined with posh up-and-coming art galleries. Newbury Street mavens and hipsters spent Saturday afternoons gallery hopping and enjoying the ubiquitous "wine and cheese" art openings.
The renowned music instrument retailer E.U. Wurlitzer Music and Sound was a part of the greater Boston music scene since 1890, and the store had been located at 360 Newbury Street (on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue) after moving from its LaGrange Street address in the mid-1960s. The building was a plain yellow-brick building by the time the company went out of business in the mid-1980s. In 1989, it was renovated under the direction of architectFrank Gehry and won the Parker Award as the most beautiful new building in Boston. According to architecture columnist Robert Campbell, Gehry "took a blandly forgettable building and transformed it into a monument... It's the first significant example in Boston of a movement known as deconstruction. Deconstructionist buildings are designed to look as if their parts are either colliding or exploding, usually at crazy angles."[7]
Since the turn of the 21st century, Newbury Street has maintained its transformative shopping experience alongside an evolving retail industry. Made-to-measure suits,eco-friendly products, guide shops and concept stores are offerings now commonly found in the area.[8] The street has retained both its sophisticated architectural style and its eclectic mix of retailers, from luxury brands and high-end boutiques to innovative up-and-coming companies, cafés and restaurants. Stores such asTiffany & Co,Cartier,Valentino,rag & bone,Jack Wills,Steven Alan,Zara,Urban Outfitters,Lady M,Uniqlo andMuji comprise the diverse retail landscape.
More recently, the district has become a popular destination for highly producedpop up shops. Many e-commerce brands use temporary storefronts on Newbury Street to test the Boston market for expansion, often landing as permanent fixtures on the street.[9][10] Local and national celebrities such asJulian Edelman,Kanye West,Martellus Bennett, and Gretta Monahan have also created or contributed to pop up activations on Newbury Street.[11]
