Lined with elegant 19th century brownstone architecture, boutique shops and restaurants, Newbury Street is a vibrant commercial hub in Boston’s Back Bay area. It stretches from the Boston Public Garden to Brookline Avenue, with the shops at its eastern end considered more upmarket than the bohemian stores further west.
Newbury Street boasts an eclectic mix of retail spaces, including eco-cosmetics, independent bookstores, made-to-measure clothing and pop-up stores. Up-and-coming brands stand alongside well-established designer names, together with a good selection of cafes and restaurants. Historic buildings on the street include Emmanuel Church which was one of the first to be built in Back Bay after it was filled in 1860, as well as the former Museum of Natural History building which was designed in a classical French Beaux-Arts style in 1864. Also of note is the Brutalist building of the Boston Architectural College which was designed in the 1960s and features a famous trompe l’oeil mural by Richard Haas depicting a Classical-style building on its side. The former Ritz-Carlton Hotel, now The Taj Boston, is a 1920s landmark at the Public Garden end of Newbury Street, while the striking Romanesque Revival architecture of the former Exeter Street Theatre still stands at its centre.
Newbury Street is located a short walk north of the Bay Bay train station and within easy access of the subway stations at Arlington, Copley and Hynes Convention Center which connect to the Downtown area and North End. It’s ideally combined with a visit to the sprawling greenery and swan boating lake of the Boston Public Garden.
Newbury Street was created during the filling in of Back Bay during the mid 19th century and named after the 1643 Battle of Newbury during the English Civil War. Commercial establishments began opening around the turn of the 20th century, and by the end of the 1920s, Newbury Street had established itself as an upmarket shopping destination, with wide glass windows fronting its luxury retail stores.