In 1903, Frederick Ayer and his wife Ellen Banning Ayer led a comfortable life at their Tiffany-designed mansion on Commonwealth Avenue. Preservation Advisor Jeanne Pelletier lifts the curtain on the unseen portions of the Ayer Mansion, giving a glimpse into servants’ lives using:

• an extraordinary 400-page inventory
• surviving architectural clues, and
• the annual census.

The reception starts at 6:30 p.m., and the presentation begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, but space is limited. RSVP is required.

This event is sponsored by the Ayer Mansion.

This event was rescheduled to May 31.

The Neighborhood Coffee Hours give residents a unique opportunity to speak directly with Mayor Walsh about open space and other needs in their neighborhoods.
For more information and updates on possible weather cancelations, please contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 617-635-4505. Also see full schedule of Mayor Walsh's 2017 Neighborhood Coffee Hours.

Phillis Wheatley arrived in Boston in 1761 in what is now Chinatown. Purchased as a slave, ten years later she was an internationally famous poet.

At this event, Barbara Lewis, director of University of Massachusetts Boston's Trotter Institute, explores Phillis Wheatley's world.

The Wake Up the Earth Festival began in 1979 when a group of local neighbors and activists banded together to stop the Interstate 95 expansion into Jamaica Plain. The festival began as, and still is, a celebration of what can be accomplished when people of all traditions, cultures, ages, and beliefs come together.
The annual Wake Up the Earth Festival (WUTE) takes place each year on the first Saturday in May and is currently attended by well over 10,000 individuals of all ages. The event features four stages that include:

• music and dance performances
• popular theater
• the Youth Stage, and
• story telling for all ages.

In addition to performances, WUTE features over more than 50 craft, non-profit, and food vendors. The festival is anchored by a massive parade (with branches that start in JP Center and Roxbury) with several thousand people marching. A great many individuals, local artists, community groups, and schools join forces every year to create this unique community collaboration.

This concert is designed to help ease the pain in our hearts, to remember the love of those who have been killed, and give hope for a future without violence. The Riverview Chamber Players concert is free with a $10 suggested donation. The ArtWeek event is presented in a pending Landmark.

Hear from executive director Madeleine Steczynski about this transformation. This event is part of the Livable Streets Alliance Series, "Churches, Cafes & Community Centers: Historic Preservation for Boston's Neighborhoods." 

The talk is free for Old South members, otherwise there is a $6 fee.

From its earliest beginnings 150 years ago, the Back Bay embraced major cultural institutions alongside the exclusive private homes of Boston’s elite. The Museum of Fine Arts and MIT, the first American university to confer architectural degrees, both trace their origins to the neighborhood.
In fact, its major civic space, Copley Square, was originally called Art Square until renamed in honor of the City’s celebrated painter of the colonial period. Art was not only central to the Back Bay’s identity as a fashionable district, but remains an integral part of its essence today.
The tour is conducted by William Young, of Epsilon Associates, a former staff member to the Back Bay Architectural Commission. This free event is sponsored by the Newbury Street League.
Reservations are required. The tour is limited to 30 people.

This is an Artweek Boston event.

BLC organized a special tour of the 1849 Boston Custom House and 1915 clock tower during Preservation Month in May.
The Custom House is located in McKinley Square, in Boston’s Financial District.
We may be able to schedule this tour once again in May 2018, please check back in March and April 2018.