City - Boston, MA - Vying for your attention 1901 - Side by Side
by Mike Savad
Title
City - Boston, MA - Vying for your attention 1901 - Side by Side
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Hdr Photography
Description
Hand colored photo from 1901
Original title: Province Court, looking north from the corner of Province Street
Photographer: Thomas Marr
Location: 2 Province Ct, Boston, MA
Tucked away in downtown Boston, Province Court is a narrow alley that once pulsed with the rhythm of skilled trades. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this small passage was densely packed with working-class businesses, plumbers, glaziers, painters, carpenters, tailors, and hardware merchants, all operating shoulder to shoulder in a tightly built block. These tradespeople worked on the ground or basement levels, while upper floors served as workshops, storerooms, or living quarters. Some buildings displayed signs offering rooms for rent, underscoring how deeply commercial and residential life were intertwined in these spaces.
What made this alley remarkable was not just the number of trades represented, but the way they functioned together. A plumber might source parts from the hardware shop next door, while a tailor could get a sign painted by the local decorator just a few doors down. This kind of tight clustering made collaboration efficient and encouraged a sense of interdependence among the trades. Unlike today's sprawling industrial parks, Boston's older commercial centers were compact, vertical, and full of energy. Province Court was a small but vital node in the city's economic engine.
Walking through the alley, visitors would have seen dozens of projecting wooden signboards jutting out over the sidewalk, each one vying for the attention of passersby. These were supported by sturdy brackets designed to hold large hanging signs that advertised a business's services to foot and carriage traffic. Above the signs, many buildings were equipped with hoisting beams, wooden poles extending from upper floors that once held pulleys for lifting heavy materials through wide windows. These features were essential in buildings that stored or produced goods upstairs, especially before the use of internal elevators.
Architecturally, the buildings lining Province Court reflected Boston's mercantile boom from the 1870s to the early 1900s. Brick facades, arched entryways, painted signs, and large loft-style windows all suggested a functional yet robust style tailored for trade. The presence of hoisting poles and the lack of modern fire escapes pointed to their pre-code construction and industrial use.
Province Court itself takes its name from Province House, a grand colonial mansion built in 1679 that once stood nearby. The Province House served as the official residence of the royal governors of Massachusetts until the Revolutionary War. After a fire in 1864, most of the building was demolished, though one wall remained. That wall stood along Province Court for decades, a rare surviving fragment of colonial Boston. By 1922, even that remnant was removed to make way for the Province Building, which still stands today.
Today, Province Court physically still exists, though its purpose has changed. It now functions primarily as a service alley for surrounding commercial properties. Most of the trades and structures that once defined it are gone, but the alley remains a quiet echo of the working city that once thrived there. Its narrow footprint, hidden between Washington Street, School Street, Province Street, and Bromfield Street, continues to remind those who pass through it of Boston's long and layered history of small-scale enterprise, craftsmanship, and community.
Color notes:
Look at all the signs, there are a few large keys hanging, so much stuff to look at. I wanted it colorful as I think it was then but not too over the top. You can't see it but behind where we are standing, there is a staircase leading to a restaurant platform that was the original Province house staircase.
Uploaded
June 13th, 2025
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