Copley Square, Boston

Located at Copley Square the old Trinity Church stands alongside the modern Hancock Building. The church was completed in 1887 and has long been known as one of Boston's most significant buildings from an architectural standpoint. Visitors are awestruck by the magnificent stained-glass windows which were created in various styles by some of Europe's best glass workshops.

Did you know Trinity Church was built on a landfill and its foundation is supported by thousands of wood pilings driven through the trash into the solid clay beneath?

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Copley Place is usually a stop for us when we are in Boston. Both my wife and I enjoy a bit of retail therapy and this is a plce to get it done. This shopping center caters to more upscale stores and vendors such as: Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York, Tiffany & Co., Jimmy Choo, Intimacy, Tourneau, Salvatore Ferragamo, Porsche Design, David Yurman, A|X Armani Exchange, Louis Vuitton, Emporio Armani, Christian Dior and Burberry.

Our last visit to this mall we had fun checking out some watches and jewelry for a special occasion. The mall also had some artwork and sculpture on display in the main centrum by the fountain.

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Trinity Church located "back Bay" section of Boston was built in 1877. The church is in the Romanesque Revival Style. The church is situated in Copley Square, in the shadow of the John Hancock Tower. The church reflects in the mirrored panels of the building which makes for a nice picture. The interior of the chucrch has some magnificent stained glass windows that is a must see for any fan of art.

Trinity Church is the only church in the United States and the only building in Boston that has been honored as one of the "Ten Most Significant Buildings in the United States" by the American Institute of Architects. It is also a National Historic Landmark.

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We've walked through Copley Square many times and I never noticed these scuptures of the Tortoise and the Hare...Probably because they seem to belong there and are not large or obtrusive workd of art. The pieces are small enough for kids to navigate and climb on; which many of them actually were doing.

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Copley Square is bounded by the Boston Public Library on one end and Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower on the other. Boylston St runs along the northern edge. Inside the square are trees, statues, benches and, during the summer, a farmer's market on Tuesday/Friday. During this summer the residents of the square included several cows. Please see the related tip.
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The square was named after the painter John Singleton Copley who lived from 1738-1815. While he is listed as an American, he was a supporter of the British Crown and moved to London in 1774, where he remained for the rest of his life.

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Phillips Brooks was anclergyman and author, who briefly served as Bishop of Massachusetts in the Episcopal Church during the early 1890s. Brooks was born in Boston in 1835. On April 30, 1891 he was elected sixth Bishop of Massachusetts, and on the 14 October was consecrated to that office in Trinity Church. He died unmarried in 1893, after an episcopate of only 15 months. His death was a major event in the history of Boston. One observer reported: "They buried him like a king. Harvard students carried his body on their shoulders. All barriers of denomination were down. Roman Catholics and Unitarians felt that a great man had fallen in Israel."

His statue by Trinity Church is rather striking. The statue's expession looks angry as if he was a preacher of the "fire and brimstone" variety.

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Copley Square is named for the American portraitist John Singleton Copley. There is a sttue of the artist in the square. Copely Ssuare is bordered by The Old South Church, Trinity Church, Boston Public Library, Museum of Fine Arts and the John Hancock Tower.

Liz and I walked through the Sqaure admiring the churches, statues and architecture of the area. The square was busy with people walking through, riding bikes and even skating by. It was also a big draw for people with dogs which accounted for the mess on the floor.

H. H. Richardson's neo-Gothic masterpiece. Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1890) was one of America's greatest architects, and Trinity Church is regarded as his finest work. Created in the 1870s, Trinity inspired hordes of similar rounded arch designs in the last 19th century. More recently, I.M. Pei was given the daunting task of creating a skyscraper for Copley Square that would tower over Trinity. The result was the brilliant John Hancock building, one of the outstanding skyscrapers of the last thirty years. It's quite impressive how the Hancock Tower clearly honors Richardson's Church, while employing the glass curtain design which couldn't be more different.

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John Singleton Copely was a famous American Portrait artist in colonial America. He is know for his relaitic portraits and his ability to capture the realism of his subjects. A statue of him is in Copley Square which is name for him.

In March 1872, the Trinity Church parish invited several architects to submit designs for a new church. The commission was awarded to a design by Henry Hobson Richardson. He proposed a relatively low church based on Romanesque architecture in southern France. His innovative style would become known as 'Richardson Romanesque'.

The problems presented to Richardson were formidable. The Back Bay is a reclaimed wetland with a high water table. Bedrock lies far beneath wet clay. Like all older Back Bay buildings, Trinity Church sits on submerged wooden pilings. But its central tower weighs 9,500 tons, and most of the 4,500 pilings beneath the building are under that tremendous central mass. To support the building a space ninety feet square was reserved for the tower foundation, and was filled with wooden piles. Concrete was used to prevent lateral movement of the piles, but the piles actually supported (and still support) the tower. On top of the piles are four granite pyramids which in turn support the corner piers of the 40,000 ton weighing tower. In order to prevent the wooden piles from rotting, the water level beneath the church is constantly monitored by means of a hatch in the basement.

Richardson gathered some of the best artists of his day such as John LaFarge, William Morris, and Edward Burne for the paintings and stained glass. In a poll of architects taken in 1891 by the American Architect and Builders News, Trinity Church ranked first among the nation’s ten greatest buildings. In a similar poll taken a century later among the fellows of the American Institute of Architects, Trinity again ranked among the top ten.

Try to catch one of the Friday organ concerts beginning at 12:15; while the renovation continues, these concerts will be held in the Old South Church. Entrance to the church is free but a guided and self guided tour is available for around $4

OPEN: Daily 9-6; Sun. services at 7:45, 9, and 11:15 AM, and 6 PM; services Wed. at 5:30 PM. Tours 3 times daily; call to confirm times