Old Boston commerce

Sent along by David Jacobs of The Boston Guardian

In the late '30's?:

Boylston Street, looking west from Massachusetts Avenue, was the approach to the Back Bay Fens, seen flanked by impressive Lombardy poplar trees.

On the left were low-rise office buildings with shops on the ground floor, such as the First National Store on the left, with Paparone Dancing Studio above, the tall Fenway Building, the Carlton Hotel and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

On the right was the Hotel Windermere and a row of well-designed limestone and brick four-story swell bay facade apartment buildings built by developers William B. Rice and Kilby Page. All were demolished in the early 1960s, when the Massachusetts Turnpike was put through the city.