Boston's South End Neighborhood - Victorian Architecture, Fabulous Restaurants, and Trendy Boutiques

Whether you're visiting Boston for the first or the twentieth time, you'll love exploring Boston's South End neighborhood because of the spectacular architecture, the many gourmet restaurants and nightspots, and the trendy one-of-a-kind boutiques sprinkled along all of the major streets and avenues.  Although the South End is adjacent to popular Back Bay, it's a bit off the usual path of Boston tourists because few major monuments or historical sites are located there.  But if you make the 10-minuted walk from Back Bay across the garden-filled Southwest Corridor Park to the South End, you'll be enchanted by the beauty of this mostly-residential Boston neighborhood.

Most of the housing in Boston's South End was built during the mid-1800s, after land for the area was created by filling a shallow bay.  In fact, the neighborhood has the highest area of Victorian brick row houses in the United States and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  If you're an architecture fan, you'll find an amazing array of styles: Renaissance Revival, Greek Revival, Egyptian Revival, Italianate and French Second Empire, Queen Anne, and much more. 

Best of all, most of these gorgeous houses and their elaborate iron rails and other ornamentation have been meticulously restored during the past 30-40 years.  Some areas, such as Columbus Avenue, were originally designed to look like Parisian boulevards, while in other areas, homes cluster around English-inspired parks and lanes.  These designs make possible fabulous gardens, window box plantings, and tree-filled streets.

South of Washington Street, in an area now called "SoWa," you'll find former canneries, piano factories, and other industrial buildings now transformed into artists's studios, galleries, and lofts.  SoWa is where you'll find a number of arts-related activities such as periodic Open Studios, "First Friday" gallery walks, and SoWa Open Market where local and regional artisans exhibit and sell their creations on Sunday afternoons from late spring through fall.

Boston's South End is the city's hippest neighborhood.  You'll find lots of wonderful and innovative chef-owned restaurants, such as B and G Oysters, Aquitaine, and Hamersley's Bistro.  Main streets such as Columbus Avenue, Washington Street, and Tremont Street are where you'll also find lots of trendy boutiques and gourmet markets.

You'll also notice that the neighborhood is very dog-friendly.  Dogs (and their owners) can enjoy the Joe Wex Dog Recreation Space in Peters Park between Shawmut and Washington Streets.  And everyone enjoys one of the highlights of the Halloween season:  the Annual Halloween Pet Parade, featuring dogs decked out in their favorite costume.  As the ghoulish canines parade through the South End up through Boston Common, everyone smiles.