Back Bay and Beacon Hill meet at the Public Garden, close enough that a buyer can tour a Commonwealth Avenue brownstone and a Chestnut Street rowhouse in the same hour. On paper they look alike: both are in Boston, both are mostly condos in nineteenth-century brick, and both sit inside a local historic district. On the ground they were built roughly half a century apart, on very different terrain, and they connect to the rest of the city by different train lines. The Back Bay guide and Beacon Hill guide go deeper on each.
Same city, same tax bill math
Because both neighborhoods are part of the City of Boston, nothing about the municipality changes when you go from one to the other.
If the home will be your principal residence, the Boston residential exemption lowers the taxable value in either neighborhood. Our Greater Boston property tax rates page puts Boston’s rate next to nearby communities. Public schools in both are part of Boston Public Schools, whose official state profile is at profiles.doe.mass.edu.
Two eras of rowhouse
Back Bay
Back Bay did not exist as land until the 1800s. The tidal flats behind the Mill Dam were filled over the second half of that century, and developers built Victorian brownstones and brick houses along straight avenues as the fill advanced westward. Cross streets run in alphabetical order from Arlington to Hereford, which makes addresses easy to place. Mixed in with the houses are early twentieth-century apartment buildings and later elevator buildings, some with doormen and garages. That gives Back Bay a wider range of building types than its neighbor, from a fourth-floor walk-up studio to a unit in a full-service tower near the Prudential Center.
Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill is older and steeper. The hill was cut down starting in 1799, and the Federal and then Greek Revival rowhouses that cover it went up over the following decades, after Bulfinch’s State House was finished at the top in 1798. Houses on the south slope, toward the Common, and around Louisburg Square tend to be larger. The north slope has narrower lots and smaller buildings on tight streets running down to Cambridge Street. The Flat of the Hill, west of Charles Street, sits on filled land and mixes townhouses with former carriage houses.
What that means for a listing
Most homes for sale in both neighborhoods are condominiums carved out of houses built for one household. The practical differences show up in the building itself:
Questions to ask about any unit
- Is there an elevator, and how many flights are there from the street?
- Does the association share a heating system or a single roof?
- Is outdoor space deeded, and was any roof deck approved by the commission?
- How old are the wiring, plumbing and windows?
Elevators and garages are more common in Back Bay’s larger buildings. On Beacon Hill, most condos are in walk-ups, and single-family townhouses with rear gardens come up for sale occasionally. Our Boston condo buying guide covers the 6(d) certificate, budgets and reserves.
Architectural commissions
Each neighborhood has its own local district and its own volunteer commission, staffed through the Boston Landmarks Commission. Approval comes before work starts, not after.
Both commissions publish written standards. Read them before you price out new windows, a door, a roof deck or masonry work, and ask the seller for any past approvals.
Getting around
Back Bay
Back Bay’s subway service is the Green Line trunk under Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue:
- Arlington
- Copley
- Hynes Convention Center
- Prudential
Prudential is on the E branch only. Back Bay Station, on the southern edge, adds the Orange Line and commuter rail on the Framingham/Worcester, Providence/Stoughton, Needham and Franklin/Foxboro lines, and the MBTA lists it in Zone 1A. See the Green Line guide for branch details.
Beacon Hill
Beacon Hill’s stations sit around the base of the hill rather than under it. Charles/MGH, at the foot of Charles Street, is on the Red Line. Park Street, at the corner of the Common, connects the Red and Green Lines. Bowdoin, on Cambridge Street, is the western end of the Blue Line. The MBTA lists Bowdoin as not accessible and directs riders to Government Center, under a quarter mile away. The Red Line guide and Blue Line guide cover those lines.
Parking in both
Streets, shops and open space
Back Bay’s open space runs in lines: the Commonwealth Avenue Mall down the middle of the avenue and the Charles River Esplanade along the river, reached by footbridges over Storrow Drive. Shopping and dining cluster on Newbury and Boylston Streets, around Copley Square, and in the Prudential Center and Copley Place.
Beacon Hill’s commercial life is concentrated on Charles Street, a run of independent shops, grocers and restaurants from Beacon Street to Charles/MGH, with more everyday services on Cambridge Street. Boston Common and the Public Garden line its southern edge. Inside the neighborhood, Louisburg Square’s central garden is privately owned and fenced, and Acorn Street keeps its cobblestones.
Landmarks and institutions
Back Bay
- Boston Public Library’s Central Library and Trinity Church on Copley Square
- Old South Church on Boylston Street
- Gibson House Museum on Beacon Street
- Hynes Convention Center
Beacon Hill
- Massachusetts State House
- Boston Athenaeum
- Nichols House Museum on Mount Vernon Street
- Museum of African American History and the African Meeting House, on the Black Heritage Trail
Talk to us about specific buildings
From our office on Clarendon Street in the South End, Back Bay is a few blocks away and Beacon Hill is a short walk past the Public Garden. Value in both depends on the building, the floor, outdoor space and parking more than on which of the two neighborhoods it is in. Start a search or get in touch and we will pull recent sales for the blocks you are comparing, or read our Back Bay and Beacon Hill guides.