Welcome to South End

The South End is a historic Boston neighborhood of Victorian brick rowhouses and small residential squares, located south of Back Bay and Bay Village between Massachusetts Avenue and Interstate 93. The South End Historical Society notes that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the largest Victorian brick rowhouse district in the United States.

About the South End

The neighborhood was built on filled marshland on both sides of the Neck, the narrow strip of land that once connected Boston to Roxbury and is now Washington Street. After the marsh was filled, development began around 1850, when builders put up long, uniform rows of fashionable townhouses. Limits on building size and materials gave the area its remarkable consistency, and the street plan followed English models, with rows of houses facing small landscaped squares such as Union Park, Rutland Square, Concord Square, and Worcester Square. After the Panic of 1873 many wealthy households moved to the new Back Bay, and many of the large houses became lodging houses.

Today the city's South End Landmark District reviews exterior changes to the historic rowhouses. The neighborhood borders Back Bay and Bay Village to the north, Chinatown to the northeast, Roxbury to the south, and Fenway / Kenmore to the west, with South Boston across the highway and Fort Point Channel. On the eastern side, Harrison Avenue and Albany Street were once home to warehouses and factories, and the area now known as SoWa holds galleries, artist studios, and converted lofts.

Getting Around

The Orange Line runs along the neighborhood's western edge beneath Southwest Corridor Park, with stops at Back Bay and Massachusetts Avenue. Silver Line SL4 and SL5 buses run along Washington Street to Downtown and Nubian Square, and Prudential and Symphony stations on the Green Line are close to the western blocks. Interstate 93 and the Massachusetts Turnpike are at the neighborhood's edge.

South End Real Estate

Most homes are three- to five-story bow-front brick and brownstone rowhouses from the 1850s through the 1870s, many divided into condominiums and many with original cast-iron railings and stoops. Toward Harrison Avenue and Washington Street, former industrial buildings have been converted to lofts, and newer mid-rise buildings line the Washington Street and Ink Block area.

South End buildings on our site include:

• SEPIA at the Ink Block, an eight-story building on the former Boston Herald site
• SIENA at the Ink Block, the second condominium building at Ink Block
• The Lucas, residences within and above the former Holy Trinity Church on Shawmut Avenue
• Penny Savings Bank, a converted bank building at 30 Union Park Street
• Atelier 505, at Tremont and Berkeley Streets beside the Boston Center for the Arts
• 100 Shawmut, a 13-story building that includes a restored 1920s brick warehouse
• The Quinn, a Robert A.M. Stern design at 380 Harrison Avenue
• D4 Boston, a former police station at 7 Warren Avenue
• Laconia Lofts, loft condominiums on Washington Street in SoWa
• Wilkes Passage, a seven-story loft building at 1313 Washington Street

More buildings are listed on our Developments page.

Living in the South End

Tremont Street and Shawmut Avenue are lined with restaurants, cafes, and shops, and Washington Street has more along the SoWa stretch. The SoWa Open Market on Harrison Avenue runs on Sundays in season. The Boston Center for the Arts occupies the 1884 Cyclorama building on Tremont Street, and Blackstone and Franklin Squares, Peters Park, and the Southwest Corridor Park add green space.

To see homes for sale in the South End, browse the listings below or contact Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Warren Residential.