{"nrhp_refnum":"05001528","name":"West Roxbury Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"West Roxbury Parkway, Bellevue Hill, E. Border, W. Border Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brookline","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.30425550000007,"lon":-71.15203355963237,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-01-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Engineering","Landscape Architecture","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A connecting parkway about 3.3 miles long running from Washington Street in West Roxbury, Boston, northwest to Brookline, with East Border, West Border and Bellevue Hill roads, built 1919-1929 as part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.","why_significant":"It is an intact example of a connecting parkway built to Metropolitan Parks Commission standards, linking state reservations such as Stony Brook with Boston city parks. It is significant for community planning and development, engineering, landscape architecture and transportation at the state level. The 1930s rotaries and border roads reflect later traffic changes.","narrative":"West Roxbury Parkway is a roughly 3.3-mile connecting road running from Washington Street in Boston's West Roxbury section to Hammond Pond Parkway and Newton Street in Brookline. It includes East Border, West Border and Bellevue Hill roads, a 1920 concrete railroad bridge and rotaries built in the 1930s. Land takings began in 1894, and the road was built in four sections between 1919 and 1929 through a joint effort of the Metropolitan Parks Commission and the Boston Parks Commission. Boston built and maintained it, but it followed Metropolitan Park System design standards. The parkway was meant to link state reservations such as Stony Brook and the Blue Hills with city parks including the Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park and Jamaica Pond. It retains its original layout, granite curbing and landscaped edges. It was recognized for its role in community planning, engineering, landscape architecture and transportation, as a well-preserved example of a connecting parkway.","period_of_significance":"1894-1956","architect_builder":"Charles Eliot, Olmsted Brothers","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still a heavily traveled parkway in public park and road use, administered by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.978069-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/7927/63792724/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/05001528.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001528/3f397c6c82-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001528/3f397c6c82-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BrooklineMA_WestRoxburyParkwayRotary.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BrooklineMA_WestRoxburyParkwayRotary.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792724","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Roxbury_Parkway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1193015"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/west-roxbury-parkway-metropolitan-park-system-of-greater-boston-05001528/"}