Hotel Agassiz

Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and the area was fully built by around 1900. It is most famous for its rows of Victorian brownstone homes—considered one of the best preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States—as well as numerous architecturally significant individual buildings, and cultural institutions such as the Boston Public Library, and Boston Architectural College. Initially conceived as a residential-only area, commercial buildings were permitted from around 1890, and Back Bay now features many office buildings, including the John Hancock Tower, Boston's tallest skyscraper. It is also considered a fashionable shopping destination (especially Newbury and Boylston Streets, and the adjacent Prudential Center and Copley Place malls) and home to several major hotels.The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay considers the neighborhood's bounds to be "Charles River on the North; Arlington Street to Park Square on the East; Columbus Avenue to the New York New Haven and Hartford right-of-way (South of Stuart Street and Copley Place), Huntington Avenue, Dalton Street, and the Massachusetts Turnpike on the South; Charlesgate East on the West."

A statue of military historian Samuel Eliot Morison by Penelope Jencks is installed along Boston's Commonwealth Avenue Mall, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

A statue of William Lloyd Garrison by Olin Levi Warner is installed along Commonwealth Avenue, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was designed in 1885, cast in 1886, installed on May 13 of that year. The bronze sculpture measures approximately 7 ft. x 4 ft. x 6 ft. 4 in., and rests on a Quincy granite designed by John M. Wells that measures approximately 4 ft. 9 in. x 4 ft. x 6 ft. 4 in. The memorial was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in 1993.

The Exeter Street Theatre is a Richardsonian Romanesque building at the corner of Exeter and Newbury Streets, in the Back Bay section of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built as the First Spiritual Temple, 1884–85, by architects Hartwell and Richardson. For seventy years, from 1914 to 1984, it operated as a movie house. It now houses the Kingsley Montessori School.

The Crowninshield House is a historic house at 164 Marlborough Street in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1870, it is the first residential design of the renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The Newman School is a private school in the Back Bay district of Boston, Massachusetts.

The Hotel Vendome fire in the United States was the worst firefighting tragedy in Boston history. Nine firefighters were killed during the final stages of extinguishing a fire on June 17, 1972. The Hotel Vendome was on the southwest corner of the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, in the Back Bay area of Boston.

The Boston & Roxbury Mill Dam was an engineering project in Boston's Back Bay. Commissioned in 1814, the project intended to enclose the Back Bay basin and utilize the flowing tidal waters for industrial production. Constructing the dam would allow water to reliably flow from the Charles River to the basin, creating an ideal environment for the era's industrial mills. The project additionally added a second route to the mainland that redirected traffic away from Boston's choked Orange Street causeway. Between 1818 and 1821, the dam was constructed by extending Beacon Street westward.

On March 26, 2014, at 2:42 p.m., a nine-alarm fire broke out in a four-story brick row house at 298 Beacon Street in the Back Bay of Boston. Two Boston Fire Department firefighters died fighting the blaze: Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh, 43, of West Roxbury, and Firefighter Michael Kennedy, 33, of Hyde Park. Lieutenant Walsh was from BFD Engine Company 33 and FF. Kennedy was from BFD Ladder Company 15. The fire also injured eighteen others, including thirteen firefighters. The fire was believed to have been started by welders working on a nearby iron railing. On June 9, 2014, a report was released concluding that Walsh and Kennedy's deaths were both accidental.

The Massachusetts Bicycle Club (est.1879) was a cycling club in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Chilton Club is a private social club established in 1910, in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded by Pauline Revere Thayer, the club was intended in part as a counterpoint to the Mayflower Club. The club was named after Mary Chilton because she had been the first woman to step out of the Mayflower. The club occupies a large red brick building on Commonwealth Avenue, designed in 1870 by architect "Henry Richards of the firm of Ware and Van Brunt." (However, some claim the building was designed by architects Peabody and Stearns.) The building has been altered and expanded over the years."On May 18, 1910, the Chilton Club applied for (and subsequently received) permission to significantly remodel and expand the house, including removing the original third floor, with its mansard roof, and adding three additional floors, two of brick and the third "in roof." They also received permission to construct an addition at the rear, 38 feet by 18 feet 9 inches, five stories high above the basement, four of brick and one "in roof." The Club retained the firm of Richardson, Barott, and Richardson, and the work was overseen by F. L. W. Richardson, son of the noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson. The addition was completed in February 1911. ... On May 28, 1926, the Club acquired 150 Commonwealth, which had remained in the Baker Estate until the previous year. They remodeled the house, combining it with 152 Commonwealth." Some early members included:

The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, the brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, which detonated 14 seconds and 210 yards (190 m) apart at 2:49 p.m., near the finish line of the race, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others, including 17 who lost limbs.Three days later, April 18, 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released images of two suspects. They were later identified as the Tsarnaev brothers, who were Chechen Kyrgyzstani-Americans. Following their identification, at 10:35 p.m., they killed a MIT policeman. At 11:00 p.m. they kidnapped a man in his car. At 12:15 a.m., April 19, the man escaped. At 12:45 a.m. they had a shootout with the police in nearby Watertown, during which two officers were severely injured (one of whom, DJ Simmonds, died a year later). Tamerlan was shot several times, and his brother Dzhokhar ran him over while escaping in the stolen car. Tamerlan died soon after. An unprecedented manhunt for Dzhokhar ensued with thousands of law enforcement officers searching a 20-block area of Watertown. Residents of Watertown and surrounding communities were asked to stay indoors, and the transportation system and most businesses and public places closed. Around 6:00 p.m., a Watertown resident discovered Dzhokhar hiding in a boat in his backyard. Dzhokhar was shot and wounded by police before being taken into custody.During questioning, Dzhokhar said that he and his brother were motivated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that they were self-radicalized and unconnected to any outside terrorist groups, and that he was following his brother's lead. He said they learned to build explosive devices from the online magazine of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He also said they had intended to travel to New York City to bomb Times Square. On April 8, 2015, he was convicted of 30 charges, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. Two months later, he was sentenced to death, though in July 2020, this sentence was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. On March 22, 2021, a writ of certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court of the United States, which considered the questions of whether the lower court erred in vacating the death sentence. The Supreme Court heard arguments on October 13, 2021, as United States v. Tsarnaev; on March 4, 2022, the Court upheld the death penalty, reversing the First Circuit Court's decision.