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Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

's High Spine is an

architectural plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

ning design that arose in 1961, designed by the Committee of Civic Design, part of the

Boston Society of Architects The Boston Society for Architecture (formerly known as the Boston Society of Architects) (BSA) is a nonprofit membership organization committed to architecture, design and the built environment. History On June 20, 1867, approximately 50 archi ...

. The basic idea of the High Spine is to create a string of

skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

that runs from Massachusetts Avenue to the

Fort Point Channel Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel adjacent to Boston, Massachusetts. The channel separates South Boston from Downtown Boston and feeds into Boston Harbor. The channel is surrounded by the Fort Point neighborhood, which is also named a ...

, traversing the southern

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...

between Boylston Street on the north and Huntington Avenue and Columbus Avenue on the south. The spine then heads eastward, between the

Boston Common The Boston Common is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by five major Boston streets: Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charl ...

and

Downtown Crossing Downtown Crossing is a shopping district within Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located east of Boston Common, west of the Financial District, south of Government Center, and north of Chinatown and the old Combat Zone. It features la ...

areas to the north and the Bay Village and

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

neighborhoods to the south, and including the campuses of

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

and

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

. It then enters the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

and Government Center areas before ending with a string of

transit oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...

projects near

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtr ...

. Practically all of Boston's skyscrapers are located along this roughly 2 mile (3.5 km) corridor. The western part of the corridor follows an area along and directly north of the

Massachusetts Turnpike The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially the "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a controlled-access toll road that runs concurrently with Interstate 90 (I-90) in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It the longest Interstate Highway in Massachu ...

that was extended along the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The mainline is currently used by CSX for freight a ...

tracks and includes some former rail yards. With development concentrated along the spine, the nearby residential neighborhoods such as Beacon Hill could retain their historic low-rise character, and it gave the city a distinctive skyline that acts as a visual reference for one's location within the city.

Buildings of the High Spine

Two peaks of the High Spine, the

John Hancock Tower The John Hancock Tower, colloquially known as the Hancock, is a 60-story, skyscraper in the Back Bay neighborhood of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The pinnacle height (including antennas) is . Designed by Henry N. Cobb of the firm I. M. Pe ...

and the

Prudential Tower The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, the Pru,subscription required The Pru' everyone calls it: a resigned shrug of a name, as flat and uninflected as the wan moue its pronunciation requires." is an Interna ...

are found in Boston's

between Massachusetts Avenue and Arlington Street. Others include

One Dalton One Dalton is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third tallest building in Boston, the tallest residential building in New England, and the tallest building constructed in the city since Hancock Place in 1976. It is located in ...

111 Huntington Avenue 111 Huntington Avenue is a skyscraper on Huntington Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Prudential Center complex that also houses the Prudential Tower. Completed in 2002, the tower is tall and houses 36 floors. ...

500 Boylston Street 500 Boylston Street is a 1.3-million square foot postmodern architecture, postmodern building located in the Back Bay, Boston, Back Bay section of Boston and part of the city's High Spine, completed in 1989. It is located next to the landmark Tr ...

and the

Berkeley Building The Berkeley Building (also known as the Old John Hancock Building) is a 26-story, building located at 200 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is the second of the three John Hancock buildings built in Boston; it was succeeded by ...

, which are all visible from outside the city. Boston Back Bay skyline by Chris Rycroft

Skyscrapers in Boston Architecture of Boston Urban planning in the United States City plans 1961 in Massachusetts