High Street

High Street is a very old street, extending from Winthrop Street at the top of Breed’s Hill, along the west slope of Bunker Hill to Walker Street. The segment of High Street from Walker to Elm Street was set out in the 1790s or early 1800s, and the part south of Elm Street to Training Field (now Winthrop) Street was part of an old road system, the Salem Turnpike, from at least the mid-18th century.

The survey includes thirty-five houses, a former church, and a former hotel, built between 1838 and 1890:

Of two Federal houses, one was built of brick (1810), and the other wood frame (1820).
Thirteen Greek Revival houses, built between 1834 and 1854; two were later updated to the Italianate, and one to the Mansard style.
Two rows, each of seven Italianate/Mansard houses, one of brick (1863), and the other wood frame (1861).
Three brick Mansard houses (1868-81).
A row of three, three-family Queen Anne houses (1886-90).
The former church, now greatly altered and housing The Boys Club of Boston, was built of brick in the Italianate style in 1867.
The former Hotel Salem, built of brick in 1881-2, is now an apartment building.

*Information drawn from Boston Landmark Commission’s Charlestown Historic Resources Study 1981 (E. W. Gordon, Consultant), with the addition of photographs and images from early maps and/or the Mallory Panoramic View of Charlestown, when appropriate.

High Street, view south from Winthrop Street.