Copley Square is perhaps the eity's greatest architectural centre. Here are the Public Li brary, facing Trinity Church. and the Museum of Fine Arts. and the Second Unitarian and the New Old South churches. The library is built of Milford granite, in Italian Renaissance style, and is nearly square, inclosing an open court which contains a fountain by Martig,ny and is surrounded by a fine arcade. Over the main entrance are reliefs by Saint Gaudens, while the interior is richly decorated with colored marbles and mural paintings by •ell-known ar tists, among them Pnvis (le Chavannes, Edwin A. Abbey, and John S. Sargent. The entrance ball leads to a magnificent marble staircase flanked with lions. Statues of Emerson and Sir Harry Vane add to the interior decoration. The Boston Public Library is the largest free circu lating library in the world. It has accommoda tion for 2,50(1,000 hooks and contains about 775,000 volumes, among which are included several valuable special collections, that of Shakespeariana being one of the finest in the world. The general reading-room (Bates Hall) is of spacious dimensions, 42 feet wide by 217 feet long. and extends across the Copley Square front. The churches on this square are worthy examples of ecclesiastical architecture, and, with the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross in 'Washington Street. the First Church of Christ (Scientist). and the First Spiritual Temple (Spiritualist) are perhaps the most strik ing church edifices in the city. The New Old South Church is in Italian Gothic, with a fine campanile and an interior noticeable for its rich marble. Trinity Church, by Riehardson.said
to be the finest church in New England,isa speci men of French Romanesque. It has the form of a Latin cross, and is particularly notable fur its beautiful interior decorations and stained-glass windows. The :Museum or Fine Arts, on the east side of the square, is of red brick, in Italian Gothic style, and is the rcp.sitory of works of inestimable value, the collection of Japanese art and that of antique casts being among the best in the world. other points of interest in various parts of the city are the buildings of the Massachusetts General Hospital. the great Ex change Building, containing the Sloek Exehange Chamber, the Chamber of Commerce, the tall Sears and Ames buildings, the Unitarian and Congregational buildings, the Masonic Temple, Tremont Temple. the Youth's Com pa nioli Build ing. the Natural History Museum, with a library and valuable the Alassachusetts llis torieal Society Building, the Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, and the new buildings of the New England Conservatory of Music.
In Charlestown are the famous Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill. In this section of the greater city the principal points of interest are the Bunker Hill 'Monument, a granite obelisk 220 feet high, which affords from the top an exten sive view, and the navy yard, occupying nearly 90 acres, and containing machine-shops, ship houses, etc., and a large granite dry-dock. Charlestown has also statues of Col. William Prescott and Gen. Joseph Warren, a soldiers' monument, and a monument to John Harvard.