PHOTO 1 CREDIT: Liza Meyer

PHOTO 1 CAPTION: Art conservators from Daedalus, Inc. are seen working with crane operators and riggers from Shaughnessy & Ahern last week to reinstall the restored Brewer Fountain on the Boston Common.

PHOTO 2 CREDIT: Penny Cherubino

PHOTO 2 CAPTION: Pictured, left to right, are Herb Nolan, associate director of the Solomon Fund, with Friends of the Public Garden President Henry Lee and Executive Director Liz Vizza.

In anticipation of its milestone 40th anniversary next year, the Friends of the Public Garden gave members a preview of its plans for a completely rehabilitated Brewer Fountain Plaza on the Boston Common during a gala event at the Hampshire House last week.
The centerpiece of the plaza – a bronze fountain that was imported from France in 1867 by wealthy Boston merchant Gardener Brewer – was reassembled at the gateway to the northeastern corner of the Common last week after undergoing a four-month, $558,000 restoration, made possible in part by a federal grant from the Save America’s Treasures program.
The refurbished fountain is the first step towards the revitalization of the area as proposed by the Brewer Fountain Master Plan, a collaborative effort between the Friends, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Solomon Fund - a family foundation dedicated to preserving the city’s parks. The Master Plan also calls for reconfiguring and reconstructing the area around the fountain to create more green space and room for new trees, among other improvements.
Herb Nolan, associate director of the Solomon Fund and a longtime supporter of the Friends group, said the total cost of the project was $3.3 million.
“The design and fountain are already paid for, and we’re 40 percent of the way to completing our fundraising effort [for the remainder of the work],” Nolan added. “It’s a great project to bracket 40 years and look forward to the next 40 years.”
In 2009, the Friends also oversaw the rehabilitation of the statue of Domingo F. Sarmiento on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and did restoration work on the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, located across from the State House on the Common.
To date this year, the Friends have allocated $150,000 of its $250,000 in expenditures for the maintenance of trees on the Common, Commonwealth Mall and the Public Garden. “The trees don’t understand the economy, they need to be cared for every year,” said Henry Lee, president of the Friends group.
The Friends are also continuing work on a digital inventory of the trees in the three parks, which would allow the user to display information about individual trees and provide a new management tool for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, as well.
Meanwhile, Liz Vizza, who joined the organization as executive director in April, said, “The Friends has been the model of stewardship for 40 years and shows that advocacy and partnership are sides of the same coin.”
Established in 1970, the Friends of the Public Garden is a non-profit citizen’s advocacy group that works in association with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department to preserve and enhance the Boston Common, the Public Garden and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

On Thursday, Stephen Score welcomed award-winning artist Dorothy Arnold to his Chestnut Street store. Arnold was on hand for a reception that kicked off an on-site exhibition and sale of her watercolors and drawings that runs through Saturday, Oct. 31.
Pictured, left to right, are Robertson Ward, Dorothy Arnold and Stephen Score.

CAPTION: Beacon Hill Young Professionals at a recent Cocktails on the Hill event.

While the Beacon Hill Young Professionals (BHYP) provides a social network for young people living in the neighborhood, the mission of the fledgling group is to attract a younger demographic to its parent organization, the Beacon Hill Civic Association.
“The idea for the BHYP stemmed from the realization that half of the population of Beacon Hill is young professionals between the ages of 22 and 34,” said Civic Association Chair Lori Bate. “We are lucky to have so many dynamic, energetic individuals in our neighborhood, yet the Beacon Hill Civic Association was not doing a good job of including this group in our activities.”
In June, the Civic Association Membership Committee sponsored its Forum for Beacon Hill’s Young Adults in an effort to recruit a younger demographic to the longstanding volunteer organization. The forum led to a lively discussion that spawned the Young Professionals, with Andrew Berg and Robert Testa, ages 24 and 29 respectively, on board as co-chairs. Testa also served as co-chair of the Friends of Beacon Hill, an earlier incarnation of the Young Professionals. “We changed the name to narrow the focus of the group,” Testa said.
On Aug. 12, the Young Professional sponsored its inaugural event - Cocktails on the Hill, a get-together at Alibi that now takes place at a different area restaurant or bar on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. During the summer, the group held several “BYOB” cocktail parties that made use of the roof decks of members living in the neighborhood. Potluck dinners also take place on the last Monday of every month.
“The response has been absolutely great,” Testa said. “We get 30 or 40 people at each event.”
In addition, he Young Professional organizes impromptu events like small apartment parties and, more recently, a group trip to Head on the Charles that was announced on Facebook shortly before the event. The group is also collaborating with the Civic Association on activities sponsored by the parent group, such as the Fall Neighborhood Clean Up Day and holiday decorating.
Looking forward, the group has established a steering committee, consisting of 10 members, to handle new membership, finances and help coordinate an upcoming series of fundraisers that will benefit a different charity each month. First up is a “chili cook-off” in November to raise money for Malaria No More. “We have some great ideas about charities, and we think that these events will be quite successful,” Berg said.
And while the Young Professionals targets students and professionals between 22 and 34, Testa is quick to point out that the group isn’t limited to that age range and welcomes anyone who is “young at heart.”
“The group is open to all people,” Testa said. “It’s a great way to interact with people you otherwise would never have the chance to meet.”
For more information about the Beacon Hill Young Professionals, visit the group’s Facebook page or www.bhcivic.org or call the Civic Association at 617-227-1922.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin, chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, has announced the selection of Church of the Advent in Beacon Hill as a recipient of a 2009 Massachusetts Historical Commission Historic Preservation Award.
“The Massachusetts Historical Commission is proud to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of this year’s awardees,” Galvin said. “The projects the Commission is recognizing this year are particularly diverse and represent the many creative ways significant historic resources are being preserved across the Commonwealth. I commend the parishioners of the Church of the Advent for this impressive rehabilitation project.”
Designed in 1874 and completed in 1888, the Church of the Advent is a prominent structure in the Beacon Hill Historic District. The Gothic Revival-style church was designed by John Hubbard Sturgis, the renowned Boston architect who was a parishioner of the church. More than 120 years of use amid a busy urban setting left the exterior of the building in need of restoration. Little or no work had been done on the masonry since the church was built, and the exterior was accumulating soot. Pieces of stone were also falling from the walls and the spire. The parishioners of the Church of the Advent undertook a remarkable fundraising campaign, raising $3.5 million to restore the building’s exterior and stained-glass windows. The rehabilitation project fully re-pointed the masonry, replaced damaged sandstone units with sandstone quarried from its original source and carefully restored stained-glass windows. The parish is currently fundraising for an interior restoration.
This is the 31st year of MHC’s Preservation Awards program. Projects are considered annually for awards in the categories of Rehabilitation and Restoration, Adaptive Reuse, Education and Outreach, Archaeology and Landscape Preservation. Individuals are considered in the categories of Individual Lifetime Achievement and Local Preservationist. Secretary Galvin serves as the chair of the 17-member Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Galvin will present the awards at an afternoon ceremony today, Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Massachusetts Archives Building at 220 Morrissey Blvd., Dorchester. The Church of the Advent restoration project is one of 10 projects to be honored.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission is the office of the State Historic Preservation Officer and the State Archaeologist. It was established in 1963 to identify, evaluate and protect important historical and archaeological assets of the Commonwealth. Visit www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc to learn more about the Commission’s programs.