Photos by Robin Berghaus and BU Photography In 1962, the Clark & White Lincoln Mercury dealership (right) resided where Alvan T. It included assembly, storage, and repair facilities, as well as offices. Marchione, a member of the Brighton-Allston Historical Society and author of four books about Boston.ĭesigned by nationally known architect Albert Kahn, the building Fuller erected at 1079-1089 Commonwealth Avenue-now home to condominiums as well as Supercuts and other businesses at street level-was New England’s first combined auto salesroom and service station. Perhaps, not unlike Eddie Murphy’s character in Coming to America, who travels to Queens, N.Y., to seek his queen, “Fuller may have been tempted to the neighborhood because of the name,” says William P. The site he chose for his big new Packard dealership was a section of Brighton coincidentally named Packard’s Corner-after the nearby horse stable and riding school run by one John D. Fuller cast his eye on large unbuilt tracts that were close to downtown and accessible by trolley.

After decades that saw luxury homes rise in the Back Bay and the Cottage Farm district of Brookline, development had stalled on Comm Ave west of Kenmore Square. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congressīy 1908, Fuller believed the motorcar business was about to outgrow the cramped confines of central city locations such as his stall in the Motor Mart in Boston’s Park Square. Fuller convinced the Detroit-based Packard Motor Company to name him its exclusive dealer in the Boston area. After the turn of the century, he decided to bank on a more expensive form of transportation: automobiles. Fuller was a champion bicycle racer, who at age 17 started a bike shop in his hometown of Malden, Mass. Photos by Robin Berghaus The prince of Packard’s Cornerīorn in 1878, Alvan T. Today, the Boston University Academy (left) building has an aquatic-themed façade (right), a remnant from Shell Oil. On every block now dominated by Boston University’s Charles River Campus, an astute observer can find traces of its automotive past. The miniature mechanics and motorists who gaze down at student artwork from pillars in the College of Fine Arts. The scallop shell sculpted into the façade of the BU Academy-a shell that looks not-so-suspiciously like the Shell Oil logo. Look carefully, and you can still see signs of the area’s former life. Photos by BU Photography and courtesy of Brent Havekost In 1931 (bottom), the building was home to Nash New England Company. The College of Communication (top, pictured in 2008) is at 640 Commonwealth Avenue. At 590 Comm Ave, General Tire and Exide Batteries gave way to the Metcalf Science Center. The College of Communication took over 640 Commonwealth Avenue, where long-forgotten Nash vehicles were sold for three decades. Downtown Boston had its “Piano Row” and its “Newspaper Row.” This was Boston’s “Automobile Row.”ĭuring the latter half of the 20th century, BU bought and repurposed many of these buildings. In the 1920s there were more than 100 such businesses on and near that strip of Comm Ave. And in between lay more than a mile of storefronts selling cars, parts, and accessories or repairing cars. The Star Market by Packard’s Corner was once a Chevrolet dealership. The Kenmore Square building that now houses Barnes & Noble at BU was home to a dealer of Peerless automobiles.

From the bookstore where you buy your required reading to the supermarket where you get your spinach, Commonwealth Avenue was once the place to shop for Oldsmobiles, Studebakers, Chryslers, and many other cars.

Automile dedham