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When you're driving down Comm. Ave between Packard's Corner and Kenmore Square
you ever notice these huge windows, big wide open spaces, on the first floor?
And you ever wonder what were those big wide-open spaces used for?
Well, the answer is, they were showrooms.
At one point this used to be called Boston's "Automobile Row."
That's because at its peak this stretch of Commonwealth Avenue was home to more than
100 car dealerships and auto-related businesses
from Rambler, Ford, Packard, Pontiac, Buick,
Cadillac, General Tire, Shell, Cottage Farm Motors, Locomobile, Hupmobile, Pierce-Arrow, Nash,
and all sorts of companies, many of which are no longer are with us.
Over time property in the city became more scarce and more expensive.
The rents rose. So, most of the dealerships moved out of the city.
Only a few today remain.
On the street you can still see the signs, literally.
Near Buick Street, the College of Fine Arts was once the Noyes-Buick dealership.
At that time the Buicks were visible in the showroom through these mammoth arched windows
which are now covered up by cement blocks and ivy.
Here in the Stone Gallery this was a showroom.
The ceilings and the columns are all original.
And if you look carefully, the gargoyles are actually mechanics and motorists with steering
wheels and wrenches and tires.
Well here we are at Packard's Corner.
You ever wonder where Packard's Corner got its name from?
Alvan T. Fuller, who is considered the founding father
of Boston's Automobile Row, he had his Packard dealership here.
However, the name is actually a coincidence.
Packard's Corner actually got its name from Packard's Stable which is a horse stable and
riding school in the neighborhood.
So Alvan T. Fuller, who was also the governor of Massachusetts in the 1920s,
he opened another dealership at 808 Comm. Ave
where he sold Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles,
and that was the most opulent dealership on Comm Ave.
Today it's the BU College of Fine Arts gallery, but all the marble floors and the detailed
ceilings are all original.
The coolest remnant of this building's past as a Cadillac dealership
isn't apparent from the outside.
This concrete ramp goes through the core of the building from the first to the fifth floor,
and you can still drive up it all the way to the fifth floor.
The monorails in the ceiling were used to transport motors,
and there's still an old Ford hanging out up in fifth floor.
Oh, there it is.
So there have been a lot of changes on Comm. Ave over the years,
but the remnants of the old Automobile Row are still with us if you look closely enough.
So think about that next time you see the Citgo sign, the artwork at the 808 gallery.
The next time you pass through Packard's Corner.