With a restored and once again functioning 19th-century bronze fountain as its centerpiece, the Friends of the Public Garden and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department hope to revitalize the Brewer Fountain Plaza, the long-neglected gateway to the northeastern corner of the Boston Common.
“It will be a real legacy project,” said Henry Lee, president of the non-profit Friends group. “It will help define the entrance to the Common.”
The fountain was removed from the park in June and is now undergoing a $558,000 restoration, made possible in part by a federal grant from the Save America’s Treasures program. After it is reassembled near the State House – tentatively set for later this fall - the fountain will feature completely restored artwork, as well as a new pump.
In 1867, Gardener Brewer, a wealthy Boston merchant, imported the fountain featured at the 1855 Paris World Fair and placed it on the Common across from his Park Street home the following year. Around 1917, the fountain was relocated to its most recent site near the State House, and in 1974, the surrounding area was reconstructed by increasing the pavement and removing many nearby trees.
Today, the refurbished fountain is merely the first step in the revitalization of the area as proposed by the Brewer Fountain Master Plan, a collaborative effort from the Friends group, the Parks and Recreation Department and the Solomon Fund - a family foundation dedicated to preserving the city’s parks.
If the Master Plan’s proponents win the approval of the Boston Landmarks Commission at a hearing scheduled for this afternoon, they hope to eventually remove the exiting pedestal and raise the level of the plaza to that of the elevated fountain and basin, which would alleviate draining problems and improve access to the structure.
The pavement around the fountain would be reconfigured and reduced, resulting in a 10-percent increase in green space and making room for new trees to be planted. “We want to isolate the fountain, so it’s completely surrounded by trees,” landscape architect Marion Presley said. Victorian-style benches, movable seasonal tables and chairs and additional lighting would also be added to the plaza.
Another component of the Master Plan would reduce the width of the Lafayette Mall, which runs adjacent to Tremont Street, to 20 feet, making it consistent with other walkways on the Common. The flower boxes near Tremont Street would be removed, and benches, a raised planting strip and a historic iron fence installed along the street.
Herb Nolan, associate director of the Solomon Fund, estimates the cost of the entire project at $2.5 million, nearly $900,000 of which he said has already been collected from mostly private donations.
Meanwhile, City Council President Mike Ross, chair of the Special Committee on the Boston Common, is pleased with the plan.
“It’s going to help revitalize and bring new life and activity into the park and become the gateway to the Boston Common,” Ross said. “I think it will bleed into the surrounding areas, including Downtown Crossing.”
Lee of the Friends group agrees with this optimistic prediction for the Common, viewing the Brewer Fountain Plaza project as a major step forward in improving long-neglected areas of the park.
“We’ve been concerned about the deterioration of the Common for a great many years,” Lee said. “What we’re doing now, in a sense, is tackling the problem segmentally.”

Tom McCarthy first painted the iconic neon CITGO sign from the roof deck of his Marlborough Street home around 20 years ago, but he became truly mesmerized by the Kenmore Square landmark in 2002, when he began regularly driving past it on his way to drop his daughter off at the nearby Windsor School.
“I just got intrigued by it then because of the reflection while I was driving,” he said. “It’s a very simple graphic, but it’s always changing.”
McCarthy, the artist-in-residence at NEW ART on NEWBURY, soon launched his after-dark series, featuring the CITGO sign and other Boston landmarks, and began exhibiting the oil paintings and prints at the Back Bay gallery he opened the previous year. To best capture his subject at various times of the day and year, he would photograph the sign from his car and later paint from these images.
Today, 13 original oils and nine prints of his featuring the sign are on display at the offices of the CITGO Petroleum Corporation in Houston, Texas. The company learned of McCarthy two years ago when Altitudes, the in-flight magazine of Excel Airways, published a story showcasing his work.
When asked how many times he has painted the sign to date, McCarthy is at a loss. “I’ve sold a number of them,” he said. “I don’t know how many.”
A native of Saugus and graduate of the Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston, McCarthy spent more than 30 years in adverting, working for the city’s top agencies as a creative director for TV spots. His most noteworthy professional achievements include designing the original tickets for “The Game,” the state’s first lottery, while working for Humphrey Browning MacDougall, but McCarthy has yet to hit the jackpot. “I’ve never won more than $100 in my whole life,” he said.
Not long after he discovered his passion for oil painting, McCarthy noticed the large number of vacancies on Newbury Street after Sept. 11, 2001, and began considering opening an art gallery. He soon struck a deal for a space on Newbury between Gloucester and Hereford streets with Dan Wager, the building owner and a car dealer who offered McCarthy a low rent in exchange for a commission on all art sold at the gallery. “He did better than I did,” McCarthy said.
When Boston-based clothing line Life is Good purchased the building from Wagner in 2003, McCarthy returned to advertising, lured by an offer from TJ Maxx. He continued to paint from home and sell his work until he found the new gallery space for NEW ART on NEWBURY at 244 Newbury St. in May of this year. But the gallery’s future is uncertain, since the building is currently up for sale by its owner, Charles Talanian.
NEW ART on NEWBURY currently features a wide variety of oil paintings, watercolors and photography by McCarthy and around 20 other local artists, as well as a “kids corner” that includes the work of area children. McCarthy first opened the kids corner at the old gallery space to interest his daughter Tommine, now 18, in art, and unlike other artists, kids get to keep 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of their work.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, McCarthy also works from the gallery and encourages everyone who stops by to take part in the creative process. “Parents come in with their kids after dinner and let them paint on my paintings,” he said. McCarthy recently sold a painting that included contributions from eight other people, ranging in age from 6 to 46.
As for whether he’ll eventually grow tired of paining the CITGO sign, McCarthy recalls when he was painting oils of barns in Maine several years ago.
“I got bored and knocked out a CITGO sign in between,” he said. “To steal a quote from BU, ‘London has Big Ben, Paris has the Eiffel Tower and Boston has the CITGO sign.’”
NEW ART on NEWBURY, 244 Newbury St., is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Sundays and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, call Tom McCarthy at 617-460-5930.

Boston Jewish Spirit (BJS), the first Jewish temple in Back Bay history and the only Reform synagogue in central Boston, will inaugurate its fifth anniversary year with two special events at the congregation’s home at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St.
On Sunday, Oct. 18, at 4 p.m., BJS will present a special concert by Julie Silver, one of America’s best loved composers and performers of contemporary Jewish music, and on Friday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m., the congregation will host a Community Sabbath Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving.
BJS began in September of 2004, when Rabbi Howard Berman created a new, alternative High Holy Day experience for the Boston community. Recognizing the need for a progressive, inclusive Reform Jewish experience for a variety of constituencies in Boston’s central neighborhoods, BJS was conceived as a special outreach to interfaith and multicultural families, the gay and lesbian community, urban dwellers and all spiritual seekers interested in an accessible encounter with the liberal ideals and traditions of Reform Judaism.
BJS’ inaugural worship services were held as guests of Arlington Street Church. In June 2005, BJS began a new relationship when Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street, an historic Episcopal parish that shares many of the same progressive spiritual and social values, offered its facilities for the temple’s worship and programs. This hospitality evolved into a close relationship between the two congregations – both sharing the building and a variety of joint programs.
Since 2005, Rabbi Berman has served as Rabbi-in-Residence at Emmanuel, preaching monthly at its Sunday worship. In 2007, BJS and Emmanuel established the new Emmanuel Center as a unique interfaith partnership for shared programs and for the exploration of the intersection of religion, culture and the arts.
BJS has emerged as the leading Jewish presence in the Back Bay interfaith community, working with area churches in shared community service projects, educational programs and such special events as the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. The temple also participates in wider community affairs, such as co-sponsoring the annual LGBT Pride Vigil at the New England Holocaust Memorial, and the Interfaith Pride Service.
The entire community is welcome to all BJS Sabbath worship, as well as the Julie Silver concert and the fifth-anniversary service. Worship schedules and concert ticket information are available at bostonjewishspirit.org or by calling 617-262-1202.