If you’re like me, you often drive past this building at the intersection of Western Avenue, Market Street, and Soldier’s Field Road in Brighton and wonder just what is going on there. The compound itself looks like a combination between a mid-rate mansion and a horse farm, but how can that make any sense? It adjoins a State Police barracks these days, but that doesn’t explain much. My curiosity’s never driven me to look for information about the property, however, until reading that the state has issued a request for proposals for someone to lease and re-use the building as a historic curatorship. That article calls the building the former Charles River Speedway headquarters. So what is, or was, the Charles River Speedway?
Turns out that from 1899 to about 1960, a mile-long horse-racing track operated along the Charles behind Western Avenue, running from Market Street all the way to Harvard Stadium on the stretch of riverfront now bordered by Soldier’s Field Road. According to the linked information from the Brighton-Allston Historical Society, the track (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm) was constructed in large part to stop residents from “driving and racing horse-drawn conveyances” on roads like Beacon Street in Brookline and Brighton Road (the portion of Commonwealth Avenue west of Kenmore Square.) The track was mainly used for harness racing, but also included a bicycle racing course (which would have been great for all the hipsters, bike messengers, and other fixed-gear riders who live in the area today.) Boston.com published a decent photo slideshow a couple of years ago.
The property in question was the superintendent’s office and headquarters, along with a police barracks and stable and a couple of sheds. Per the Boston Business Journal, proposals include special event space, a specialty shop, an inn/bed-and-breakfast-type establishment, mixed-use residential/retail space, and artists’ space. None of those ideas sound as much fun as horse-racing on the Charles, but I suppose the march of progress has an occasional casualty.
Would you watch horse racing on the Charles? What do you want to see in the old Speedway headquarters? Tell us in the comments.
