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I would like to be seen as a person suited to the elegant Georgian style.

The truth is that Queen Anne (not actually a Victorian figure) was my kind of girl. I love this pretty stuff.

Turrets, colors, asymmetrical facades, extravagant eaves, and entrances that would never be built today.

Mission Hill, like Jamaica Plain, is loaded with the late Victorian architectural style known as Queen Anne. There doesn't appear to be any special connection between the area and the style, Houses were just being built in a growing city around 1900, and the architectural frolic of Queen Anne was "in."

Mission Hill was long part of Roxbury, a well-known section of Boston. Presently, Roxbury Crossing is one of the boundaries of Mission Hill. Finally recognized as a separate section with its own zip code in the late 20th century, Mission Hill had long been distinctive in its topography, its proximity to Brookline, its location on the Green Line trolley route between Brookline and downtown Boston, and its encompassing of the medical quarter.

The Mission church has its origins in the work of 19th century Irish and German Catholics. From that group, priests (the Redemptorist Fathers) built a wooden mission in 1869. They worked in the breweries that were plentiful in area at that time, and at the nearby quarry. In 1876 the existing, cathedral-like church was built (no towers yet) on the small church site, out of the Roxbury Puddingstone that was mined in the quarry. Go up close to the church and you can see all the little embedded rocks of different colors in the puddingstone, so named because it reminded someone of plum pudding.

Parker and Ruggles: two locally well-known names ~~

Peter Parker was an orchard farmer and landowner. A prominent citizen, his name was eventually given to the area. He married Sarah Ruggles, whose name lives on in Boston with the best-known spot being the MBTA Ruggles station at one side of Northeastern University. Like Mission Hill itself, Ruggles is right next to Roxbury.

A nice park of decent size is indispensable for any place that aspires to call itself livable. Here are a few of my photographs of the Park. Rather than read my attempted paraphrasing of their site, please see the excellent information about the Park at Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services.