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Founded in 1936, the country’s oldest non-collecting contemporary arts institution rewards its visitors with challenging, cutting-edge exhibitions. Over the years, the ICA has shown video installations, customized cars, and even blowtorches by internationally celebrated guest artists. Another ICA endeavor is its Vita Brevis program, which introduces works of contemporary art into public spaces around the city.

This Fenway museum, in a faux Venetian palace, represents the exquisite personal tastes of its founder, Isabella Stewart Gardner, who was one of the country’s premier art collectors at the end of the 19th century (see Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum).

This nine-story white pyramidal building designed by I. M. Pei in 1977 stands like a billowing sail on Columbia Point, as inspiring as the president it memorializes. Inside, the 1,000 days of the Kennedy presidency are recreated in more than 25 exhibits. Kennedy was the first president to grasp the power of broadcast, and video exhibits include campaign debates and coverage of Kennedy’s assassination and funeral.

The New England Conservatory of Music’s 1,013-seat concert hall opened in 1903 and underwent an $8.2 million restoration in 1995. Musicians frequently praise its acoustics, heralding Jordan “the Stradivarius of concert halls.” Hundreds of free classical concerts are performed at this National Historic Landmark hall every year (see New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall).

The first Anglican Church in Puritan Boston was established in 1686 to serve the British Army officers. When the majority of Anglicans fled Boston along with retreating British forces in the evacuation of 1776, the chapel became the first Unitarian Church in the New World. The church is known for its ambitious program of classical concerts.

The network of short streets connecting Washington and Tremont streets has, in recent years, assumed a new identity as the Ladder District. Once derelict and abandoned after dark, the area now throbs with clubs, bars, and restaurants. Anchoring the new district, the Millennium Tower houses the ultra-chic Ritz-Carlton Boston Common (see Ritz-Carlton Boston Common) and the top-of-the-line Loews Cineplex (175 Tremont St). A few stalwarts, such as the landmark used-book seller, Brattle Book Shop, are holding out against the moneyed big boys.

Peaceful, leafy Lexington Green, surrounded by high-spired country churches, marks the first encounter of British soldiers with organized resistance by American revolutionaries. The rebels fortified their courage for the confrontation with a night of drinking at the adjacent Buckman Tavern (1 Bedford St).

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow can be credited with helping to shape Boston’s – and America’s – collective identity. His poetic documentation of Paul Revere’s midnight ride (see Paul Revere (1735–1818)) immortalized both him and his subject. In 1837, Longfellow took up residence in this house in the country’s academic heart, a few blocks from Harvard Yard. He was not the house’s first illustrious resident. General George Washington headquartered and planned the 1776 siege of Boston in these rooms. The building is preserved with furnishings of Longfellow’s and Washington’s heydays, and houses the poet’s personal archives.