West Roxbury Real Estate
West Roxbury is a family-friendly neighborhood located approximately 30 minutes from Downtown Boston. Despite being a city neighborhood, West Roxbury feels more like a suburb with its single-family homes, spacious backyards, and tree-lined streets. Residents cite the relative affordability of properties there as well as an abundance of parking and green spaces as major draws. The housing stock ranges from traditional colonials to newer condos and apartments. Centre Street and the VFW Parkway are the main thoroughfares running through town, offering quality neighborhood hangouts, including a bakery, coffee shops and number of eateries. Occupying 4.2 square miles, West Roxbury’s 31,000 residents enjoy Brook Farm and Millennium Park, a park created from a former landfill but now home to scenic walking trails and a boat launch along the Charles. Read more about West Roxbury real estate.
West Roxbury Homes & Condos For Sale
More About West Roxbury Real Estate
West Roxbury Location
West Roxbury is sometimes confused with Roxbury but the two neighborhoods are not connected and separated by Jamaica Plain and Roslindale. West Roxbury borders the town of Brookline to the north; the city of Newton to the northwest; Roslindale to the northeast; the town of Dedham to the southwest; and Hyde Park to the southeast. The Needham branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail serves West Roxbury with three stations in the community – Bellevue, Highland, and West Roxbury.
West Roxbury History
Similar to its neighboring communities, West Roxbury is a streetcar suburb that grew with the construction of the West Roxbury branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad as well as the development of electric streetcars. Its acclaimed parks have interesting back stories. Brook Farm, a 179-acre National Historic Site, was once home to an experimental Utopian community in the 1840s which attracted writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and several other notable Transcendalists. The community ultimately faltered but provides acres of enjoyable walking trails today. Nearby Millennium Park was created from dirt excavated from the Big Dig. In homage to the project, the developers call part of the property abutting the shore of the Charles “Dump Shoreline,” despite there being no trace of any waste in the park’s serene grounds.