Boston's Financial District chronicles the steady change from a romantic neighborhood to numerous banking and business houses. It was originally known as Old South End and was a residential site of elegant mansions designed by Charles Bulfinch and located on tree-lined squares and streets that emulated the aristocratic boroughs of London. The photographs in Boston's Financial District show evidence of the destruction wreaked by the Great Boston Fire of 1872 and the rebuilding of Boston's center of commerce. With its well-known banks and businesses, the financial district has witnessed some of the most monumental and influential historical changes in the city of Boston.