Into Boston's past, on foot

Mile-long Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea to be dedicated

Boston Harbor has a place in the heart of Norman Leventhal, the force behind the Walk to the Sea: His immigrant grandparents arrived there. (Jodi Hilton for The Boston Globe)

Standing at the end of Long Wharf, Norman B. Leventhal fixed his gaze on the waters of Boston Harbor and reminisced about his 91 years, a life connected as much to the waterfront as to the buildings he developed along its edges.

"This is where my parents and grandparents came in from Europe," said Leventhal, cofounder of Beacon Capital Partners. "It's where we welcomed a lot of people. This spot represents something very important to the city."

To Leventhal, a developer and avid collector of maps of early Boston, the wharf and its connection to downtown represent a history that's worth telling. And so, with help from city planners and historians, he has created a new pathway through the city that commemorates its evolution from a tiny colony atop Beacon Hill to a metropolis.

The new pathway, to be called the Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea, will be formally dedicated by Mayor Thomas M. Menino today during an 11 a.m. ceremony at Long Wharf.

"Norman has contributed to some of Boston's most recognized landmarks, and it is only fitting that our newest landmark is named in his honor," Menino said. "The Walk to the Sea will show the rich history of one of our nation's oldest ports and give visitors a new appreciation for how it developed."

Leventhal was among the generation of developers who rearranged the skyline of post-World War II Boston, particularly during the urban renewal era of the 1960s and 1970s and the building boom of the 1980s. Among the buildings that his Beacon Cos. developed, adding new definition to the downtown, were Center Plaza, Rowes Wharf, and One Post Office Square. He also spearheaded construction of the Post Office Square park.

The route includes eight stations with glass pillars along the streets from the State House to the edge of the wharf. The pillars, which will be illuminated at night, contain copies of maps from Leventhal's collection, images of old photographs, and text boxes that note significant landmarks and explain how they changed over time.

The pillars mark sites such as the former location of the nation's first public high school, Boston Latin, as well as the city's first Anglican church and the theaters that occupied what was once Scollay Square.

The 6 1/2-foot pillars will also mark contemporary changes to the face of the city, such as the Big Dig and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, in an area of the city that used to be under water but was filled in over time as Boston's role as a mercantile center expanded.

"The city was really created out of the sea," said Patrick Moscaritolo, president of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. "The new pathway really does a great job of telling the story of Boston as a harbor front city."

The mile-long Walk to the Sea was initially conceived by urban planner Kevin Lynch in the 1960s, but it did not materialize as a formal proposal until Menino designated a route in 2007, at Leventhal's 90th birthday party. The walk runs along Beacon and Tremont streets and then follows State Street to the water.

During the past year, Leventhal, city officials, and historians from the Bostonian Society have helped to mark the walk and assemble the elements necessary to tell the story of the city's evolution. The project was paid for through Leventhal's Mapping Boston Foundation Inc.

Leventhal, who moves at the pace of a person half his age, served as a naval architect during World War II and in 1946 cofounded Beacon Construction Co., which grew into a major developer of office buildings, affordable housing, and hotels. The current generation of the firm is Beacon Capital Partners LLC, a real estate investment company that is run by his son, Alan Leventhal.

On a recent morning, Leventhal sat with his son in their State Street offices and recalled the development of Center Plaza in Scollay Square in the 1960s, when urban renewal dramatically changed the physical and social fabric of the city.

"That's a transition I actually saw," said the elder Leventhal, who broke ground on One Center Plaza in 1964, across Cambridge Street from City Hall. He noted how the area changed from a warren of tattoo parlors and bars into the extended blocks of Government Center.

It is remembering those transitions - and getting others to appreciate them - that motivated Leventhal to create a pathway to the sea.

"One of the major concerns of my life has been education," he said. "This allows you to see the changes visually and in words. It ties all the elements of the city together."

Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.