Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour: Allston

Visit Harvard is a free mobile app by the Harvard Visitor Center that features a collection of self-guided tours centered around the Harvard University experience. The Visit Harvard mobile app can be downloaded by anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or desktop, to be enjoyed from wherever you might be visiting, whether it’s in-person or from the comfort of your own home.

The Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour is a self-guided tour collection that highlights the local art that surrounds—and beautifies— the Harvard community, from hand-painted murals to sky-high sculptures. The first released tour in the collection focuses on the Allston neighborhood, specifically along the Western Avenue corridor and into the Harvard Business School campus. Not only will you be guided to view these artworks in-person, you'll also learn the history behind each piece as well as the artist who created them. The tour features guided mapping, photos, and audio tracks for convenience and accessibility.

In the near future, we will release the next tour in the collection which focuses on the public art throughout Harvard's Cambridge campus.

This self-guided tour takes place across 27 mapped stops along Western Avenue, including several stops on Harvard Business School's campus. At a standard walking pace, it will take up to 1 hour to complete the 2 mile long tour.

Note that we have also included information about several shorter tour routes in the app. Some of these routes include options that will only take 30 minutes to complete. You can view this information by downloading the Visit Harvard app, navigating to "Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour," and selecting "Allston."

The official tour route begins at the tour stop Evo, located at 395 Western Avenue, Allston, MA 02134. In the app, we've suggested several other routes that begin at other locations, including the Harvard Business School or Barry's Corner.

This self-guided tour takes place on flat terrain (easy grade urban sidewalks) and is mobility-friendly, wheelchair accessible, and stroller-friendly. The self-guided tour also has additional in-app accessibility options for visitors who are visually or hearing impaired, including voiceover and image descriptions.

This mobile tour is designed to be accessed in-person throughout the Western Avenue corridor in Allston. It can also be viewed from the comfort of your own home. Simply download Visit Harvard in the app store, navigate to "Harvard Public Art & Culture Tour," select "Allston," and begin your journey!

You can download the Visit Harvard mobile app on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

For any questions about the Visit Harvard mobile app, you can contact the Harvard Visitor Center.