This summer, we are excited to welcome back our public restrooms on Boston Common for the first time since 2019, featuring a mural wrap by Boston-based visual artist Silvia López Chavez. A colorful celebration of our return to enjoy the city outdoors again, emerging from a tragic year, a restart of our social lives together.
Dominican-American visual artist Silvia López Chavez uses art as a vehicle for connection. Her work has received recognition through awards, residencies, and commissions including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Children’s Museum, New England Foundation for the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. Silvia’s work is held in the private collections of Twitter, Google, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Barr Foundation.
The trailers feature:
- 3 women’s stalls and a sink
- 2 men’s stalls, 3 urinals, and a sink
- 1 ADA restroom with 1 toilet, 1 urinal, and a sink
- Security person on site, in a kiosk next to the unit, during hours of operation
The restrooms will be cleaned every 4 hours, and regularly pumped out. Hours of operation will be from 7:00am-9:00pm. We placed sod in front of trailer this year and bark mulch on the side and rear to reduce mud and wear.
The restroom trailer is located along MacArthur Mall, halfway between the Charles/Beacon entrance to the Common and the mid-block crossing of Charles Street. This location allows the unit to be used by Public Garden visitors as well as visitors to the Common, and is adjacent to the necessary electrical hookup.
The Friends wishes to thank the Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust for their very generous gift to fund this program that increases the availability of restrooms on the Common, given the great need in our parks for such facilities.