Historic Boston: Museum of the NCAAA

photo tagged "Bostonist" by flickr user discoverroxbury

Have you been to the MFA since they’ve opened their Fenway entrance? We love it, except for one thing - the giant baby head statue on the lawn. It freaks us out a little bit. Maybe it’s just us, but giant baby heads aren’t our lawn ornaments of choice.

It turns out that the MFA isn’t the only Boston museum with a statue of a giant head on their lawn. The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA) in Roxbury has one as well, and we like theirs much better. This sculpture by John Wilson is powerful, and the one at the MFA is, well, kind of creepy.

Located at 300 Walnut Avenue in Roxbury, the building that houses the Museum of the NCAAA is a rare example of a High Victorian Gothic-style mansion in Boston - there are only a few in the city. The mansion, built in 1872, was originally called Abbotsford. It was built by Aaron Davis Williams, Jr., who founded Boston Leadworks in the 1860s. Williams built the mansion on his family’s estate, which was a large farm estate known for its orchards in the 18th and 19th centuries. The mansion was sold to the City of Boston in 1923, and it served as a disciplinary school for boys until 1975. The NCAAA took over the mansion the following year and turned it into a museum.

This weekend is a good time to visit the museum, as they’re about to transition from one set of exhibits to another. Two of their current exhibits—one featuring the work of Fritz Ducheine and the other called the UBUNTU Quilt by Artistic Noise, an arts program for teenagers in the juvenile justice system—are only on display through August 2nd. The museum also features a recreation of a Nubian king’s burial chamber, showcasing over 50 artifacts excavated from King Aspelta’s tomb.