Pat Bartevian ’44: A Boylston Street Legacy

Right on the edge of Emerson’s Boston campus sits the antique shop owned and operated by 100-year-old Patricia Bartevian ’44, the College’s oldest alumna.

The antique shop is older than Bartevian herself, as her Armenian father opened it in 1910, five years after immigrating to the US from the Ottoman Empire. Originally located on Charles Street, the shop moved around a few times before settling at its current location at 160 Boylston Street.

Bartevian and her late sister, Priscilla, attended Emerson in the ’40s. “My family is filled with artists [so] it seemed only natural I went to a performing arts school,” said Bartevian.

At Emerson, Bartevian and her sister designed and built sets for theatre performances. They took courses in theatre and radio writing and taught stage design in exchange for tuition. A letter from Emerson reads, “We like your work very much and are happy to have you continue working out your tuition in this manner to the extent that Mrs. Johnstone or Mrs. Kay can use your services.”

To this day, Bartevian believes Emerson is the best performing arts school in the country.

“We had a ball there,” Bartevian said. “Oh, we had a ball.”

After Emerson, she and her sister formed a performance group called The Hickory Sisters. They made it to Hollywood but returned to Massachusetts to help their father with the family business, Bartevian said.

Bartevian’s antique shop contains two rooms plus an upstairs. In addition to her antiques and the jewelry her sister made, the rest of the items in her store are consignment. Today, as the last living member of her family, she’s establishing the Bartevian Nonprofit Family Trust, so that her legacy—and that of all the Bartevians—will continue to live on.

In the meantime, Bartevian said she continues to enjoy helping people who visit her shop. “With every person you help, you are helping yourself,” she said.

“I find people absolutely fascinating,” she added. “Each person is so unique and different.”