Boston was the subject of the first aerial photograph, a daguerreotype taken from a balloon in 1860.

I have a feeling that the Lechmere station would be just out of the picture, approximately three quarters of the way up, on the right hand side.

Picture taken from the roof of the Samuel Adams School on Webster Street. East Boston looking north by east.

The neighborhood is East Boston, specifically the Jeffries Point section.

The two taller buildings in the top middle and top right are still there:
http://goo.gl/maps/BHyGI

Street in the foreground is Webster Street and the house in the lower right corner is still there (although not look as grand):
http://goo.gl/maps/mzps9

This view is from the waterfront atop the old grain elevator:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/6244491538/

East Cambridge?

That's the Charleston Bridge on the left in the background, so I'm going with East Cambridge looking South-Southeast.

"Here's to dear old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where Lowells speak only to Cabots,
And Cabots speak only to God."

The decidedly middle-class appearance of the neighborhood suggests that one might find beans and cod in most of the kitchens, the latter particularly if it is a Friday, but precious few Lowells and probably not a single Cabot.