Earnings Per Share FN 2 to EPS - Reconciliation to Two-Class Presentation (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2015
Earnings Per Share, Basic, by Common Class, Including Two Class Method [Line Items]
Participating Securities, Distributed and Undistributed Earnings (Loss), Basic	$ 0	$ 5	$ 4	$ 85
Undistributed Earnings (Loss) Allocated to Participating Securities, Basic	1	8	7	91
NI To Common SH Difference Between Two Class And Treasury Method	$ 1	$ 13	$ 11	$ 176
WtdAvg Shares OS Recon Between Two Class and Treasury Method	3,809	69,218	13,477	211,108
Earnings Per Share, Basic, Undistributed		$ 0.00		$ (0.01)

NI To Common SH Difference Between Two Class And Treasury Method

No definition available.

Name:	bpfh_NIToCommonSHDifferenceBetweenTwoClassAndTreasuryMethod
Namespace Prefix:	bpfh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The Weighted Average number of Shares Outstanding Incremental Change Between the Two Class and the Treasury Method

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	bpfh_WtdAvgSharesOSReconBetweenTwoClassandTreasuryMethod
Namespace Prefix:	bpfh_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasicLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The earnings attributable to each security on the basis that all of the earnings for the period had been distributed (to the extent that each security may share in earnings). This is the earnings amount which reflects the participation rights in undistributed earnings of each security.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 66
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=d3e2814-109256

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 60
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=d3e2740-109256

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 65
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=d3e2793-109256

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 60A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=SL5780132-109256

Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 60B
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=SL5780133-109256

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasicUndistributed
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of earnings (loss) distributed and earnings (loss) allocated to participating securities for the basic earnings (loss) per share or per unit calculation under the two-class method.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 60B
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=SL5780133-109256

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ParticipatingSecuritiesDistributedAndUndistributedEarningsLossBasic
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of undistributed earnings (loss) allocated to participating securities for the basic earnings (loss) per share or per unit calculation under the two-class method.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 260
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 60B
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64863997&loc=SL5780133-109256

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsLossAllocatedToParticipatingSecuritiesBasic
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration