Back Bay Infill and Small Developments

mssrro said:
2/2:


97 Newbury Street (Demolition & Replacement)






397-399 Commonwealth Avenue / 446 Marlborough Street (Marlborough St. Addition)





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What's the story behind this last one? I used to live nearby and never understood what was up there.
 
curcuas said:
What's the story behind this last one? I used to live nearby and never understood what was up there.
Click to expand...

It's been a one-story annex to 397-399 Commonwealth ever since the property was built in 1925. In 1988 the Frederick Ayer Mansion next door built out a chapel expansion that extended onto the lot - both properties were owned by the Trimount Foundation at that time. In 2021 the two buildings were sold to the current ownership, which is now seeking to renovate both.



 

Possible rooftop dining atop old New England Life building approved​

Rendering of proposed rooftop deck


“The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the owner of 501 Boylston St. in the Back Bay - once home to the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. - to replace a current rooftop structure housing building equipment with a new restaurant and office space with an outdoor patio.

Like the current "mechanicals" structure, the new glass-enclosed area at the top of the ten-story building would largely not be visible from the street, according to Yari Sanchez, attorney for the building owner Nuveen.

The board formally voted to approve "a change of occupancy to include Restaurant use on 11th floor," although Sanchez said that if that doesn't work out, Nuveen could turn the new interior rooms into an "amenity space" for building tenants……”

www.universalhub.com

Possible rooftop dining atop old New England Life building approved

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the owner of 501 Boylston St. in the Back Bay - once home to the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. - to replace a current rooftop structure housing building equipment with a new restaurant and office space with an outdoor patio. Read more.
www.universalhub.com www.universalhub.com
 

Private elementary school in the Back Bay wins approval to expand into second building around the corner​

Learning Project renderings


“The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the Learning Project Elementary School to add to its on Marlborough Street with a second building around the corner at 263 Clarendon St., a former lodging house that will be turned into a building with more classroom and office space.

Head of School Justin Hajj said the K-6 school, founded on Marlborough Street in 1973, has been looking for more space nearby for ten years, both to bring its kindergarten - now housed in space leased at a local church - in house and to provide more classroom space for upper grades and offices for school staff.

"Nothing quite worked for us," and the school got to the point of considering selling its current home and moving to a larger builidng in a "different, less expensive neighborhood," he said. But then the school learned the lodging house might be for sale, he said. Suffolk County Registry of Deeds records show the small school - roughly 118 students in total - purchased the building for $5.5 million in April, 2023…..”

 
stick n move said:

Possible rooftop dining atop old New England Life building approved​

Rendering of proposed rooftop deck


“The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the owner of 501 Boylston St. in the Back Bay - once home to the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. - to replace a current rooftop structure housing building equipment with a new restaurant and office space with an outdoor patio.

Like the current "mechanicals" structure, the new glass-enclosed area at the top of the ten-story building would largely not be visible from the street, according to Yari Sanchez, attorney for the building owner Nuveen.

The board formally voted to approve "a change of occupancy to include Restaurant use on 11th floor," although Sanchez said that if that doesn't work out, Nuveen could turn the new interior rooms into an "amenity space" for building tenants……”

www.universalhub.com

Possible rooftop dining atop old New England Life building approved

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved plans by the owner of 501 Boylston St. in the Back Bay - once home to the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. - to replace a current rooftop structure housing building equipment with a new restaurant and office space with an outdoor patio. Read more.
www.universalhub.com www.universalhub.com
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I love this. Anything that brings new life to the city is great - - like an increased oxygen supply. A more lively city is a better city! Hopefully, this will serve as a model template for future copycats all around town.

.
 
4/13

It's been a long time coming but it looks like 392, 396, and 400-402 Boylston Street are all being demolished. 392 and 396 Boylston had been built in 1861; 400-402 Boylston in 1908.

I realize that from a financial perspective it probably made the most sense to tear these down and start anew, but I can't help but feel a bit melancholy about the disappearance of buildings that had existed since the Civil War. They were obviously in very poor shape by their end, but they were two of the last remaining vestiges of a grand block of stately rowhouses that once stretched as far as the eye could see on the southwest side of the Public Garden. Now, 410 Boylston is the sole piece of evidence those fine Victorian residences ever even existed. Nothing lasts forever in a city but it does feel like a tiny bit of history lost.


1866




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1869




--------


1920




--------


1941




--------


ca. 1954-1959






--------


2026






 
mssrro said:
4/13

It's been a long time coming but it looks like 392, 396, and 400-402 Boylston Street are all being demolished. 392 and 396 Boylston had been built in 1861; 400-402 Boylston in 1908.

I realize that from a financial perspective it probably made the most sense to tear these down and start anew, but I can't help but feel a bit melancholy about the disappearance of buildings that had existed since the Civil War. They were obviously in very poor shape by their end, but they were two of the last remaining vestiges of a grand block of stately rowhouses that once stretched as far as the eye could see on the southwest side of the Public Garden. Now, 410 Boylston is the sole piece of evidence those fine Victorian residences ever even existed. Nothing lasts forever in a city but it does feel like a tiny bit of history lost.


1866




--------


1869




--------


1920




--------


1941




--------


ca. 1954-1959






--------


2026






Click to expand...
Fucking piece of shit, serial-abusing bully, Sam Hassan, will no doubt make money on deliberately letting the site deteriorate for 20+ years. Disgusting.
 
mssrro said:
2/2:


97 Newbury Street (Demolition & Replacement)






397-399 Commonwealth Avenue / 446 Marlborough Street (Marlborough St. Addition)





Click to expand...
mssrro said:
12/13:

In addition to these two projects, 344 Newbury Street was also fenced off for interior work. Yeti is opening a new retail location here in the space that was formerly occupied by Roots.


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256-260 Newbury Street (Residential/Retail to Office/Retail Conversion)




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397-399 Commonwealth Avenue / 446 Marlborough Street (Marlborough St. Addition)

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Were still capable of building great things. Imagine if we built a lot more of these type of things each year vs a lot of the crap.
 
mssrro said:
4/13

It's been a long time coming but it looks like 392, 396, and 400-402 Boylston Street are all being demolished. 392 and 396 Boylston had been built in 1861; 400-402 Boylston in 1908.

I realize that from a financial perspective it probably made the most sense to tear these down and start anew, but I can't help but feel a bit melancholy about the disappearance of buildings that had existed since the Civil War. They were obviously in very poor shape by their end, but they were two of the last remaining vestiges of a grand block of stately rowhouses that once stretched as far as the eye could see on the southwest side of the Public Garden. Now, 410 Boylston is the sole piece of evidence those fine Victorian residences ever even existed. Nothing lasts forever in a city but it does feel like a tiny bit of history lost.
Click to expand...
As always, super helpful post and I agree it's a shame these have to go with all the history there. While being a private property rights purist, I do think it benefits the public for some element of the state to either force a sale or use eminent domain to seize these types of buildings when they're left to rot for decades on end. It's tough to stomach all of the (reasonable) limitations on changes and additions to various landmark areas of the city, but allow owners to let their prize pieces of architecture decay to the point where we need to surround them with scaffolding so someone doesn't die from a tumbling roofline.

Not sure what can be done about this (and outside of this building and the Sahara in the South end, how many examples are even left) but it really diminishes the quality of one of the most important blocks in the city when one guy can destroy history this way.

Anyways, hope the replacement is pleasant and reasonable infill. Some good Back Bay examples recently and some not-so-good ones.
 
mssrro, great post on the history of the buildings!

One thing I'd point out, the good looking recent infill buildings in the Back Bay highlighted by stick n move are all located in the landmark district which has a much more involved design review process. Everything on the south side of Boylston is not in the landmark district so I don't have high hopes for whatever is built to replace these buildings. I would think they will likely be worse than the Druker building that replaced the Shreve Crump and Low building and that's not much of a high bar.
 
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