City Hall Discussion - Redevelopment - Preservation - Relocation

Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

^ Stop making sense. This is Boston.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

^^^I just have to second this. It's so obvious that it hurts my brain.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

I'd go for that, but developing on City Hall Plaza has some unusual challenges, as both the Blue and Green Lines run under it. You can't just dig it up.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

^^ True. That would certainly drive up development costs for the projects, and given our current credit market I doubt anyone would be interested in developing there. There's just too much uncertainty at the moment.

However, I think selling the Plaza would work in the future.

What are the chances they would be able to get rid of that landscraper that is attached to the JFK Building? I've always wanted that thing to get destroyed.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

Still modern after all these years.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

Indeed. Like Le sacre du printemps executed in concrete.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

And yet it still isn't worth what was lost & torn down to build it.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

Indeed. Like Le sacre du printemps executed in concrete.
Apt description.

Mind if I remember that?



I bet most folks don't like Le Sacre du printemps after, lo, these hundred years.


Some things ask for effort in the eye of the beholder. My local classical music station doesn't play Mahler for that reason. (Depends on listener contributions.)
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

I'd go for that, but developing on City Hall Plaza has some unusual challenges, as both the Blue and Green Lines run under it. You can't just dig it up.

The northbound and loop Green Line tunnels running under the plaza are relatively new (circa 1966) so are structurally sound. The southbound tunnel following the old Hanover Street alignment is the original tunnel, very old, but if Hanover Street were reestablished over that one, there would be no problem. The Blue Line basically runs under State and Cambridge Streets.

Even if the Plaza elevation had to be raised 4 feet to accomodate beams to span the northbound and loop tunnel, the resulting topography would still fit well, and provide a great site for a dense neighborhood of low/high rise buildings and small streets.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

And yet it still isn't worth what was lost & torn down to build it.

Do you mean Scollay Square or Tonality? ;)

Mind if I remember that?

Yours to keep. For me, music and architecture are like peanut butter and jelly.

Some things ask for effort in the eye of the beholder. My local classical music station doesn't play Mahler for that reason.

Mahler can be glorious, but he needed an editor. And a therapist.

Depending on the kind of effort you're willing to make, I find Nielsen and Shostakovitch more rewarding.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

That looks like a good book, statler -- thanks for the tip.

ablarc -- The scale of Mahler's symphonic output isn't really what puts me off of is work. I dissent with his philosophy and methods. It really is a matter of "architecture."

Both Nielsen and Mahler died prematurely due to heart problems. I prefer Nielsen's "solution" to the symphonic "problem." Both composers surely advanced the form, but in different (and in some respects, antithetical) ways.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

I was just walking by Government Center the other day and was again reminded of how poor the whole area is. Just a baron sea of bricks and wasted open space. I don't get why the area can't be redeveloped. The lame circus and other few events held there can easily be moved to the SB waterfront. Plenty of parking lots to take over. It's a short walk from South Station and the Silver Line too.
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

I, too, am concerned about the Sea Baron laying waste to our open space. DOWN WITH THE SEA BARON!
 
Re: Menino Proposes Selling City Hall

I, too, am concerned about the Sea Baron laying waste to our open space. DOWN WITH THE SEA BARON!

YES! And his equally evil twin brother Baron of Grey Matter and their faithful but evil retainers Sir Osis, Sir Ryesis and Sir Render.
 

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