Academic Building @ Suffolk U | 20 Somerset Street | Beacon Hill

There are 2 equally bad projects proposed (the Arlington Building and One Bromfield). And the loss of the Dainty Dot was pretty unfortunate (though the replacement is pleasantly not-entirely-godawful).

But this is definitely the worst project under construction. Bang yourself, Suffolk.
 
I forgot who said that razing of the West End hasn't stopped, just slowed down.
 
20 Somerset was a bland old building. I toured it several times...and it was adrift in its new environment. Surrounded by the state buildings it looked out of place and was never really exceptional. This project should have been (and who knows, may someday be with a new mayor) a 20-30 story dorm building. The nimbys on beacon hill like their cousins in Mission Hill , Brighton and everywhere else a college resides, somehow think that opposing all institutional residential construction will somehow make all the students go away. A 500-800 bed dorm here along with a cap on undergraduate expansion would help relieve the problem in both the North End and Beacon Hill.
 
PS...don't blame this on suffolk...this is the fault of uncle Tommy and the nimbys he listened to on the Hill.
 
sidewalks said:
20 Somerset was a bland old building. I toured it several times...and it was adrift in its new environment. Surrounded by the state buildings it looked out of place and was never really exceptional.
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Thank you! Finally a voice or reason in this thread!
 
I don't really follow this logic. Give the new building a few years of wear and I think most would favor the historic detailing of the now demolished building, regardless of how "average" it may have been for it's era. It's still much more urban than the glass box that is being installed on the site.

Why not knock down the Suffolk School of Management just up the street:
http://goo.gl/maps/KYGTl

It's in the same neighborhood surrounded by a newly constructed building on one side and a surface lot on the other. If it has lost it's historical context should we care if it meets the wrecking ball as well?
 
Groundbreaking November 20th. Completion September 2015
 
I'm just curious but I heard Suffolk University is in a substantial amount of DEBT on these buildings that have been built over the last 10 years.

Anybody know any specifics?
 
TheRifleman said:
I'm just curious but I heard Suffolk University is in a substantial amount of DEBT on these buildings that have been built over the last 10 years.

Anybody know any specifics?
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Riff -Suffolk is a private university -- what does it matter to you unless you hold some of their notes

For all you Hate Suffolk folks they, like Emerson have paid for a lot of the renovation of the old theatres on Washington Street -- I presume that most of you agree with those renovations

PS: The old MDC Building was an undistinguished piece of typical governmental intrusive New Deal Era Architecture -- "I'm Big Brother and who are you" -- Good Riddance

It is even inferior to the similar and near by Suffolk County Court House [so-called New Building circa 1936-1938]. Both are far inferior to the much older John Adams Court House and dare I say it even to the Old McCormack P.O. and Court House [circa 1933].

So even in monumental Governmental there are stylistic and humanizing features that make some of them tolerable. Of course the worst of all is Paul Rudolf's incomplete "Charles F. Hurley Building and the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center" -- a monstrous waste of an excellently located city block and much money. Even Boston City Hall is better.

On the other end of the Spectrum of Governmental Architecture in Boston we have:
1) the incomparable BPL
2) the Old State House
3) the Original Bulfinch New State House
4) Old Boston City Hall
5) Boston's temple to Education bureaucracy -- soon to become?
6) or 7) The New Federal Courthouse from the Harborside
 
Suffolk does have more debt than other universities. Hold while I look up the data ...
 
I don't know about debt, but I do know that Suffolk is supposedly still in the black every year. They were trending towards heading for the red, but tried to pull a complete 180 and avoid falling into a deep hole. I'm not too sure how they pulled it off, but I'm still always stunned to see that this project is moving forward. I would think this would put them into the red. Unless they think selling off the properties on Derne St and Temple St will make up for this project.
 
Aside from the law school(fairly mediocre but well known) does Suffolk have any programs of particular note? Are they producing many alums university-wide with the potential to attain the means to give more than a token amount?
 
kmp1284 said:
Aside from the law school(fairly mediocre but well known) does Suffolk have any programs of particular note? Are they producing many alums university-wide with the potential to attain the means to give more than a token amount?
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They have good programs in government (divided into political science, international relations, and ... something else) and economics. I got my double BS in poli sci and econ there. It seems like 90% of local and state level politicians went to Suffolk (either law school, undergrad, or both). Despite the good economics program, the school doesn't consider it to be one of its "top 3" simply because it isn't one of the three programs with highest enrollment. The fact that the school puts enrollment levels ahead of actual quality is kind of concerning. I forget what the "top 3" are -- but I think communications is one. And you can't tell me that Suffolk's communications majors are stellar students on the path to success. They're a bunch of idiots for the most part.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
They have good programs in government (divided into political science, international relations, and ... something else) and economics. I got my double BS in poli sci and econ there. It seems like 90% of local and state level politicians went to Suffolk (either law school, undergrad, or both). Despite the good economics program, the school doesn't consider it to be one of its "top 3" simply because it isn't one of the three programs with highest enrollment. The fact that the school puts enrollment levels ahead of actual quality is kind of concerning. I forget what the "top 3" are -- but I think communications is one. And you can't tell me that Suffolk's communications majors are stellar students on the path to success. They're a bunch of idiots for the most part.
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So, without the intention of sounding insulting, they excel in areas where very few graduates achieve much financial success without having pursued further studies.
 
whighlander said:
Riff -Suffolk is a private university -- what does it matter to you unless you hold some of their notes
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Personally I don't care much about the goings on at Suffolk University but if I lived within a three block radius of any Suffolk property, I would be at least somewhat concerned with their ability to keep the property in good repair and finance future improvements to those structures.
 
I don't think there's a good place to put this story so I'll put it here.

Can you imagine if Suffolk bought this and turned it into a dorm? LOL!

(Ugh; sorry about the huge image; I just wanted to show you what it looks like.)

112220ashburton.jpg


Massachusetts Teachers Association lists its Beacon Hill HQ
By Thomas Grillo, BBJ

The longtime home of the Massachusetts Teachers Association on Boston’s Beacon Hill is for sale.

Located at 20 Ashburton Place, across from the State House, the 8-story building features about 41,000 square feet of office space.

Built, owned and occupied by the MTA since 1968, the teachers union is seeking a short-term sale leaseback.
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More: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2013/11/mass-teachers-association-selling-bldg.html
 
I think its perfect for more student housing. Like I said Boston has transformed itself into the city of College students.
 
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