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

Nice find Rick!

Whats with the diagonal stripes, though? Is Suffolk actually trying to antagonize Beacon Hill with that pointless, stupid-looking decorative flourish? Way to make an OK building bad.
 
Are those actually on the building? I thought they were just sunbeams, shining through cloud cover.
 
Yeah I think it's computer lighting to make it look cool and futuristic on the rendering, then they build it and everyone says "blahh".

Like any other rendering. Makes it look better than it is.

See also, Columbus tower (although I like the building a LOT, the rendering shows of this angle that makes it look intricate and cool, whereas its just a box)
 
Suffolk dorm hits historic problem
By Scott Van Voorhis
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Suffolk University?s controversial drive to build a 31-story dormitory tower on Beacon Hill hit a major roadblock yesterday.

The Boston Landmarks Commission released a report recommending official historic status for a key portion of a 1930s-era building, which the university wants to demolish to make way for a soaring new student high-rise.

If the commission gives a green light to the report, it could require Suffolk to preserve part of the facade of the longtime headquarters of the now defunct Metropolitan District Commission.

While that does not cancel out Suffolk?s plans, it could greatly complicate them amid intense opposition from Beacon Hill residents to the university?s dorm tower. The university, which already has one new dorm complex in the neighborhood, wants to add a second for another 800
students.

?I think it would be very difficult for Suffolk to get approval to put an addition to the building that would be 31 stories or anywhere close to that,? said state Rep. Marty Walz, (D-Back Bay), whose district includes Beacon Hill.

The recommendation would, at the least, require Suffolk to preserve two sides of the building?s exterior. The ?landmark designation,? if it wins approval from the city commmision next month, would also require an extensive review process before Suffolk could make changes to the building.

The report calls for ?landmark status? for part of the building?s facade based on its connection to the MDC, a groundbreaking government agency, as well as its connection to a distinguished local architectural firm.

Suffolk insisted it will push forward with its project.

?We believe that we can work with the commission to find a way to
satisfy their interests and move the project forward,? said John Nucci, vice president for government and community affairs at Suffolk, in a statement.
 
The building in question:

20SomersetDistant-01.jpg


20SomersetFront.jpg


20SomersetFacade.jpg


Somerset.jpg
 
The Custom House put a tower on top of something much older; it's not unprecedented. Exchange Place is a more recent example of grafting a new skyscraper onto an old fa?ade. And we're all looking forward to the South Station Tower.

Consider this an opportunity for creative redesign.
 
Are all those air conditioners part of the historic facade?
 
original design

This was the original design...in my opinion, a far sight better than either the CBT proposal or the existing building.

As for the landmark status...

Ron, you might have a point- if money was not an object and this building was of significant architectural merit. In this case, neither is true. The fact is, the city has demanded that the colleges of this town house their students in dormitories. The city has to back the college in this case, or it might as well totally rescind that instruction, because no dorm proposal will win universal support.
 
So from the sound of things, because the building is not that historic (it's sort of nice but certainly not the nicest pile of bricks around... and appears not in pristine condition and also apparently does not have central air...) and because of unrelated opposition to the dorm building, this is basically an abuse of the landmark system?
 
One does have to wonder why this would be considered worthy of historic preservation, but the Gaiety Theatre was not.
 
Not so fast.

According to the latest Courant, The Boston Landmarks Commission have, much to my bewilderment, recommended that the former MDC HQ be given landmark status.
 
If they end up scrapping this tower and saving the MDC building, I will be upset to say the least. The MDC building isn't worthy of stopping this project. Sickening.
 
Suffolk keeps growing: Enrollment rise spurs dorm need
By Jay Fitzgerald
Boston Herald General Economics Reporter
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Suffolk University says its controversial proposal for a new 800-student dorm on Beacon Hill is largely meant for existing students.

But that?s also what Suffolk said five years ago about a new dorm it was building that was supposed to keep students on campus and out of the neighborhood. And even as it was building the dorm, Suffolk was adding students at a faster rate than other universities in Boston.

Between 2000 and 2004, Suffolk?s enrollment soared by a whopping 20 percent campus-wide and by 30 percent in the number of undergraduates, according to numbers obtained by the Herald.

And Beacon Hill residents, who oppose construction of the latest dorm, say they?ve seen numbers that are even higher for fast-growing Suffolk, which is trying to transform itself from a largely commuter college to a full-time residential school.

?Suffolk is growing very aggressively,? said David Thomas, treasurer of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, which opposes the new dorm on the grounds it will simply attract more rowdy students into the neighborhood.

?Growth is important to (Suffolk),? said Thomas, who?s also serving on a mayoral task force looking into Suffolk?s neighborhood housing issues.

Suffolk University officials didn?t get back to the Herald with data and comments on enrollment figures.

But data provided by the New England Board of Higher Education show Suffolk?s enrollment growing much faster than other major city colleges.

In 2004, there were 8,332 overall students at Suffolk, up nearly 20 percent from 2000, according to the latest NEBHE numbers.

In 2004, there were 4,341 undergraduates, up 29 percent from 2000. Undergraduates are the heart of the current feud on Beacon Hill, with residents saying young and immature students hold loud late-night drunkfests in private apartments across the neighborhood.

In 2001, when Suffolk successfully pushed for a new 400-student dorm on Somerset Street, a Suffolk official flatly said, ?Suffolk has no plans to increase enrollment,? according to published reports.

But stats show just the opposite occurred - with undergraduates enrollment alone growing by 30 percent, or nearly 1,000 students, since 2001, according to NEBHE numbers.
 
Fact is, when the the BLC recommends a building become a landmark, a building becomes a landmark. So those renderings shown earlier in the thread will never become a reality.

The fix is in. The the whole preservationist movement in Boston has become nothing more than a collection of architectural packrats and tools of special interests. The BLC has revealed themselves as the latter.

As Ive said before, a real preservationist ensures that what is worth keeping stays, what's unimportant and insignificant goes, and whatever new is built is worth preserving. There are far, far too few of these in Boston these days.
 
Is the building being landmarked, or just some or all of the fa?ade? (See Exchange Place, or Kennedy's Department Store, to see the difference this can make.)
 
That Herald article is fascinating. It makes it sound like Suffolk is pulling a fast one by growing its enrollment. And there's an implication that it should be reigned in because, otherwise, its going to keep building MORE buildings. The horrors!
I didn't go to Suffolk, but I'm guessing it costs money to go there. Money that is spent paying for services and salaries. Money that often comes from outside the city. Money that doesn't fluctuate significantly with economic cycles. That's good money! Besides biotech, Boston doesn't have all that many booming industries. Shouldn't the city be doing everything it can to encourage the growth of academic institutions? Suffolk seems on a hard tack towards becoming a highly regarded university and it's investing huge sums in Boston. I think people that oppose that kind of growth should be water-boarded in the Charles.
 
DarkFenX said:
?Suffolk is growing very aggressively,? said David Thomas, treasurer of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, which opposes the new dorm on the grounds it will simply attract more rowdy students into the neighborhood.

?Growth is important to (Suffolk),? said Thomas, who?s also serving on a mayoral task force looking into Suffolk?s neighborhood housing issues.
Click to expand...

I wonder what Mr. Thomas would think if these were Harvard students? Harvard warehouses all its kiddos in dorms, yet oddly, I wouldn't call the sections of Cambridge around Harvard a student ghetto. Maybe putting students in big dorms, rather than forcing them to rent neighborhood housing, actually improves a neighborhood.
 
Fact is, when the the BLC recommends a building become a landmark, a building becomes a landmark.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. The Mayor has veto power, and this power has been exercised by Mayors previously.
 
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