Aerials

[Lrfox]

^touch

 

[briv]

This is exactly why there will never be a 800' tower at the Gateway Center and why all the buildings in the SBW are short.

What's easier? Moving Logan or moving the CBD?

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

You move Logan and the CBD gets less desirable since it is now further from Logan.

It would be easier to move the CDB, just build tall buildings in the Back Bay or turn Dudley Sq into a CBD. Where are you gonna find land like you need for a modern airport anywhere inside 128?

 

[Lrfox]

Is there any way to Infill and change the angle of the runway a bit? Besides the fact that it would be unpopular with the public, is it even feasible? It looks (from the photo) like you could change the angle slightly and move the approach further to the south... far enough from the Gateway site and the rest of the CBD. the SBW would probably still be stubby, but hey, maybe that would encourage more wall to wall density and a nicer human scale.

 

[belmont square]

You'd have to fill in part of the harbor between the airport and Winthrop in order to shift runway 9/27 counterclockwise. And in order to miss the SBW and Gateway, you'd have to shift it far enough that it would be too similiar to the direction of runway 4/22 which would significantly reduce the capacity of Logan. Finally, on departures to/arrivals from the east on the altered runway, you'd be flying across the widest and most heavily populated sections of Winthrop.

I'm not suggesting that any of these reasons can't be trumped by the needs of the CBD, but as van points out it's probably more realistic to identify a satellite CBD somewhere (although the acres of vacant land in the SBW demonstrate that we are not close to requiring that yet).

 

[goody]

Perhaps we can lower some of our goals, in hope of rising others.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/508581524/

I dont think any one would complain about height in the seaport or else where if we got quailty development in the first place

 

[statler]

Arg! Density! No parks! No open space! Truly, that is hell on Earth.

 

[Suffolk 83]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUpTVQLb-1Q

 

[Boston02124]

some aerials form 1987 and one from 2004

2

3

4

 

[Boston02124]

some more I found. I had photograph these in 1988? from some aerials your could get printed at the BRA map center

 

[kz1000ps]

I'd say those aerials are from about 1980. One Devonshire (1983), MGH's Wang building (1984ish), Greenhouse Apartments (1982).. none of them are built yet.

Still, thanks for sharing! I love pouring over old images trying to figure out their exact dates.

 

[Charlie_mta]

Looking at the second aerial of the ones just above: who is the idiot who allowed Spaulding Hospital to be located so it blocks the path to future expansion of rail apacity at North Station? Short sighted!

 

[cden4]

It's too bad Google Maps doesn't have a date selector for the satellite images. It would be very interesting to be able to choose images from different years.

 

[ngb_anim8]

^ That would be cool. But I think it would be even cooler if it were real-time. That would be pretty sweet.

 

[Boston02124]

the maps were photograph in 1980

 

[lawtown]

this is cool photographs you should go pro

 

[Boston02124]

this is cool photographs you should go pro

Thanks but,
I took these photos of a 24x36 sepia sheet you could buy at the BRA map center back in the 80's,these are not mine,I,m sure you can still go the the BRA map center on the 9th floor(If you get get thru the metal detector)and purchase up to date maps,they were $5 each back then! Here's what I did with one of the BackBay.

 

[kz1000ps]

All these are courtesy of the BRA's Digital Atlas. I encourage everyone to rummage around the site, as I'm sure there's plenty more gems to be found.

This first set is from December 1, 1955, starting with the overview image. You can see how the flash client "layers" whatever images you want it to. To the left is a 2001 aerial, to the right dates from 1969 (those are later in this post). You can toggle back and forth at will.

1.

2. Harvard Square

3. Northern Harvard

4. East Cambridge railyards, future site of Northpoint.

5. East Cambridge

6. Kendall Square

7. MIT Central

8. MIT West.. what are those barracks looking structures?

9. Copley Square

10. Future Prudential Center site

11. West Fenway

12. Northeastern

13. Longwood

14. Kenmore Square

15. BU Central

16. BU West... two years after the Braves left town

17. Finally, the old West End

--
--

This other set dates to April 9th, 1969. As you'll notice, coverage differs between the images. For instance, this one shows the Seaport area, but not Longwood or Harvard.

18. Downtown

19. My, oh my.

20. Seaport

21. Back Bay/Copley/South End

22. Fenway/Kenmore

23. Fenway/Northeastern

24. East Cambridge

25. Kendall/MIT

This image has a higher resolution than the 1955 one, so now we'll zoom in, focusing on visible construction projects.

26. Construction sites include 100 Federal and 99 High

27. Arch St. garage and the Five Cents Savings Bank, aka Borders

28. State Street environs

29. Center Plaza and One Boston Place

30. Northern Government Center

31. Yep

32. Mass General

33. South Station. Note how much more of it used to exist

34. Tufts/New England Medical Center ripping apart Chinatown

35. Midtown

36. John Hancock being excavated, and the BPL prepping for the Johnson building

37. Future home of Copley Place

38. 101 Huntington in its infancy

39. Christian Science Center

40. Last one, Kendall Square and the Volpe

 

[jass]

Its sad to see all those rail lines destroyed.

 

[Cojapo]

Wow! Outstanding pics!
So, the logic behind gutting the old West End was.......?