Atlantic Wharf (née Russia Wharf) | Atlantic Ave | Waterfront

Re: Russia Wharf

ablarc said:
Why bother? They may be oldish, but they're no great shakes.
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I know I was thinking the same thing. I think it would have been a whole lot less expensive to just tear the entire 3 buildings down and then re-create what was there before ? Seems a lot easier to me but I am not an engineer / archietect so what do I know.

LOL ! ! !
 
Re: Russia Wharf

I think the Russia Wharf Buildings are significant for several reasons:
1) sitting on primary history -- site of the Tea Party in 1773
2) secondary history Russia Wharf was the focus of the Maritime Trade between Boston and St. Petersburg Russia -- 1784-1860's Russian raw material {Hemp, Iron, Duck, Tar} was used to build the USS Constitution and rest of the early the maritime Fleet in the late 18th and early 19th Century. Russian goose Quills were used to sign the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. In 1809 there was a Russian Embassy in Boston and 39 ships from Russia docked at Russia Wharf. In 1872, the Great Boston Fire destroyed the structures on Russia Wharf.
3) {the following is mostly adapted from the National Park website www.nps.gov/nr/travel/maritime/rus.htm -- the current buildings were the result of the reconstruction in 1876 of the area from Congress Street including Russia Wharf and across the then new bridge {Congress Street} that connected downtown with the rapidly {1870 - 1890?s} areas in South Boston. {Remember that South Station was built in 1903 to replace a hodge podge of rail lines and stations {7 in all crossing the Fort Point Channel at all manner of angles on trestles from the South and West and Atlantic Avenue had just been laid out on fill left over from the debris from the fire.
4) The City of Boston granted building permits for 518-540 Atlantic Avenue, seven stories high, ?the new Russia Wharf Complex? in 1897 designed in Classical Revival style by Peabody and Stearns ? architect of the Customs House Tower. Rand and Taylor, and Kendall and Stevens, designed the Russia Wharf building located at 270 Congress Street {aka Graphic Art Building} The entire complex was the original once and future mixed use development ? hopefully once again -- notable printing and publishing businesses and other commercial use on the first two floors and light industrial use above.

So you see there is some reason to retain at least the prominent Atlantic and Congress facades of the Russia Wharf Buildings while the tower perches above and behind

This is Boston after all ? not NYC, Las Vegas or even Hong Kong

Westy
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Plus they're some of the only prewar buildings remaining on that side of the Greenway. I'd prefer to maintain something along that stretch that was built before 1970.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Once again

There are some good reasons to retain at least the prominent Atlantic and Congress facades of the Russia Wharf Buildings while the tower perches above and behind

This is Boston after all ? not NYC, Las Vegas or even Hong Kong

Westy
 
Re: Russia Wharf

^^Yes, of course! There is no way we can reproduce those facades without a huge expense and a great deal of architectural talent, both of which seem to be sorely lacking in our world.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Those facades would actually be fairly cheap to replicate today and would last longer without maintenance thanks to better materials and methods of assembly.

However finding an architect, whom is still "dumb" enough to make the building something nice looking in general, rather than aiming to impress his handful of like-minded architect peers while disdaining the general public and its tastes, isn't the easiest thing in the world.

Thank generations of smug ivory tower dwelling theorists and 'architectural porn' aka the ever so fashionable professional printed media post 1945 for ruining for that.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Recreating old styles with new constructions methods always makes the buildings feel like something out of Disneyland, though. Keeping the original fa?ades gives the building a certain character, especially now that it is the only building from that period in the vicinity.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

There is nothing wrong with homage to another great building however.

Many great buildings take a lot of inspiration and often much more from an earlier famous building. A local case in point ? is nothing less than the BPL itself.
Charles Follen McKim {McKim, Mead, and White} designed the BPL in 1888 based on the Renaissance style. The fa?ade was very similar to the sixteenth century Italian Palazzo della Cancelleria, in Rome and the BPL?s arcaded windows resemble those in the side elevations of Alberti's Tempio Malatestiano, in Rimini. Many people think that the nearly contemporaneous Biblioth?que Sainte-Genevi?ve in Paris (built 1845 to 1851) also provided inspiration and details to copy.

However, McKim didn?t just grab details at random as Philip Johnson would do almost 100 years later when he {Johnson} ironically stole his Light brackets from the BPL for both the International Place and 500 Boylston Street. In contrast to Johnson?s ?look what I found,? McKim integrated the various elements into a coherent whole. The BPL is a true masterpiece both on the outside as well as the interior and while borrowing from other sources is truly worthy of the appellation ?Palace of the People?.

Westy
 
Re: Russia Wharf

I definitely agree with you, but there are many ways to pay homage to another building other than rebuilding the original fa?ade...It's too bad they chose to go the Hearst tower route of combining two completely unrelated structures (essentially a modern building on a plinth). And if this building is dumbed down any more it's going to look like Stock Exchange Place...
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Though it doesn't always turn out well, when old and new are combined successfully the sum is usually greater than the parts. And it gives the block a more meaningful biography than simply erecting something new.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

I'm not a huge fan of Exchange Place, but it's preferable to the alternative of just demolishing the entire Old Stock Exchange facade.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

Yeah -- it never works to combine old and new ? especially if the materials, styles or shapes are unrelated

I keep forgetting when did they got around to demolishing the old Greek Revival Customs House to make way for the Peabody and Stearns Tower

And I?m sure glad they got rid of that old red brick Bulfinch Federal-period building before they built the two independent marvelous white modern structures and then demolished those for that massive yellow post-modern structure of the ?New, Newer and Newest Statehouses?

Oh ? really? ? Oh well then -- Never mind!
 
Re: Russia Wharf

taken today

PICT0008.jpg
 
Re: Russia Wharf

That first picture reminds me of a Hollywood 'old west' store front. Just missing two pissed off dudes to duel at high noon.

Pretty amazing that they can [and take the pains to] do something like this.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

The best example of this is 101 Arch St.

The new building itself sucks, but the retained street wall along Summer St really helped preserve the human scale of that section of of the city
 
Re: Russia Wharf

buju b said:
Pretty amazing that they can [and take the pains to] do something like this.
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And in winter too.

statler said:
The new building itself sucks, but the retained street wall along Summer St really helped preserve the human scale of that section of of the city
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I am very happy that they retained the street wall the way they did. Regarding the new building, I think it is a great building. The problem with it is that it should stand next to a building that is taller. Fortunately, the Filene's tower should help it.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

All Floors Demo'd

Photo Taken Jan 17th (Yesterday) from the Observation Deck at 470 Atlantic Ave

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Re: Russia Wharf

Nice shot. Thank you! Berlin, 1960.
 
Re: Russia Wharf

This is my favorite project to watch going up. it's amazing when you're walking by how many people see the current state of the facades and say "that's so ugly, when is it going to be demolished?" My own father (who's worked for 23 years in various spots in the financial district) even commented on it... so i took him home and showed him the renderings and he was amazed.
 
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