Boston Properties Office Tower | 888 Boylston Street | Back Bay

Thank you. Abysmal placement of this box turd. One of the top 10 tragedies in the recent history of Boston. This thing will need to be photoshopped out tens of thousands of otherwise, great pictures.

Maybe it would have been ok in the Seaport, or sitting in the rail yards in Cambridge. The overwhelming interraction is on the outside, so frankly i don't care what it achieves on the inside. A terrible mistake. wtf.
 
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Lobby is lit - I assume this is the lobby. Looks like it steps up to the second floor office lobby/retail.


 
odurandina said:
One of the top 10 tragedies in the recent history of Boston.
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I think we at ArchBoston sometimes need to be more careful with our words: top 10 architectural tragedies or development tragedies this might be, though I'm sure the gripers on here with better memories than I could make a top 10 list that doesn't include 888 Boylston-- buildings in the Seaport, the Kensington, Waterside Place, and so forth.

But in terms of just straight-up tragedies in recent Boston history, this building is absolutely not in the top 10. We tend, on this forum, to over-state the significance of the bad design of particular buildings, to conflate bad form with actual problems. Boston has some problems, of that I am sure, and 888 Boylston is definitely not a very good-looking building. But top 10 tragedies in recent history it is not.
 
Context can mean a lot and this is right on Boylston st. The Kensington is tucked away and I honestly haven't even seen it in a while now that 45 stuart blocks it. Not even going to complain about the tower, just saying I can understand the gripes here more than some other places due to the context which it is built in. If the Empire State building was built in Beijing it wouldn't look near as good as it does front and center of midtown Manhattan. Just like how this would probably look wonderful if it was built in downtown Worcester.
 
Still find this curious.

kz1000ps said:
14678824148_f5c0e9c4d0_b.jpg
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BeeLine said:
https://flic.kr/p/FPxstt
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timsox6 said:
I think we at ArchBoston sometimes need to be more careful with our words: top 10 architectural tragedies or development tragedies this might be, though I'm sure the gripers on here with better memories than I could make a top 10 list that doesn't include 888 Boylston-- buildings in the Seaport, the Kensington, Waterside Place, and so forth.

But in terms of just straight-up tragedies in recent Boston history, this building is absolutely not in the top 10. We tend, on this forum, to over-state the significance of the bad design of particular buildings, to conflate bad form with actual problems. Boston has some problems, of that I am sure, and 888 Boylston is definitely not a very good-looking building. But top 10 tragedies in recent history it is not.
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TimSox -- Very Well Put :)
 
stick n move said:
If the Empire State building was built in Beijing it wouldn't look near as good as it does front and center of midtown Manhattan. Just like how this would probably look wonderful if it was built in downtown Worcester.
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At the risk of derailing this thread, I have to point out that the Empire State Building predates just about everything in midtown. ESB is the context for all those other buildings, not the other way around.

In my opinion, this building looks good from every angle and vantage point I've seen it. I'm honestly flabbergasted by the criticism. We all know it isn't tall (obviously, the worst sin a building can commit), but it never was going to be. Plans going back decades, it was never gonna be anything more other than a box.
 
fattony said:
In my opinion, this building looks good from every angle and vantage point I've seen it. I'm honestly flabbergasted by the criticism. We all know it isn't tall (obviously, the worst sin a building can commit), but it never was going to be. Plans going back decades, it was never gonna be anything more other than a box.
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I couldn't agree more. Gimmicky wind turbines aside, I think this is one of the 10 nicest buildings that have gone up in the last 5 years. The plaza promises to really animate this end of Boylston and the entrance into the Pru is very nice.
 
I have a hunch that the wood in that (what's the word for a 'baseball hat brim' on a building like this anyway?) is the real deal. Like your hipster neighbor who built a coffee table out of recycled pallets.
 
mea culpa. i suck at talking about why i hate this thing and this message should probably be deleted. but checking out all the photos. it's like a girl that posts too many close ups. and i'm not blaming the photographers at all. it's the building. it's proportions and features are so damn outrageous for this parcel. street level looks good. still, from where i'm sitting, it defies to be photographed. it's like it needs to be framed from a drone at some distance. and then there's how it clashes with so much of the cityscape from so many vistas.
 
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they're installing an outdoor wooden deck in the back along with some turf; no pics at the moment
 
it's like it needs to be framed from a drone at some distance. and then there's how it clashes with so much of the cityscape from so many vistas.
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I live on the Newbury St. side of Commonwealth near the intersection with Fairfield Street and stare at this building everyday. From my daily perspective, it's an interesting contrast with the Pru right behind it. My view of it is pretty "meh" as I find it (as I see the top half of it from my window/roof neither terribly interesting or offensive). That said, it did provide a pretty cool reflection of the MIT fireworks last weekend, so it's got that going for it.
 
As far as 300 foot tall glass boxes, this thing is so bad that it is really good. Nothing on the the bottom is symmetric, and the entrance to Eataly is horrible. The "green wall" is really tacky. Yet...Yet... I think I like it. It is so far from the norm around here that I am inclined to be interested in it. Just put the windmills in and make this the strangest new building in Boston.
 
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