Charlestown Bridge Walkway

I would also like to show my support for this building. They really don't build 'em like that anymore. Reminds me of when cities used to have some sort of industrial/material output (long before I was born).
 
Padre and all

While not in the same level -- it reminds me a bit of the Chadwick Leadworks -- one of my favorite small builidings in Boston.

I wonder what condition the Leadworks was in before it was restored for use as an office building

Westy
 
The Chadwick Leadworks building was in pretty good shape on the exterior when it was renovated. The issue for both the Chadwick and the warehouse in question is its renewed visibility. The Chadwick became more important to the Fort Hill district when the ATT building and surrounding newer office buildings were created. Also, when the exit ramp from the expressway was torn down and moved in order to build International place, suddenly this end of High Street became prominent once again. The Chadwick found new visibility and could be appreciated both for its historic importance and its architecture.

The warehouse in question, as well as the newly renovated one next door, were mired in obscurity for decades. This was an industrial area that did not invite causual walking, tourists or residents. The polluted mouth of the Charles River was cluttered with a myriad of old wharf posts. The new dam had yet to be built. Views of the warehouses from the street were obscured by lots of "stuff" that has since been removed. There had been little reason to walk around the cluttered area before. The Orange Line emerged from a tunnel in the Bulfinch Triangle and continued to the Charlestown Bridge, which supported the steel overpass for its entire length until it reached the head house at Sullivan Sq. (which had been a beautiful park and residential area before it was sacrificed for the innovation of rapid trasit in the early 20th C.). The Green line similarly darkened Causeway St. The Expressway elevated roads crisscrossed the area, along with multiple ramps and overpasses. A large building next to North Station, torn down for the new tunnel also hid from view these two warehouses. City Square in Charlestown was a dump...a former park had been turned into a wasteland for ramps going between the Mystic River bridge and the expressway. The area surrounding City Sq. looked like Berlin after the war...trash, empty and rotting buildings, vancant lots and few residents. There was little reason to walk from there to the North End, and thus to notice the warehouses in question.

The area has opened up. New residents and offices abound. The tired building is now fully exposed from many vantange points. Before I could enjoy only its top stories as a kid, riding south over the double decker bridge crossing the Charles (replaced by the Zakim), skirting close to the warehouses and marveling at the confection of brick, fanciful openings and mystery, as we entered Boston. Talk about potential loft or office space and views of the Zakim, Bunker Hill and the Harbor! This warehouse, one of the few left of this scale and detail in the entire city, offers a facinating, irreplaceable and welcoming gateway to those crossing into the city from the north.
 
Padre very well said -- a great summary reminiscence

I remember a lot of quirkiness in the North Station area such as the building that was used to get the Ringling Brothers elephants into the Garden

Most o the quirkiness and decayed film noir look was associated with either the T {Green or Orange} elevated structures, the Central Artery or the Boston Garden itself

All of that is now gone with the exception of he warehouses that used to be under the double deck {High Bridge}

And I think the Penalty Box Lounge might still be in play {yuk}

Westy
 
"Chet's Last Call" was pretty cool too. They would "book" your band if you would guarantee that 20 of your friends would show up. The only thing I'd add to Padre and Westy's accurate and enjoyable reminiscences is that we had a real Navy Yard until Tricky Dick punished us for not voting for him. I remember my Dad taking me to see about half a dozen U-boats and obsolete American S-boats that had been painted orange for use as targets. This was about 1960. (I'm sure those of a certain age can also remember the mountain size metal Boston Harbor anti-submarine net piled up next to Rt 3 in Braintree.) Boston was a bunch of rotting piles and was ready to fall into the harbor.
 
^ Ambivalence.

Things change.

You can identify the good of it.

Nostalgia lets you identify the good of how it was.

Makes you wonder: is it really better, eh?




(I think we can agree: Boston now has less character.)
 
This walkway opened to the public some time earlier this summer, with absolutely no announcement or ceremony.
 
southland_docked.jpg


This is the S.S. Southland docked where the walkway is or would be (?) The Southland still exists today, lying in about 60 feet of water just off of Scituate.
 
You mean all that rubble and rent-a-fencing...is still there? And it's called a walkway?
 
The walkway was supposed to be built in conjunction with the development, but the walkway was finished first and the development hasn't happened yet.
 
Actually, I think most of it was built to be temporary. At least, that's the way it feels. I go jogging over it a few times a month and the wooden part behind the building doesn't look like it was intended to be long term. The concrete part that links up with the North End seems to be what the final product will be. Now, if they could find a way to get the path a bridge over the railroad tracks, THAT would be great.

On a side note, if you're in the parking lot that the walk way dumps you out in, you can walk right up underneath the Zakim and you can also walk over the locks on the dam into Charlestown. If you've never been over there, you should check it out (but maybe wait until the tempeture warms up).
 
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