City-defining projects in Boston, by decade

[JohnAKeith]

My Patch column this week (Tuesday) will be about significant development projects constructed during the past sixty years in Boston that emphasize what was going on in our city during that period of time.

So, in the 1960's, it was the second decade of urban renewal. Scollay Square was torn down and Government Center went up. Government Center has a special significance because of what it represents about what the city was going through at the time. Renewal. Destruction. Class / Race relations. National and World events.

The 1950's, nothing came to mind but I might use the first John Hancock Tower, constructed 1947, with the idea that insurance companies carried the city through while it was deteriorated. Or, maybe Mass Mutual, since they had the first mutual fund in the state (beating Fidelity, I believe).

I don't want to b cliched, though. Don't want to use the Hancock, because I don't know what I'd say about it. The State Street Building, perhaps. 111 Huntington says a lot about what was going on in the city during that time - the mayor was able to get them to put a crown on its top. So, that building represents a time when government was in charge, when they reasserted control over the development process.

The 2000-2010 years will show no construction of any significance being built, due to the recession. Or, instead, I might have it be a residential tower, like the Clarendon. Unlike the other projects, that are all offices / government, the Clarendon is residential. A significant change in the city, a high-rised condo / apartment building in the middle of the city. That's important.

Other buildings include 28 State Street, 75 State Street, Exchange Place, First National Bank of Boston building, IP I or II, 125 High Street, the Federal Reserve.

Any suggestions, please don't hesitate to throw them out there.

Again, I'm going to pick one or two buildings from each decade and talk about how they reflect what was happening in the city at the same time. But, clever and interesting.

So, no "Charles River Park" represented the city giving up and destroying a run-down neighborhood so it could build housing for the 1%". Something more educated.

Thanks.

 

[Ron Newman]

1980s - Copley Place? First enclosed mall in central Boston, and maybe the tipping point in shifting shopping from Downtown Crossing to Back Bay.

 

[Ron Newman]

1950s - elevated Central Artery, Tobin Bridge, Southeast Expressway, and Storrow Drive. The beginning of the auto age in Boston.

I know these are not "buildings" or "development" in quite the sense you mean, but these projects taken as a whole profoundly reshaped the city within a short period.

 

[datadyne007]

I agree with Copley Pl for the 80s.

You have to include International Place for the late 80s. The sheer scale of that project is absolutely incredible. Almost any promo shot of Boston nowadays features IP. We'll probably never see a development at that scale in Boston ever again.

111 Huntington is by far the defining skyscraper and development of the 2000s. Like you said it is the perfect example of Boston politics where the developer let Menino pick the crown to get him to approve it.

 

[Ron Newman]

Without Copley Place, we wouldn't have the redeveloped and greatly improved Prudential Center, with its complex of indoor-connected buildings.

But I need to correct the post directly above this one. Prudential redevelopment (creating the indoor shopping mall, and connecting to the Copley gerbil tube) occurred in the 1990s, not the 2000s.

 

[datadyne007]

Without Copley Place, we wouldn't have the redeveloped and greatly improved Prudential Center, with its complex of indoor-connected buildings.

But I need to correct the post directly above this one. Prudential redevelopment (creating the indoor shopping mall, and connecting to the Copley gerbil tube) occurred in the 1990s, not the 2000s.

I should have been more specific, I was talking about the Huntington Arcade in relation to 111. Sorry for the confusion, edited post.

 

[bbfen]

I think the Mandarin is important, if only to depict what happens when ground is conceded to the NIMBY's. They don't want height, they want mass spread out horizontally in fairly short, squat buildings. And now there's a giant taupe turd smelling up on the south side of Boylston St.

 

[Ron Newman]

I'd include the original Prudential Center as a defining project of the 1960s.

 

[whighlander]

My Patch column this week (Tuesday) will be about significant development projects constructed during the past sixty years in Boston that emphasize what was going on in our city during that period of time.


Thanks.

john -- my brief list -- not necessarily my favorites -- but the ones that define the particular period / era

1950's Columbia Point Public Housing Project, Wet End / Charles River Park, Museum of Science
1960 's Pru, Hynes, State Street Bank, Gov't Center, Center Plaza, BU
1970's Hanock Tower & Quincy maket re-do, BPL addition, Christian Science Center, Federal Reserve Bank, First national bank of Boston, Harbor Towers
1980's Rowe's Wharf, IM Pei's West Wing MFA, 500 Boylston, 75 State Street, International Place, Exchange Place
1990's Pru center re-do, Two International Place, 125 High St., MGH
2000's State Street Corporation (1 Lincoln st.), 111 Huntington
2010's Foster's Art's of America's Wing of MFA, Atlantic Wharf

 

[Beton Brut]

Based on this paragraph, I'll throw out a key infrastructure project and some context to justify the suggestion.

So, in the 1960's, it was the second decade of urban renewal. Scollay Square was torn down and Government Center went up. Government Center has a special significance because of what it represents about what the city was going through at the time. Renewal. Destruction. Class / Race relations. National and World events.

In the 60s and 70s, Logan airport grew significantly, culminating in the extension of Runway 15/33 and the resulting destruction of Olmsted's Wood Island Park and the adjacent Neptune Road neighborhood. Though the growth of the airport was a boon for the economy (because of its proximity to business destinations downtown), it also caps the height of wide swaths of undeveloped land, most notably the South Boston Waterfront. To this day, the mistrust of government among many in my neighborhood (and surrounding communities) remains palpable. (With the possibility of a casino development at Suffolk Downs, this is probably a good thing...)

 

[whighlander]

Based on this paragraph, I'll throw out a key infrastructure project and some context to justify the suggestion.



In the 60s and 70s, Logan airport grew significantly, culminating in the extension of Runway 15/33 and the resulting destruction of Olmsted's Wood Island Park and the adjacent Neptune Road neighborhood. Though the growth of the airport was a boon for the economy (because of its proximity to business destinations downtown), it also caps the height of wide swaths of undeveloped land, most notably the South Boston Waterfront. To this day, the mistrust of government among many in my neighborhood (and surrounding communities) remains palpable. (With the possibility of a casino development at Suffolk Downs, this is probably a good thing...)

Boston -- -- hey people looking for a "deal in East Boston -- What part of "you just bought a house next to a majot International Airport was unclear"?

From 1960 on -- it was clear that Logan was there to stay and would only grow
It's seems to be a common afffliction -- people also buy houses (at a good price) near to Hanscom and then join "SHARE" because they are surprised that there is "Airport Noise"

Actually compared to places such as DFW and Denver, where for all intents a major airport dropped fully formed from the sky, Logan's growth has been very measured. The silliness over things such as the 1-way short runway and the central taxiway is some of the worst NIMByism in Boston's storried NIMBY history.

 

[Lurker]

40s-50s saw the first housing projects gutting the South End and Roxbury.

 

[ftran999]

I would say the 80s saw quite a development boom in the downtown area. Projects, including what others have mentioned before, International Place, One Financial Center, Devonshire apartments, Exchange Place, Boston Harbor Hotel, etc.