City Hall Plaza Revamp | Government Center

[Charlie_mta]

All great City Hall Plaza musings converge into this:

THIS from that article is freaking awesome:

As is this as well:

Build it!

 

[MjolnirMan]

I just realized the thesis PDF link in the article is now broken but it's been sitting in my Downloads folder for years, so I'll try uploading it here.

 

[Equilibria]

THIS from that article is freaking awesome:

As is this as well:

Build it!

I like his implication that Government Center would get a new headhouse that looks like a Roman temple .

 

[fatnoah]

Again, I’ll further challenge you to personally say how much you actually use the space and a frequent basis. Or do you just draw colored pictures on top of photos? Or just reminiscence about the good old days? Boom.

I'll chime in as a former resident of multiple addresses in Beacon Hill and the West End. First, your photos highlight just how unused that space is (and just how much it hates people, especially those with mobility impairments). I challenge you to find any other large, centralized space in the city with a lower density of people. As a resident, the plaza was only a destination when something special was happening there or I had business at city hall, which was pretty rare. Given the choice between Government Center plaza and the Esplanade, Common, Waterfront, Greenway, or even the West End paths, I don't know who would choose to hang out at GC. I will admit that when I lived in the West End, that playground probably would have been used by my family every so often.

Now, I live in the suburbs. I walk the 1.5 miles from North Station to my job because I love roaming around the city and enjoying the life and energy. I actively avoid going through the plaza since it's essentially the opposite of that for me. It feels much more like walking through a parking lot in a strip mall to me than through a dynamic urban environment. The makeover is certainly an improvement, but there's still a long way to go before that area because a dynamic city center.

 

[stick n move]

All great City Hall Plaza musings converge into this:

Holy shit, yes please! The little spire is such a great focal point of the plaza. They really nailed it here! Love the gold dome too that evokes the state house but in a more city hall federalist style building. This would have went from the worst to best city hall in one fell swoop.

 

[Lrfox]

I'd love it in theory, but I just don't see how something like that gets built in a way that doesn't scream "Disney knockoff!" The lower levels would almost certainly be concrete instead of granite. I don't think we'd see real masonry instead of precast panels on the brick segments, and the cornice would all almost certainly be concrete as well. It's a municipal building, so I doubt the money exists to give the facade the same treatment as this building. I could also see much of the detail being value engineered out. Maybe it could past muster with the average passerby, but I don't know if a real world attempt at this could feasibly be done in a way that doesn't make half of this board roll their eyes.

 

[Equilibria]

I'd love it in theory, but I just don't see how something like that gets built in a way that doesn't scream "Disney knockoff!" The lower levels would almost certainly be concrete instead of granite. I don't think we'd see real masonry instead of precast panels on the brick segments, and the cornice would all almost certainly be concrete as well. It's a municipal building, so I doubt the money exists to give the facade the same treatment as this building. I could also see much of the detail being value engineered out. Maybe it could past muster with the average passerby, but I don't know if a real world attempt at this could feasibly be done in a way that doesn't make half of this board roll their eyes.

Simple: the City can pay to do it properly. A fair number of schools, for instance, are being built with masonry that isn't precast or concrete.

 

[MjolnirMan]

It's a municipal building, so I doubt the money exists to give the facade the same treatment as this building.

They just spent one billion dollars to plant 30 trees and build a playground on a corner of the plaza

 

[Lrfox]

Simple: the City can pay to do it properly. A fair number of schools, for instance, are being built with masonry that isn't precast or concrete.

They just spent one billion dollars to plant 30 trees and build a playground on a corner of the plaza

I'm all for it if they could do it properly. I just don't believe they would. Masonry is a big part of it, but it's not the only thing that needs to be done well for this not to look like a cheap replica more at home in Vegas or a theme park than center of one of the country's most historic cities. The cost of anything these days makes me even less optimistic that they'd do it right.

 

[stick n move]

I'm all for it if they could do it properly. I just don't believe they would. Masonry is a big part of it, but it's not the only thing that needs to be done well for this not to look like a cheap replica more at home in Vegas or a theme park than center of one of the country's most historic cities. The cost of anything these days makes me even less optimistic that they'd do it right.

Just a couple years ago the city redid the bruce bolling municipal building in roxbury and absolutely nailed it out of the park. Its definitely possible to get it right when high quality is demanded from the outset.

 

[dhawkins]

I was downtown I took some updated photos. The trees are filling in nicely and the playground is active.

 

[dhawkins]

Bonus shots, the inside still looks the same, dark. All four escalators in the public area are all closed off for repair, sad. But there is a new security desk at the North entrance /Hanover side which allows this entry to be open.

 

[kingofsheeba]

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Holy shit, yes please! The little spire is such a great focal point of the plaza. They really nailed it here! Love the gold dome too that evokes the state house but in a more city hall federalist style building. This would have went from the worst to best city hall in one fell swoop.

 

[bdurden]

Bonus shots, the inside still looks the same, dark. All four escalators in the public area are all closed off for repair, sad. But there is a new security desk at the North entrance /Hanover side which allows this entry to be open.


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I love how cavernous the interior is — evokes a feeling of mystery and excitement (at least to someone who appreciates brutalist designs).

 

[Charlie_mta]

Bonus shots, the inside still looks the same, dark. All four escalators in the public area are all closed off for repair, sad. But there is a new security desk at the North entrance /Hanover side which allows this entry to be open.


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Reminds me of a DC Metro subway station.

 

[bdurden]

Reminds me of a DC Metro subway station.

The last great metro system built in USA. Although, I do miss the classical music they once played in the stations.

 

[Gunner02]

Good thing we kept the brick business hot and heavy.

 

[393b40]

Bonus shots, the inside still looks the same, dark. All four escalators in the public area are all closed off for repair, sad. But there is a new security desk at the North entrance /Hanover side which allows this entry to be open.

The black thing hanging over the side above and the burned out neon sign that says "We" really makes it.

I find the interior of this building fascinating, but it's also a terrible human experience on so many levels. There's good brutalist architecture out there, but this is not an example of it... it's IMO an example of the worst aspects of the style.

 

[HenryAlan]

You have uploaded snapshots that we all recognize because we've all been there - to a desolate, windswept expanse of salt-worn brick, perhaps with 3 people walking through at any given time as they cross from one side diagonally to the other, or a lone city employee taking a smoke breach on a backless stone slab. These are not showing dynamic and enthusiastic engagement from a city of over half a million people,

You're welcome to your opinion, but when was the last time you were there? I have found there to be significantly more than 3 people on the past several occasions that brought me to that space. I usually find it fairly crowded and active. And as @Dr. Rosen Rosen points out, the view lines are fantastic. Nevertheless, it could be better. So I won't argue that it's the best plaza we can get or deserve. But I don't at all agree with the idea that it's awful or unpleasant in its current iteration.

 

[MjolnirMan]

You're welcome to your opinion, but when was the last time you were there? I have found there to be significantly more than 3 people on the past several occasions that brought me to that space. I usually find it fairly crowded and active. And as @Dr. Rosen Rosen points out, the view lines are fantastic. Nevertheless, it could be better. So I won't argue that it's the best plaza we can get or deserve. But I don't at all agree with the idea that it's awful or unpleasant in its current iteration.

I mean, I'm always happy to do this dance. I live downtown, and was last at City Hall Plaza 4 days ago on Saturday as part of giving a little afternoon walking tour of the city to a visiting guest before an early dinner. There were fewer than 3 people in the plaza at the time (not counting us), perhaps because it was a little chilly out for a spring day and the $1 billion newly revamped and activated plaza has no ability to provide any shade or shelter from the elements (sun, rain, or wind from any direction), nor any reason to be there on a weekend.