Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project

Construction has stopped until March, even though they just delivered bricks. Looks like the pile of bricks will be sitting around for 3 months being useless.

These benches were delivered last week. Some of the bricks are visible in the back, its the square

Photo taken today, December 13

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I'm very unhappy about that, actually. It seems like they had no other choice, but, really ...
 
Theyre back to work, putting in the bricks that should have been done in December


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This isnt part of the project (Kenmroe square is run by the MBTA) but its close enough.

They put in new stoplights today.

WHY!?!

1) Ugly
2) Unnecessary
3) Cluttered

Note the older, nicer lights on the left
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Why?
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This street didnt have one before....and does NOT need a light
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So many!
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I dont even want to count them all.
 
Hardly the worst thing going up in Kenmore Sq.
 
After the Hotel Commonwealth, it's almost difficult to criticize anything in Kenmore. I'm dreading the day when BU tears down the "West Gate" building (currently apparently empty, except for the City Convenience on the bottom floor) in Kenmore. Then they'll put up a building that tries to imitate West Gate, yet has plastic siding, an unnecessary mansard roof, and mass-produced brick. And, in keeping with the theme of the building, it'll be cheap to rig it out with wifi Internet. That way BU will be able to finish the good work it started with the Hotel Commonwealth. ... I actually like BU's old brutalism better than the postmodern junk they're putting up these days...

It's funny -- neighbors always freak out if something "different" is built, so you wind up with developers aching to tear down a great old building and put up a new, cheaper one with more floorspace that looks just like the one they tore down. That, not Faneuil Hall, is where you get real Disneyfication and fake Main Streets.
 
Kenmore Sq seems to me like such a lost place. If it wasn't for Fenway no one would go there. And BU kids? Most of them go to the bars in Allston. Kenmore has the potential to rival the great public spaces of Haussmann's Paris, but instead it is a bleak reminder when the walkable urbanity of the 19th century gave way to the anti-urban auto-centric development of the 20th.
 
There are a lot of big, dangerous intersections in Hausmann's Paris, too. Architecture didn't save them.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
Kenmore Sq seems to me like such a lost place. If it wasn't for Fenway no one would go there.
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What about India Quality? What about the Lower Depths? What about Nuggets? The Hotel Commonwealth, the (forever) ongoing station construction, and the loss of a few old favorites aside, Kenmore Square is hardly a place no one goes to. I'd label it more of a "transitioning" neighborhood than a "lost" neighborhood. True, 10 years ago it was more like JP, but 10 years ago, JP was more like Dudley Square. For that matter, 10 years ago Dudley Square was a shit-hole.
 
And for that matter, what about the huge bookstore? Though it was more of a draw before Barnes & Noble built another huge one in the Prudential Center.
 
Don't forget UBurger, Boca Grande, and Cornwall's! There are of course also some generic places like Bertucci's, Uno's and Popeyes.
 
That may be the only local Popeyes, but couldn't they do something about the color of the first few floors? What an eyesore.
 
First few floors? I think Popeye's is tucked into a basement -- which once upon a time was home to WNAC and the mighty Yankee Network (of radio stations).
 
^^ I suppose you could argue that it is 'quirky' and adds to a sense of place.

I wouldn't, but you could.
 
Yeah, that's sort of ucky, especially as I don't think they even occupy the upper floor.
 
It looks like new crosswalks were painted overnight.

Once again, cars win over pedestrians. The old crosswalk was where the stop line is. There was a pedestrian island (you can see the asphalt where it was). Now, pedestrians must make a retarded triangle walk....or just walk the more intuitive, unmarked, older path.

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Kenmore Square also has NESOP and the Boston Language Institute. All in all a very diverse place, use-wise. In terms of street front, the Commonwealth Hotel turned out better than expected, too - the stretch of sidewalk in front of it is hardly ever empty.

For that matter, 10 years ago Dudley Square was a shit-hole.
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I was about to say it still is, but then I realized I haven't even been there in 10 years! What's changed?
 
Historically, Kenmore Square was a hotel district. It lost that character gradually, as some of the old hotels were turned into BU dormitories (Myles Standish, Shelton), Grahm Junior College buildings (Buckminster and others), and eventually condominiums. The Hotel Commonwealth, however clumsily, brings this use back into the Square.
 
I assume that most people familiar with Kenmore square know to use the T tunnel to cross Comm Ave. Am I wrong?
 
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