Dorchester Infill and Small Developments

ablarc said:
Asher Benjamin.
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Yes, Old West is an Asher Benjamin from 1806, which makes it the same age as Second Church in Dorchester. If I recall correctly, the pulpit from Old West is older than the church. Old West was the successor building to the c. 1737 Lynde Street meeting house.
 
^ Your church with the steeple removed could pass for a Benjamin.
 
czsz said:
Good uses for old churches: libraries (although these seem to be going obsolete, too), theatres, arthouse cinemas (why has no one thought of this!?), government administration buildings, firehouses, museums, mosques.
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Chronicle had a nice piece on area libraries and "chronicled' the new Cambridge library expansion, which has been a rousing success thus far. They've designed the interior to appear as if you are in a bookstore setting, including the signage, as well as a generous proportion of internet space.

My guess is that this library is also a success due to student run-off; I always longed to get off campus to study, and didn't really care where it was.
 
today JFK
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wish I could of gotten closer for better pixs of the skyline,Atlantic whf looks like just another box on the skyline from this veiw
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bdurden said:
My guess is that this library is also a success due to student run-off; I always longed to get off campus to study, and didn't really care where it was.
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If it's student runoff they're probably high school students from Ringe and Latin; I don't know any Harvard or MIT people who use the Cambridge library.

My guess is that novelty is playing a big role in its success, too. Wellesley built a huge McLibrary that was very popular for the first two years of its existence but is very, very quiet now.
 
Ha. McLibrary. Oh god. What have we come to?

I'm not entirely opposed to the privatization of libraries. Athenaeum-type places? The teenage girls could have theirs, full of Twilight, computer terminals for AIM, and what not. People who actually wanted to read could have, well, libraries.
 
czsz said:
If it's student runoff they're probably high school students from Ringe and Latin; I don't know any Harvard or MIT people who use the Cambridge library.
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I know plenty, myself included -- before and after the renovation.
 
kennedy said:
Ha. McLibrary. Oh god. What have we come to?

I'm not entirely opposed to the privatization of libraries. Athenaeum-type places? The teenage girls could have theirs, full of Twilight, computer terminals for AIM, and what not. People who actually wanted to read could have, well, libraries.
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Go and check it out before you pass judgment -- it responds to the needs of modern library dwellers, libraries must change with the times to stay current. I don't see a problem.
 
czsz said:
My guess is that novelty is playing a big role in its success, too. Wellesley built a huge McLibrary that was very popular for the first two years of its existence but is very, very quiet now.
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Wellesley's library is poorly designed with cheap materials. Cambridge's library is not. My ascertain is that you have not had an opportunity just yet to make a visit to the new addition.
 
bdurden said:
Go and check it out before you pass judgment -- it responds to the needs of modern library dwellers, libraries must change with the times to stay current. I don't see a problem.
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Modern, yes. Libraries must stay modern. But when they stray from the "pursuit of knowledge" or whatever is engraved on the BPL, then they become cheap and irrelevant.
 
Expanding into newer media (CDs, DVDs, e-books) doesn't mean "straying from the pursuit of knowledge".
 
OK, yeah, that's an extreme and dismaying example. I would be embarrassed to be a student or alumnus of that prep school.
 
back to Dot!
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dorchester's number 1 problem
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Fields cor.
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too many empty storefronts on Dot ave
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new building
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ugly
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only gay bar in Dot
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this was surpposed to be a oriental supermarket (calling Trader Joes!)
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unsure what this is?
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harp and bard used to be good now it sucks IMO!
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old stand-bys
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Ron Newman said:
Expanding into newer media (CDs, DVDs, e-books) doesn't mean "straying from the pursuit of knowledge".
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I know that...I never disagreed with that. When I said straying from the pursuit of knowledge, I was talking about the libraries that shove awful consumer "literature" down everyone's throats and having computers that are practically dedicated to video games. Cushing is an extreme example, especially with the $14,000 televisions and the $12,000 cappuccino machine, but it's not totally wrong in pursuing a purely digital library.

Personally, I think that CDs and DVDs might as well be considered obsolete at this point. Don't get me wrong, I still use both all the time, but digital storage is the future and there's not really a point in preserving older forms of storage, especially when transferring them to digital format is so easy (as opposed to having to transcribe books).

Libraries should severely trim their selection of physical literature, down to only the most necessary books. "...for Dummies" books and travel guides should not be displayed prominently on the front table - that information can be found online with little effort. Especially at universities and high schools, libraries should consider lending, renting, or leasing e-readers to students to use. Textbooks should be the very first thing to be digitized, yet, the publishing companies are going to ensure they're the very last type of book to enter the future.

End rant.
 
Hey 02124 - I could learn a lot about Dorchester if you would be able to caption your photos with even very simply the neighborhood you're in or the intersection (some of your pics above do have that I realize). I also enjoy the commentary. Keep em coming!
 
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