Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion

MBTAddict said:
Not a bad idea. And a spot like that might be able to kind of bridge the gap between the Faneuil Hall area and DTX.
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I agree. Some sort of social venue would be excellent here. The problem is that I don't know how well the brutalist atmosphere would lend itself to a social venue. Beton Brut and I might be the only ones who would want to chill there. There would have to be a very clever architectural fit-out.
 
I generally don't like Brutalism as a style, but I love the Boston Five Building and I know a few others have said the same.
 
statler said:
I generally don't like Brutalism as a style, but I love the Boston Five Building and I know a few others have said the same.
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Some Brutalism styles can be cool. But none of them were built in Boston.

In my opinion this type of style feels like we are heading for Nuclear attack and those buildings will be only thing left standing.
 
yea that would great...love to see a large hangout place so long as it doesn't become some upscale downtown afterwork joint
 
The Boston Five is one of the few Brutalist buildings in Boston that manages to fit into a dense urban area without disrupting the flow.

Examples of good urban Modernism should be applauded wherever found.
 
statler said:
The Boston Five is one of the few Brutalist buildings in Boston that manages to fit into a dense urban area without disrupting the flow.

Examples of good urban Modernism should be applauded wherever found.
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Oh I am well aware. It is a brilliant building. I was the one who nom'd it for the Hall of Fame last year.

The most surprising thing (and what tourists often like to hear about) is that it's the same firm that did City Hall.
 
statler said:
I generally don't like Brutalism as a style, but I love the Boston Five Building and I know a few others have said the same.
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I'm with the pro-brutalist faction, and agree this one is particularly good. It would make for a good indoor market, a beer hall, art gallery, beer hall, or perhaps an avant garde theater.
 
I'm trying to think of a use that wouldn't work in that space...
 
HenryAlan said:
I'm with the pro-brutalist faction, and agree this one is particularly good. It would make for a good indoor market, a beer hall, art gallery, beer hall, or perhaps an avant garde theater.
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Indoor market, definitely, because we all know Parcel 9(?)/Haymarket will never get used.
 
Ironically, one of the few things I wouldn't want to see in there is a bank.
 
Point of order: The amount of glass, and the prominent and repeated structural elements across the facade move this building away from the realm of Brutalism. I'd be more inclined to consider the Boston Five an example of proto-High Tech, or Structural Expressionism.

Someone once suggested a Boston home for Mario Batali's Eataly. Having visited the Madison Square location last Labor Day, it could work. I'd prefer an inventive restaurant or supper-club, with live jazz and a small black-box theatre.


Speaking of Brutalism, some unfortunate news. The upside is the generally fire-proof character of concrete.
 
It's also a nice piece of photorealistic art....

http://oneartworld.com/artists/R/Richard+Estes.html

180.jpg
 
After spending a good half hour standing at the corners of Washington and Winter streets and then wandering through DTX, I still can't think of any good reason that the street is blocked off to traffic. People avoid the street because of the constant fear that someone's going to drive up behind them - a cop car, a delivery truck, a wayward passenger vehicle. Or, they're not aware that it's blocked off to traffic to begin with, so they stay to the side.

If the street could handle masses of people during its heyday, then it should be able to handle it now.

Or, level it with the sidewalks and make it a true boulevard.

I'd like to see what they propose for One Franklin; would it make sense to have a lane of traffic make its way around it, between Macy's and Filene's and up to Bromfield?

Here's a photo of the Barnes & Noble building (and Strawberries, next door). I wonder how it would look naked?

IMG02331-20120208-1458.jpg
 
I love that Fox Furs / Strawberries / FYE Building. One of the few Art Deco gems in the city.
 
Omg they revealed the Strawberries sign again? Nostalgia trip!
 
Bubbybu said:
I was surprised that FYE last as long as it did...
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It is unfortunate that the only means of vertical circulation in that store is via two terrible elevators. They are better than they originally were, since Schindler modded the original Armor controllers with TXpress, but not much better.

FYE should have sacrificed a wall of sales space and put in an escalator bank with a standard single-file (18") run, ala CVS Copley Square. Perhaps they knew their stay would be short lived, though.
 
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