Downtown Crossing/Financial District | Discussion
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Ron Newman
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And now, if you look at the ex-Strawberries store head-on (rather than from the sidewalk approaching it), it has no name.
I wish the Orpheum's vertical sign and marquee still existed on Washington Street, even though the theatre no longer has an entrance from that side.
I wish the Orpheum's vertical sign and marquee still existed on Washington Street, even though the theatre no longer has an entrance from that side.
AdamBC
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When I first saw that picture I was taken back to my youth in Indiana where the architects had fallen in love with that design element and used it everywhere! Begone curved-glass awning - your kind is not welcome here.
Ron Newman
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Those glass awnings appeared in the late 1970s, at the same time as the Downtown Crossing name was introduced. The district was trying to compete with suburban shopping malls, and they thought protecting shoppers from rain would help.
czsz
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Kudos to Mayor Menino for distracting us from our latest, greatest depression with the magic of moving images. O Brave New World. Though better these conceal squatters and crack dens than plywood, I guess.
As for the glass awnings - I don't see what's wrong with them. They're still used in the Italian quarter of Montreal to great effect. In Australia, shopping districts are all completely awninged...it beats battling back wind and rain with a flimsy umbrella.
I agree, if anything, I feel that downtown crossing should be turned into a pru like place.
Ron Newman
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Turn it into an indoor mall? The last attempt to create an indoor mall at DTX, Lafayette Place, was an epic fail.
tobyjug
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The glass awnings didn't really keep the weather off you. They were ugly, got dirty and were never cleaned (that I recall.) The awnings obscured the many interesting facades too. I remember thinking at the time they were ripped out that it was like taking down an elevated railway. Everything was light again.
Unlike the current state?
At least cover the sidewalks with a more modern structure. Or even better, let buildings over the sidewalks.
Why cant DTX look like this modern example (built in the 50s), if glass isnt popular?
Padre Mike
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Please check out the arcaded walkway of 1-3 Center Plaza in Govt. Center. When proposed it was to be a recreation of European retail districts....but has become IMO a windswept, univiting failure. Besides, such arcades work architecturally only when every building on the block corresponds accordingly. I vividly recall the glass awnings also; I was always afraid of walking into a post in (formerly evident) crowds, which were placed in the middle of the sidewalks. The awnings ruined the look of many of the buildings because of their incongruity. Also they didn't cover the whole of Washington St. and only on one side at that. They ended well before Summer St. and extended only up until School St. Regarding Lafayette Place!! That circular mess of a mall was a failure from day one....it was never completely rented, a great place for muggers to hide in the dark corners, and felt like a rat maze for shoppers. You never knew where it began and where it ended and the lighting consisted of occasional spot lights (it was supposed to be "moody")!
Exactly. Tawdry when new, drab when old.
The same folks did a number on Park Street's Green Line. That was equally dispiriting: dusty bas reliefs in compromised colors.
Designed by the then-Dean of Columbia; he also designed the Australian Capitol building.
tobyjug
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Yeah, EUR or something. Use the Wang/Big Dig building as a stand in for the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana while you're at it.
The photo is inapposite. The arcades are part of the buildings and compliment them. On Washington St., any arcade would obscure and destroy the buildings.
I must admit when I worked in 101 Arch and felt the improbable cravings for Sakkio Japan for lunch from the Corner Mall on cold rainy days, I would first cut diagonally to Macy's and walk under their cantilivered awning, until crossing Summer again to be under Filene's, inching my way down Washington until I was perpendicular to the Corner Mall awning, insuring I expose my self for the least possible time to the elements.
That said, during nice weather, they are blemishes to the facades, and prevent the dissapation of the stench of urine.
That's my eternal stuggle, the low-class gormund versus the elitist urbanite.
That said, during nice weather, they are blemishes to the facades, and prevent the dissapation of the stench of urine.
That's my eternal stuggle, the low-class gormund versus the elitist urbanite.
Close, Livorno, which is near Pisa. It was completely destroyed during WW2, which is why everything in the picture is from after that period.
My point is not to add this to the existing structures, but to allow this in new construction, make it part of the design.
The new filenes building is the obvious start point.
For the older buildings, a flat and much lighter glass awning would be better. Make it suspension style, not pole supported.