Flickr Finds & Social Media Pics

[goody]

'Boston Slum'

Washington

Comm Ave (hope for the Greenway?)

skyline






http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishhermit/84997964/sizes/o/

 

[Mike]

pics taken by Old Fogey 1942 on flickr:

 

[tobyjug]

Wonderful. Thanks! Its amazing how the shoebox highrises in the photos continue to define the skyline!

 

[TheBostonBoy]

Wow...it is awesome to see how much Boston has changed. I especially like the picture with Fenway Park in it-- Fenway was soo much smaller without all the seats in the grandstand!

 

[Mike]

from the pru, 1969:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46633980@N04/

 

[BostonUrbEx]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2701815632_90209e8104_b.jpg

Wow, is that just west of present-day Back Bay?

 

[kz1000ps]

^ That's where Copley Place now is. Those ramps (minus the one that empties onto Dartmouth St) are all still there exactly as you see them. Go here to see a post showing CP's ground level floor plan.


Also from the same guy as the above 1969 picture...

October 1956

November 1969

June 1978

1963

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=boston&w=46633980@N04

 

[JohnAKeith]

So, the view from the Pru 1969 shows the Bank of Boston building (pregnant building) going up in the upper-right hand corner (in front of the State Street Bank building), yes?

It is amazing that they thought they could fit the John Hancock tower in the sliver of land between the Copley Plaza Hotel and the old John Hancock building (or is it the Liberty Mutual building) - it's a tiny parcel!

The building on Stuart, behind the Trinity Church that became part of 500 Boylston (where Skipjacks is now?)? It is a non-descript low-rise building. Any idea what this was?

 

[kz1000ps]

Yup that's the pregnant building under construction. You can also see One Boston Place about 80% done to the left of the Custom House. And no idea on the lowrise Copley Square building.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Man that Flickr page is GOLD.

 

[Lrfox]

When I look at all the old boxes, especially the early photos with just the first few sticking up there (One Beacon, etc), I can start to understand why some people who live in Boston fear tall buildings so much. I mean, really, if I had a view of all those old chimneys and buildings like the Custom House Tower, I'd detest those boxes going up too. Since I'm 24, they've always been there. But if I were a young adult in 1968, I'd probably be horrified at those structures going in. You know the people who were alive then probably associate "new tower" with, "new shadow casting, view ruining box." Don't get me wrong, these NIMBYs are crazy, but I can sympathize after seeing some of these photos.

 

[kz1000ps]

Don't forget that the buzzword at the time was "the New Boston." The fact that banks and actuaries wanted to build big towers in the city was relief to everyone who lived through the decades of stagnation.

I imagine opinions turned against their ugliness (and banal modernism in general) only once a few had already made their marks on the skyline, and by then (the late '60s) there was already another three or four massive towers under construction, e.g. there was no turning back.

 

[FLAindy]

Had those "boxes" not been built starting in the 60's...perhaps Boston might have developed more like a European city for the last 40 years...denser for many miles beyond its central core. Imagine not the immediate cities which border Boston (Chelsea, Cambridge, Brookline, Quincy) but the 2nd ring of cities being very low-rise but packed with urban-ness.
Or perhaps not. Maybe 40-story office towers have nothing to do with this kind of development.

I agree though, I like a skyline of chimneys, steeples, and signature high-rises which are few but make a statement.....sounds like Portland Me!

 

[joebos]

It looks like Copley plaza once had multiple levels of brick paving. It's not like that anymore, is it? Isn't there a section of grass now?

I should know this, I live 6 blocks away from it.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

It looks like Copley plaza once had multiple levels of brick paving. It's not like that anymore, is it? Isn't there a section of grass now?

I should know this, I live 6 blocks away from it.

Yeah, it looked like a mini City Hall Plaza.

Thank God that changed.

 

[JohnAKeith]

So, there's been at least four incantations of Copley Square that I can't think of.

Old, old, old Copley

Old, old Copley

Old Copley

Current day Copley

I swear there was a period between the multiple levels and the way it is now but I guess I'm wrong, I can't find any photos.

 

[CDubs]

[These photos courtesy of AntyDiluvian]

Is this between "Old Copley" and "Current day Copley"?

And also from his photos, an interesting view of the BPL in the '70s, from Newbury St.:

 

[Ron Newman]

Wow - what was torn down to create that weedy vacant lot, and what's there now?

 

[Beton Brut]

Exeter Place, the infamous "Darth Vader" building is on the parking lot. A forgettable 70s-era brick building sits on the weeds.

ablarc would know what was there before. I think Exeter Place replaced a French Second Empire building that was torn down in the 70s.

 

[Lurker]

It was a building that closely resembled the 'Victoria' apartment building on the corner of Newbury and Dartmouth Streets. Look closely at the first picture of the BPL in the old old old Copley photo.