FenwayResident
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What tall building isn't for the rich? They're either owned by a corporation/real estate trust, or inhabited by wealthy residents. This seems like an odd point to make.
Four Seasons Tower @ CSC | 1 Dalton Street | Back Bay
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What tall building isn't for the rich? They're either owned by a corporation/real estate trust, or inhabited by wealthy residents. This seems like an odd point to make.
MotoBuilder
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Thank God for "rich people"! If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have had a good job the past 40 years in real estate development. it allowed me to feed my family, pay LOTS of taxes so others could collect their welfare checks.
Ouch, 30 Dalton isn't a marvel, but never heard it described as a blight on the skyline
Perhaps we could keep off topic political statements out of the thread.
DominusNovus
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I suppose people want more high density public housing projects, since those work out so well.
bigpicture7
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Ouch, 30 Dalton isn't a marvel, but never heard it described as a blight on the skyline
Maybe a slight bit of hyperbole on my part, but the point I was trying to make is that, regardless of whom a building is "designed for" there's still space to discuss quality of design. For instance, I think many would agree that Lovejoy Wharf, 50 Liberty, 30 Dalton, and 1 Dalton, though all designed "for the rich," span quite a spectrum in terms of quality of design.
The crisp lines, high-quality glass, use of curved, rather than faceted, glass, the reflective ridges, the subtle curves of the triangular edges...and most importantly, the avoidance of gaudy indulgences...make 1 Dalton more than just "another glass tower"...this is indeed good design. And good design is not a given.
(but back to my original polemic against 30 Dalton...I just truly hate this view...it takes everything that is wrong with the Hilton tower and makes more of it
)Cheers.
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odurandina
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Ouch, 30 Dalton isn't a marvel, but never heard it described as a blight on the skyline
The 300' Sheraton turds next door are the only blight i see.
*There's a relatively straightforward way to fix the Sheraton North tower. Unfortunately, it's not in Sheraton's DNA to cut two sections off the east side of the Tower and use the created space for 1/2 of the footprint for a 67 story hotel & luxury condo tower. Instead, they'll keep one of the fugliest buildings in the world going and going and going. It makes a large fortune, so....
In Boston tall is good. Very..... very good.
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I just showed your post to my friend, whose family is from Flint, Michigan.
His head almost exploded.
MotoBuilder
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Ouch, 30 Dalton isn't a marvel, but never heard it described as a blight on the skyline
Perhaps we could keep off topic political statements out of the thread.
Oh, OK then. Posters insulting the "rich & wealthy" aren't political?
that's a shame. it's a very nice design -- graceful, elegant, space-appropriate.
if all that you get from this is that "it's tall," then you're missing out.
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Czervik.Construction
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Are people really starting to hate on this building? This little guy is better than 90% of the glass boxes going up in my city, better than the glass box one I live in, too... and we have a "resident experience manager"!
Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of this board.
Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of this board.
odurandina
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^^That block right there doesn't need it. 2 Blocks over, we get some with 1000 Boylston. Might see more ground level when the mid/highrise proposal for 1065 Boylston finally comes. Round the next curve, the Midtown Hotel site regardless of how squat whatever be proposed there, should become a slice of Newbury Street at its base.
so i take it you're not a fan of JHT either, yes?
i love ground-level activation, too, but you can appreciate a work of beautiful architecture on it's own aesthetic merits, alone.
not every "successfully designed" urban structure needs to have a public-inclusive ground level.
the ayer mansion and old south church don't have coffee-shops and discount clothing stores on their ground-floors, but they still have merit, no?
citylover94
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Considering how small the base of this tower is and that they needed to include both a hotel and a residence lobby really cut into the space for activation and they are still including space for a "cafe" or something like that along Belvidere Street so I think considering the constraints of the site they are doing pretty well.
I honestly stewed over your post for an entire day. I was apoplectic. Still am.
Triangular shaped towers sure are a dime a dozen, right? Boston has such a glut of them. Every city has beautiful triangular towers. I can't even point to 1, but I'm sure it's old hat and simple to build. Why don't you point out all the amazing triangle towers around the country?
This is literally going to be one of the 3 most visible buildings in the entire city, and so far it looks GREAT. As an architectural forum, people here should be excited that such a large, impactful building is so stunning!
Also, of all the places to build for the rich, this area makes as much sense as any. The foundations alone took a full 2 years to build before this could get out of the ground. If you want to be angry, direct your ire at the Hub on Causeway for chopping housing right on top of a key transit hub, or Parcel 15 for cutting from 2 buildings to 1 and actually shrinking the one, or the Seaport for developing a new neighborhood that is for the rich. 1 Dalton is being built in the most high-demand area of the entire city!
Speaking of rich areas, how about Beacon Hill? That doesn't offer me anything tangible as a non-rich person, yet I still enjoy walking through the neighborhood and appreciate the beautiful architecture. Should we raze Beacon Hill for public housing?
If you ask me, a city's tallest buildings should also be among its best looking, since they are the ones that stand out the most. Architecturally, this is doing its job and I appreciate it.
Believe it or not, this is where you argument actually unravels even more. Consider what each building replaced in the process of being built.
While this is not Millennium Tower's fault per se, we lost a Boston institution in Filene's Basement when the initial building stalled out. That certainly wasn't replaced. We also lost one of the old facades. To top it all off, the most popular food window I have ever seen in this city (Chacarero, where lines were literally wrapped around the block) was lost. Now we have a car port area in its place, used for the rich. Yes, a dead zone was fixed in DTX, but that dead zone was caused by trying to develop here in the first place!
On the other hand, 1 Dalton is replacing a barely used 3-tree pocket park in a dead zone of the city. It's bringing beauty to one of Boston's ugliest corners, and the 2 building complex along with 30 Dalton brings people and interest where there was none before.
In short, we lost more for MT, some of it irreplaceable, while 1 Dalton is basically all net gain.
Do you even think before you spew this drivel, or do you think being a contrarian somehow makes you smarter than the rest of us?
You're even worse than the other guy. A total follower. What do you even do here?
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Take a deep breath and repeat after me: "It is OK if people disagree with my opinion. It is OK if people disagree with my opinion."
You seem reasonable most of the time and then every so often you just completely lose your shit over nothing. Let it go, man.
Calling out stupid opinions as being stupid is the patriotic thing to do. Being polite in the face of total lunacy is what got us President Trump. Its what gave loons like Shirley Kressel way, waaaayyy more influence than they actually deserved over development policy in the city. Lets have more honesty out here and less politeness I say!