General Electric HQ (Necco Buildings Reno) | 5 Necco Street | Fort Point

[JeffDowntown]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

^In all reality, I don't recall Jeff Immelt ever mentioning Mars at all. I thought he was quoted as saying he "wants a GE sign so large that it's visible from space".....but maybe I'm wrong. It doesn't matter anyway. One thing that's very obvious in the renders is that the GE sign will be very visible from the expressway, and to planes flying into Logan.

I actually don't think the sign will be all that visible from I-93. Sight-lines to that location are pretty blocked from ground level by the large I-90 tunnel vent building and then the USPS building.

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

^In all reality, I don't recall Jeff Immelt ever mentioning Mars at all. I thought he was quoted as saying he "wants a GE sign so large that it's visible from space".....but maybe I'm wrong. It doesn't matter anyway. One thing that's very obvious in the renders is that the GE sign will be very visible from the expressway, and to planes flying into Logan.

Lapradetom -- How soon they forget -- Comon is this an Architectural Forum where serious issues of visibility from Mars are discussed in aesthetic and scientific terms -- or is this some tourist blog where people endless argue about whether the red Brick Freedom Trail is a secret admission that Royalists still rule

Well here's the quote [Boston.com April 4, 2016 reporting on the GE Official Arrival] -- with my highlights [in Bold] and some further thoughts as befitting the standards of the AB forum

https://www.boston.com/news/business/2016/04/04/ge-boston-event

Joined by Walsh and Baker, General Electric CEO makes pitch to Boston
Immelt, along with Walsh and Baker, held the stage at an event that started with a celebratory tone. It kicked off with a video package celebrating Boston — with its universities and tech scene — as a perfect fit for GE as it seeks to refocus itself on developing Internet-connected industrial appliances.

....“If you truly want to start a world-changing industrial revolution, there’s really only one place to go,” said the narrator of the video, which included alluring images of Boston landmarks and some sports highlights (perhaps to the pleasure of New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, one of several power players in attendance).

...In opening remarks, Immelt detailed $50 million the company pledged earlier in the day to donate in the state over five years, including $25 million to Boston Public Schools. And he made it clear: GE’s presence in Boston will, at the very least, be noticeable.

“My only requirement [for the headquarters] — I don’t have an eye for it, we have better architects in the company — is that it has a GE logo you can see from Mars,” Immelt said.

Baker and Walsh followed him....

Neither the Governor nor the Mayor had nearly a memorable line to quote in perpetuity

Jeffs quote perhaps inadvertently echoes John Winthrop's famous sermon aboard the Arabella in 1630, “A Model of Christian Charity.” Often referred to as the "City on a Hill Speech" It was given aboard the Arbella not long before reaching New England. Winthrop a Puritan Preacher as well as the future First Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. in turn was echoing text from the New Testament [Jesus Sermon on the Mount] and that then links to the Old Testament by quoting several prophets

....Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God, for this end, wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberallity, wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together, allwayes haveing before our eyes our Commission and Community in the worke, our Community as members of the same body, soe shall wee keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as his owne people and will commaund a blessing upon us in all our wayes, soe that wee shall see much more of his wisdome power goodnes and truthe then formerly wee have beene acquainted with, wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when tenn of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when hee shall make us a prayse and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantacions: the lord make it like that of New England: for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us

Later quoted by many others including :

• 9 January 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy -- an address delivered to the General Court of Massachusetts
• January 11, 1989, President Ronald Reagan -- farewell speech to the nation:
  

  I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.

• June 2, 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama -- Commencement address @ University of Massachusetts Boston,
  

  It was right here, in the waters around us, where the American experiment began. As the earliest settlers arrived on the shores of Boston and Salem and Plymouth, they dreamed of building a City upon a Hill. And the world watched, waiting to see if this improbable idea called America would succeed.

So I think that Jeff is in good company -- His goal is to remake GE as the Bridge between Traditional Industry and the Digital Future -- and the traditional Logo and the Necco Buildings are the link to its historic past. The light from the Logo "Visible from Mars" is the brightness of the future -- and this is where it will happen!!

In a post on Linked-In Jeff wrote

The Hub: Redefining HQ for A Digital Age
Published on April 4, 2016
Jeff Immelt
Chairman and CEO at GE

GE is moving its headquarters to Boston. Our true task, however, is not merely to relocate the corporate offices. It’s to use the physical shift as a catalyst for far greater cultural change – to set innovation free across the company and beyond it.....Boston, to us, is the right ecosystem for these aspirations and for our purpose as a digital industrial company. Beyond its geography, Boston has always embodied technology, ideas and the spirit of invention. The city is surrounded by world-renowned academic institutions, investors and a vibrant business community. Many of our industry-leading customers are here, and 40% of the Massachusetts workforce is employed in the innovation economy....

Even as we set out to change the world with our businesses and redefine the idea of headquarters, we believe we can help contribute to a stronger community here in Boston. Our new headquarters will allow us to work closely with startups and our customers, provide opportunities for students to experience GE technology firsthand and open public space to showcase the history of GE technology — everything from LED lights and smart sensors to a GE90 jet engine, the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine ever built.

Headquarters will carve out an important and distinct identity, yet will remain an integral component of the whole, an engine — something we know a bit about. For us, moving to Boston is not just a shift in location; it is a shift in our mindset. It is an endeavor to meet our future, now.

This just may be the most important building to be constructed in Boston since .....

 

[novacat]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Lapradetom -- How soon they forget -- Comon is this an Architectural Forum where serious issues of visibility from Mars are discussed in aesthetic and scientific terms -- or is this some tourist blog where people endless argue about whether the red Brick Freedom Trail is a secret admission that Royalists still rule

Well here's the quote [Boston.com April 4, 2016 reporting on the GE Official Arrival] -- with my highlights [in Bold] and some further thoughts as befitting the standards of the AB forum

https://www.boston.com/news/business/2016/04/04/ge-boston-event


Neither the Governor nor the Mayor had nearly a memorable line to quote in perpetuity

Jeffs quote perhaps inadvertently echoes John Winthrop's famous sermon aboard the Arabella in 1630, “A Model of Christian Charity.” Often referred to as the "City on a Hill Speech" It was given aboard the Arbella not long before reaching New England. Winthrop a Puritan Preacher as well as the future First Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. in turn was echoing text from the New Testament [Jesus Sermon on the Mount] and that then links to the Old Testament by quoting several prophets


Later quoted by many others including :

• 9 January 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy -- an address delivered to the General Court of Massachusetts
• January 11, 1989, President Ronald Reagan -- farewell speech to the nation:
  
• June 2, 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama -- Commencement address @ University of Massachusetts Boston,
  

So I think that Jeff is in good company -- His goal is to remake GE as the Bridge between Traditional Industry and the Digital Future -- and the traditional Logo and the Necco Buildings are the link to its historic past. The light from the Logo "Visible from Mars" is the brightness of the future -- and this is where it will happen!!

In a post on Linked-In Jeff wrote


This just may be the most important building to be constructed in Boston since .....

I think you may be overestimating the importance of the GE Headquarter building...It's not like Fairfield became this mecca of business after GE rolled in. It is a big win on the prestige and branding side of the house for mass but this is not going to revolutionize business in Boston. I think the large labs and university buildings (Harvard's new Paulson building, MIT Nano, Vertex) create a lot more value.

Defining what makes an important building is obviously subjective but one measure you could use is "value creation" that takes place inside...something "buy high-sell low" Jeff Immelt is not particularly good at..(disgruntled GE shareholder). Here is hoping he steps down, takes the GE Exec - Cape and Island retirement golf package and turns the Company over to the lad who lives in Hingham.

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

I think you may be overestimating the importance of the GE Headquarter building...It's not like Fairfield became this mecca of business after GE rolled in. It is a big win on the prestige and branding side of the house for mass but this is not going to revolutionize business in Boston. I think the large labs and university buildings (Harvard's new Paulson building, MIT Nano, Vertex) create a lot more value.

Defining what makes an important building is obviously subjective but one measure you could use is "value creation" that takes place inside...something "buy high-sell low" Jeff Immelt is not particularly good at..(disgruntled GE shareholder). Here is hoping he steps down, takes the GE Exec - Cape and Island retirement golf package and turns the Company over to the lad who lives in Hingham.

Novacat -- I've never met Jeff although I have met his predecessor Jack Welch who was and is a Boston Boy

Yet if you read what Jeff has written and said about once again re-inventing GE -- well the Fairfield experience was good for its time -- but now is the antithesis of what the company needs.

As to the impact on the surroundings -- a bit more from
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hub-...jeff-immelt?trk=mp-reader-card#prclt-8CEw724K

The Hub: Redefining HQ for A Digital Age
Published on April 4, 2016
Jeff Immelt
Chairman and CEO at GE

Historically, corporate headquarters was a giant bureau drawer, a “temple for reviews,” and only named as the headquarters due to size or the number of executives located there. As Silicon Valley giants emerged they turned their headquarters into more inclusive mini-cities. But what too many of them still lack is a reason for being, one that amplifies rather than stifles innovation. The whole headquarters model needs to be transformed, if not upended.

That’s why we think of HQ in terms of IQ, a place that serves as an accelerator of knowledge for the entire business. Location and size take a back seat to the flow of information from and to the business units where it’s likely to drive outcomes.

Our new idea for headquarters has evolved as GE experiences the most consequential transformation in its history. We’re fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and close collaboration with customers to achieve faster results. We’re creating common yet differentiated platforms to rapidly share advanced technologies, materials, software, analytics, commercialization, and business-model best practices across the enterprise. We’re driving progress outside of our walls, investing in growth ideas that build businesses. We’re even developing partnerships that transcend the usual constraints of space and time, hosting Open Innovation challenges to tackle tough problems with novel solutions from all over the world.

That's not the kind of nexus that you would locate in the midst of a big suburban lawn in Fairfield -- the new GE will be right at home with having Rethink Robotics 300 m [5 min walk] away from the GE Robotics team. In the future I expect that there will be a GE keiretsu localized in the Summer St area much like there used to be dozens of major defense names surrounding and near to Hanscom

 

[novacat]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Novacat -- I've never met Jeff although I have met his predecessor Jack Welch who was and is a Boston Boy

Yet if you read what Jeff has written and said about once again re-inventing GE -- well the Fairfield experience was good for its time -- but now is the antithesis of what the company needs.

As to the impact on the surroundings -- a bit more from
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hub-...jeff-immelt?trk=mp-reader-card#prclt-8CEw724K


That's not the kind of nexus that you would locate in the midst of a big suburban lawn in Fairfield -- the new GE will be right at home with having Rethink Robotics 300 m [5 min walk] away from the GE Robotics team. In the future I expect that there will be a GE keiretsu localized in the Summer St area much like there used to be dozens of major defense names surrounding and near to Hanscom

Lots of marketing and style...I am going to wait for the substance...just look at the track record. ecomagination right before the fracking revolution, healthymagination...lets go big in oil and gas at 120 a barrel...you would be killing it just shorting ji big bets!

 

[CSTH]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

"We’re even developing partnerships that transcend the usual constraints of space and time..."

...this should have been a signal to you that the entire text of this press release is meaningless....

 

[tysmith95]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

General Electric has reversed course on a plan to tear down an elevated walkway attached to an old warehouse that will become part of its headquarters complex in Fort Point. The decision follows lobbying from local activists who argued their new corporate neighbor should keep the structure in place.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/2016/10/...ridge-place/1vFUxNQvpFYvUjseTebDmI/story.html

 

[odurandina]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Yep. Crazy wacko nimby rampage.

 

[stefal]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

From the article,

“But it’s just sort of a landmark and something I treasure, just like the Citgo sign,” McFeaters said.

I don't get this comparison. They don't compare at all. I understand it has history, but I don't consider it a landmark or an icon. I don't know. Maybe it's just because I don't live in the area. I don't treasure this walkway.. its rather ugly and obviously utilitarian..

Bishop characterized the elevated walkway as in “severe disrepair” that will cost more than $1 million to fix.

I understand $1 million is pocket change for GE, but really? $1 million to repair this walkway that won't be used by anyone?

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

From the article,

I don't get this comparison. They don't compare at all. I understand it has history, but I don't consider it a landmark or an icon. I don't know. Maybe it's just because I don't live in the area. I don't treasure this walkway.. its rather ugly and obviously utilitarian..

I understand $1 million is pocket change for GE, but really? $1 million to repair this walkway that won't be used by anyone?

Stefalarchitect -- But that's the point it is Ugly --but its not utilitarian

It might have been once a utilitarian way for NECCO to move raw materials or product about under a roof. However, for a considerable period its just been ugly -- you can't even get from one side of Necco Ct to the other via the bridge if you had permission to try. On the Summer St. Side it been walled off since the two sides of Necco Ct., ceased to have any relationship. And Note that this will not change when GE renovates their side of Necco Ct.

I understand GE trying to be amenable to lessen the NIMBY attacks on their Solar Veil -- but it set a lousey precedent -- apparently to be a credible NIMBY now all you need is a picture of the intended target of the project on a website

from the Globe story:

Fort Point artist Karen McFeaters, whose website features a painting of the structure, acknowledged that most people may not understand why it’s worth saving.

“But it’s just sort of a landmark and something I treasure, just like the Citgo sign,” McFeaters said.

Since its all about Art -- GE should arrange to project a Giant GE Logo onto the Bridge

 

[stefal]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Stefalarchitect -- But that's the point it is Ugly --but its not utilitarian

It might have been once a utilitarian way for NECCO to move raw materials or product about under a roof. However, for a considerable period its just been ugly -- you can't even get from one side of Necco Ct to the other via the bridge if you had permission to try. On the Summer St. Side it been walled off since the two sides of Necco Ct., ceased to have any relationship. And Note that this will not change when GE renovates their side of Necco Ct.

Correct, I should've said "used to be utilitiarian."

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Correct, I should've said "used to be utilitarian."

Here's a quasi utilitarian / artistic use for the "Bridge" -- of course the use requires that the Ugly Green walls be replaced by Glass -- which the preservationist NIMBYs will not like

Make it into a rotating gallery of science, art, technology -- once a month everything in the gallery is up for replacement -- people vote on-line as to whether an item be replaced with a proposed new item -- its sort of a visual Wikipedia

The only criteria for being a proposed new item -- the proposed item has to be produced by a company or individual with a presence in the Seaport / Innovation / GE-keiretsu district

So for example we could have for the inaugural month: a painting of the buildings with the original Green Bridge [by Fort Point artist Karen McFeaters the chief NIMBY], a Chemical Model of one of Vertex Pharma's drugs, a GE90 aircraft engine, a Rethink Robotics Robot, and Whitey Bulger's Baseball Cap [from the Courthouse]

There actually is a precedent for this in the Main street Gallery of The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

© 2016 The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

 

[bigpicture7]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

^ Whigh, I appreciate the sentiment (and agree the public display along Main in Kendall is a nice touch), but isn't the whole point that the NIMBY's want this to stay looking like an historic old pedestrian bridge. If you make the walls glass and turn it into a tech museum, I am quite confident that defeats the entire purpose of their activism (which I am not defending, btw).

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

^ Whigh, I appreciate the sentiment (and agree the public display along Main in Kendall is a nice touch), but isn't the whole point that the NIMBY's want this to stay looking like an historic old pedestrian bridge. If you make the walls glass and turn it into a tech museum, I am quite confident that defeats the entire purpose of their activism (which I am not defending, btw).

BigPicture -- i was being a bit facetious -- But since we are talking hypothetical here -- the Green can be replaced by the kind of electrochromic glass installed in the Yawkey Charles River Gallery at the MOS

One state is Transparent for the Art Gallery during the day and most of the night, every few hours in the middle of the night the walls go to a neutral white and a Karen McFeaters recreation of the original Ugly Green can be projected onto the Bridge

This way somebody gets to see her art and she gets paid for it [Although I might be wrong -- I've real doubts as to whether anyone would any other way] and we still benefit from the Innovation Gallery the rest of the time

 

[bigboybuilder]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Since its all about Art -- GE should arrange to project a Giant GE Logo onto the Bridge

+1 Whiglander this is brilliant!

 

[Sicilian]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

My definition of "NIMBY" is a party registering an oppositional point of view about a project, absent any understanding, background or information regarding planning context, architectural significance or history. In other words, an uninformed opinion. Earlier commenters in this thread, each opposing a proposed restoration of the Necco Court bridge, fit the definition of "NIMBY" precisely.

Here are facts to counter NIMBYs above:

City of Boston's preservation consultant (Dr. Sara Wermiel) cited the Necco court bridge as "character-defining" in her analysis of district buildings and structures.

During the 8-year process designating Fort Point as a Boston landmark district, the Boston Landmark Commission's appointed Study Committee unanimously characterized the Necco Court bridge as "character defining," and called for its preservation in district criteria.

The BLC Study Committee included preservation/reuse experts, area residents and business reps.

The development community was represented on the BLC Study Committee by Young Park of Berkeley Investments (FP3, 381 Congress, Row 34, Sportello, Menton, Drink, Barrington, Flour, Tavern Road, Pastoral, etc.).

At a Boston Landmarks Commission review of the General Electric project on August 11, 2016, a quorum of Commissioners agreed with FPCLD Commissioner BK Boley's statement that the Necco Court bridge was "iconic."

For context, BK Boley is founding partner of ADD Inc. (now Stantec), architect of 315onA, Watermark Seaport, Envoy Hotel, State Street Fort Point, etc.

The Necco Court bridge was built along with the Necco headquarters buildings on Melcher Street and the factory buildings on Necco Court (ca. 1907). The Necco Court bridge is one of few remaining landmark structures in the district, among them the Wormwood Street smokestack and Melcher St. bridge.

Fort Point hosts among the largest intact collections of "Machine Age" buildings and structures in the USA. During this industrial period, the wharf district was a globally recognized hub of wool processing factories and also known for glass, sugar refineries and more.

As for General Electric projecting its logo onto the bridge, a Globe comment from 9/30/16:

Respectfully, a faithful restoration of the historic Necco Court bridge could provide a striking addition to GE's 2.5 acre campus. And all things considered relative to the scope of GE's plans, such a restoration could be achieved with a reasonably small investment.

Imagine a restored green bridge illuminated at night. Or, perhaps taking it one step further, imagine GE casting an array of creative projections onto the bridge.

The Necco Court bridge presents a unique opportunity to honor Fort Point's industrial past, present and future.

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

My definition of "NIMBY" is a party registering an oppositional point of view about a project, absent any understanding, background or information regarding planning context, architectural significance or history. In other words, an uninformed opinion. Earlier commenters in this thread, each opposing a proposed restoration of the Necco Court bridge, fit the definition of "NIMBY" precisely.

Here are facts to counter NIMBYs above:

City of Boston's preservation consultant (Dr. Sara Wermiel) cited the Necco court bridge as "character-defining"

During the 8-year process designating Fort Point as a Boston landmark district, the Boston Landmark Commission's appointed Study Committee unanimously characterized the Necco Court bridge as "character defining," .

The BLC Study Committee included preservation/reuse experts, area residents and business reps.

The development community was represented on the BLC Study Committee by Young Park of Berkeley Investments (FP3, 381 Congress, Row 34, Sportello, Menton, Drink, Barrington, Flour, Tavern Road, Pastoral, etc.).

At a Boston Landmarks Commission review of the General Electric project on August 11, 2016, a quorum of Commissioners agreed with FPCLD Commissioner BK Boley's statement that the Necco Court bridge was "iconic."

For context, BK Boley is founding partner of ADD Inc. (now Stantec), architect of 315onA, Watermark Seaport, Envoy Hotel, State Street Fort Point, etc.

The Necco Court bridge was built along with the Necco headquarters buildings on Melcher Street and the factory buildings on Necco Court (ca. 1907). The Necco Court bridge is one of few remaining landmark structures in the district, among them the Wormwood Street smokestack and Melcher St. bridge.

Fort Point hosts among the largest intact collections of "Machine Age" buildings and structures in the USA. During this industrial period, the wharf district was a globally recognized hub of wool processing factories and also known for glass, sugar refineries and more.

Sicilian -- Although I would modify some of the statements about glass, wool, sugar to more accurately reflect the evolution of the area; I share many of the general sentiments about the importance of preserving our past.

My major quibble is that the Necco Ct Bridge was never a public amenity and it certainly wasn't unique. Necco used it to move candy and raw materials protected from the weather from building to building as their complex expanded organically. In addition, there is one very much like it which will be incorporated into the GE re-use of the 2 Brick & Timber Necco Buildings only feet away.

In contrast -- My major issue is the selective application of Preservation at all cost rhetoric. This kind of finality, lost to history forever language being applied to this one industrial artifact is unjustified. Neither George Washington, nor Paul Revere's horse walked across the Necco Ct. Bridge, nor did the Minutemen fire from one side of Necco Ct. to the other; Nor did Alexander Graham Bell shout across for Thomas Watson or Ponzi use it to store his ill gotten gains.

Far more significant artifacts from that early "industrial era" have recently made it to the scrap heap [e.g. major real bridges] with far less comments and some as close as the Northern Avenue Bridge are likely to follow suit.

No, I suspect that the NIMBYism about this Green Monstrosity has all to do with the very recent history of the area when "artists" were the pioneers in reoccupying the dead industrial zone. The "artists" are now being priced out of their nicely located, if in need of some renovation, "pads" and "studios" and they are indignant and have friends among all the Landmarkers.

In contrast small low, med, high tech, and biotech emterprises first reoccupied the far more historic Kendall square area. Today, many small warehouse and industrial buildings housing small on-going low, med, high tech businesses and start-ups with limited financing have bitten the dust for massive Biotech Lab Complexes. The small techies [potentially developing something which could trigger a reinvention of the entire modern world] don't have the cache of someone who hammers a couple of pipes together and calls it art. -- Just my personal opinion.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Sicilian -- Although I would modify some of the statements about glass, wool, sugar to more accurately reflect the evolution of the area; I share many of the general sentiments about the importance of preserving our past.

My major quibble is that the Necco Ct Bridge was never a public amenity and it certainly wasn't unique. Necco used it to move candy and raw materials protected from the weather from building to building as their complex expanded organically. In addition, there is one very much like it which will be incorporated into the GE re-use of the 2 Brick & Timber Necco Buildings only feet away.

In contrast -- My major issue is the selective application of Preservation at all cost rhetoric. This kind of finality, lost to history forever language being applied to this one industrial artifact is unjustified. Neither George Washington, nor Paul Revere's horse walked across the Necco Ct. Bridge, nor did the Minutemen fire from one side of Necco Ct. to the other; Nor did Alexander Graham Bell shout across for Thomas Watson or Ponzi use it to store his ill gotten gains.

Far more significant artifacts from that early "industrial era" have recently made it to the scrap heap [e.g. major real bridges] with far less comments and some as close as the Northern Avenue Bridge are likely to follow suit.

No, I suspect that the NIMBYism about this Green Monstrosity has all to do with the very recent history of the area when "artists" were the pioneers in reoccupying the dead industrial zone. The "artists" are now being priced out of their nicely located, if in need of some renovation, "pads" and "studios" and they are indignant and have friends among all the Landmarkers.

In contrast small low, med, high tech, and biotech emterprises first reoccupied the far more historic Kendall square area. Today, many small warehouse and industrial buildings housing small on-going low, med, high tech businesses and start-ups with limited financing have bitten the dust for massive Biotech Lab Complexes. The small techies [potentially developing something which could trigger a reinvention of the entire modern world] don't have the cache of someone who hammers a couple of pipes together and calls it art. -- Just my personal opinion.

Respectfully whighlander...

I provided recorded data regarding the architectural and historic significance of the Necco Court bridge.

You responded with a personal opinion and conjecture regarding the bridge's insignificance.

I listed names of experts on preservation and adaptive reuse. I also listed prominent Fort Point developers and architects designing and building our top 21st century Seaport projects. Each are leading proponents of the proposed preservation and restoration of the Necco Court bridge.

You responded to my post with unfounded assertions about the Fort Point arts community.

In fact, the Fort Point arts community did not take a leadership role in advocacy for Necco Court bridge preservation.

There were two public processes through which the community could register feedback, and also some level of consensus that evolved through public meetings.

The BPDA's Impact Advisory Group on the GE project -- roughly 10 apppointed representatives -- included one seat for FPAC (Fort Point Arts Community Inc.). Remaining seats included Fort Point residents, business owners and stakeholders. The lead on the IAG's letter to BPDA supporting preservation/restoration of the Necco Court bridge was Cheryl Tougias, the architect of the Channel Center garage (owner of Barlow's building). The IAG comment letter was signed by nearly all IAG members, but not the arts community's representative (as I understand she missed the signing deadline).

No members of the Fort Point arts community testified at GE's August 2016 hearing at the Boston Landmarks Commission (mentioned in my earlier post).

I'm guessing from your comment that you did not attend public hearings or engage in community meetings. Did you write a comment letter to BPDA during the public comment period?

As far as "preserve at any cost" goes, I'm not clear where this view comes from -- again it sounds like the type of uninformed narrative that defines NIMBYism. Again the Necco Court bridge is not one of scores of such structures, it is one of few remaining Machine Age structures (smokestack, Melcher St bridge, etc.). Yes, I'd support preservation of these few remaining structures without expecting a characterization of supporting "preservation at any cost."

And as for the significance of Fort Point's collection of wharf buildings during the industrial era, let me repeat that the wharf district (e.g. Fort Point) was a global hub of wool processing -- renown worldwide. Summer Street was known as "wool row" to merchants arriving from afar. The collection of intact structures is truly unique.

Finally, with respect to some disdain registered for the arts community, I can't relate to that at all. I count among friends in Fort Point an amazing array of Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, Pulitzer, Knight Fellowship and other various award winners. Among our emerging artists, no one I know is hammering pipes together and calling it art. In the 1980's, many of us were spending our time in Cambridge (myself, often with friends at MIT's infamous Building 20) producing works, events and performances. We were building a community that would later become Kendall Square. There was no distinction between artists, inventors and small startups, as your post suggests.

 

[whighlander]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

Respectfully whighlander...

I provided recorded data regarding the architectural and historic significance of the Necco Court bridge....

You responded with a personal opinion and conjecture regarding the bridge's insignificance.

You responded to my post with unfounded assertions about the Fort Point arts community.

In fact, the Fort Point arts community did not take a leadership role in advocacy for Necco Court bridge preservation.

There were two public processes through which the community could register feedback, and also some level of consensus that evolved through public meetings.

No members of the Fort Point arts community testified at GE's August 2016 hearing at the Boston Landmarks Commission (mentioned in my earlier post).

I'm guessing from your comment that you did not attend public hearings or engage in community meetings. Did you write a comment letter to BPDA during the public comment period?

As far as "preserve at any cost" goes, I'm not clear where this view comes from -- again it sounds like the type of uninformed narrative that defines NIMBYism. Again the Necco Court bridge is not one of scores of such structures, it is one of few remaining Machine Age structures (smokestack, Melcher St bridge, etc.). Yes, I'd support preservation of these few remaining structures without expecting a characterization of supporting "preservation at any cost."

And as for the significance of Fort Point's collection of wharf buildings during the industrial era, let me repeat that the wharf district (e.g. Fort Point) was a global hub of wool processing -- renown worldwide. Summer Street was known as "wool row" to merchants arriving from afar. The collection of intact structures is truly unique.

Finally, with respect to some disdain registered for the arts community, I can't relate to that at all. I count among friends in Fort Point an amazing array of Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, Pulitzer, Knight Fellowship and other various award winners. Among our emerging artists, no one I know is hammering pipes together and calling it art. In the 1980's, many of us were spending our time in Cambridge (myself, often with friends at MIT's infamous Building 20) producing works, events and performances. We were building a community that would later become Kendall Square. There was no distinction between artists, inventors and small startups, as your post suggests.

Sicilian -- no personal disrespect intended

But what you cite as authoritative for most of the Preservation is actually just is much opinion as mine except that your authorities are paid to express their opinions on such matters.

As to my knowledge of the history of the area -- I've spent some time researching through the omniscience of Google -- how the mud flats at the time of the Revolution became the BWC complex and the railroad Fan Pier, along with NECCO and later Gillette, Commonwealth Pier the Naval and Army installations and such during beginning in the 19th and on to the mid 20th C.

By the time I was an undergraduate things were essentially decaying back to just a higher-base-above sea level mud flat with some parking lots. During my undergraduate years I spent quite a few weekends walking in the area looking at what remnants of what had been and looking at the potential. As part of NROTC, I've also spent time under the keel of a large ship in the Big Dry dock, etc.

A bit later some proposals arose for renovating Commonwealth Pier into an Electronics Marketplace called BOSCom. Still later the seaport Hotel and WTC finally got the district off the development "Snide" But even that was just a lonely outpost for more than a decade.

As to GE specifically, I've read essentially every word available in public and did attend the public presentation given in early September.

At that meeting after BRA, Mass Development and GE spoke there was a quite extended question period and I heard NIMBYism -- mostly directed at the Solar Veil and the lack of proper orientation of the main building to allow some "100 Acre Plan" view corridor to the USPS to be properly preserved The NIMBYism was led by "self-proclaimed" artists and a couple of environmental activists who were worried about 1000 year floods being enhanced

As to the hammering of pipes and the Fort Point Arts Community -- Well that might have been a bit of an excessively harsh comment. I actually attended one Fort Point open studios a few years ago -- and it wasn't all bd.

I do have a general attitude [until proven otherwise] about much of the creative community's recent bankruptcy of ideas. As an undergraduate in the 1970's I daily got to personally "appreciate" much of the "art" which littered the MIT campus courtesy mostly of Jerry Wiesner. A few were interesting and even throught provoking -- much was as banal as most of the architecture of the era. And yes there even was a work which really looked like some rusted air conditioning ducts which intersected at some strange angles. Much later doing some teaching at UNH I was a witness to the unveiling of art accompanying the reconstructed Engineering Building -- it consisted of several steel I beams cobbled together to represent engineering. I'm a bit more partial to Pierre Puvis de Chavannes mural at the BPL allegorically depicting Physics [circa 1895] just before Modern Physics actually was born and grew-up [circa 1900 - 1930]

Physics by Boston Public Library, on Flickr

I've also witnessed several "minimalist" works by Carl Andre -- forever associated with an anecdote of an exhibition at the Tate -- a janitor accidentally threw out part of one of the works [it was a janitors bucket with water, a balloon and a dead fly] and a commissioned work in Hartford Ct

-- go figure who couldn't have recognized it as Michelangelo's hand in action

I guess I kind of prefer this arrangement in stone and a few other things

Finally, you hurt me to the quick, with this comment

Cambridge (myself, often with friends at MIT's infamous Building 20) producing works, events and performances. We were building a community that would later become Kendall Square.

I was in A wing of the Great Building 20 from the 2nd day after I arrived for Residence and Orientation [and got to hear Jerry Wiesner] -- I didn't do art there [except accidentally when I created some interesting burn patterns with a Transverse Excitation Atmospheric CO2 Laser] which I was building and later operating in the Plasma Physics Group of the Research Laboratory for Electronics. I also spent some time in Bldg. 20 while an NROTC Student, and some time with some other activities including some AI-related things such as what became Thinking Machines [which for a while did become kendall Square's "hot prospects"] -- Unfortunately, I never actually met any of your creative community which would later become Kendall Sq. -- Sorry

 

[odurandina]

Re: General Electric HQ | 244-284 A Street | Fort Point

This bridge is just the latest absurd nimby bullshit in a long line of preposterous nimby bullshit and endless extortion tactics.... There has to be a balance and this crap is of no value to anyone but a bunch of elitist obstructionist loons that continue to hurt Boston.