Good ‘ol Boston lobbies

[squidman1]

I’m not partial to all old design... but I think certain buildings in Boston never deserved to have their lobbies replaced with blank, non-descript white design. While some might’ve had spectacularly ugly lobbies, they were quite memorable to many. (ex. 1 PO Sq)

I just created this thread to discuss, share photos, and debate on what was good, and what utterly sucked.

And yes, I’ve created another thread that probably won’t make it past 2 days of life. Laugh all you want!

 

[DBM]

I like this topic FWIW. In most cases that I'm aware of, recent lobby renovations of Class A trophy office towers--101 Arch, 100 Summer, 125 Summer, 99 Summer are ones I've seen--have done an admirable job of refreshing looks that were very 80s, Nakatomi Plaza-style (or Trumpesque?) dated. (warning!: more 80s pop-culture references ahead).

That said, in a different thread, I just referenced Related/Beal's 40 Water St. renovation.

As I recall, pre-renovation, when it was 82 Devonshire, the Brown Brothers Harriman lobby there was as old-school Yankee as it got. Like, every interior scene of Duke & Duke from Trading Places old-school Yankee. Or, alternatively, it was as Yankee as Spinal Tap's watered-down Smell The Glove album cover was black.

So, the morph from 82 Devonshire to 40 Water was a very radical lobby makeover, as opposed to the mere "refreshes" of the towers noted above. Unfortunately I can't track down any BBH/82 Devonshire lobby shots, but, here's 40 Water's lobby, now (final two slides): https://www.arrowstreet.com/portfolio/congress-square/

I leave it to others to pass aesthetic judgments...