Hall of Fame Nominees

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briv

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Members are encouraged to nominate an existing building, park or piece of infrastructure in the Boston area that they believe makes a positive, integral contribution to the built environment. These deserve special recognition and possess attributes worthy of emulation in future projects.

There will be three new inductees.

Previous inductees:

2010
South Station
Boston Public Library (McKim Building)
Trinity Church

2009
Design Research Building
Custom House
Comm. Ave. Mall

2008
New John Hancock
Christian Science Center
Rowes Wharf
 
Columbus Park

Castle Island & Pleasure Bay

Winter Street

Public Garden
 
the Public Gardens lagoon bridge (worlds smallest suspension bridge)

That amazing old building just to the right of Cambridge City hall (no idea what it i called)

Kresge Auditorium

Winthrop Building
 
SS Pierce building, Coolidge Corner
 
My proposed inductees;

MIT the original integrated campus main and subsequent connected additions for recognition of the reality of the New England climate

Pru complex for the same reason

MFA (as recently modified) for being just about ideal for the function as a world-class cultural venue
 
I would like to nominate:

The Lenox Hotel (I like the lit up sign)

The Landmark (gold dome building on high street)

Whatever this church is... (much nicer than Trinity IMO)

IMG_0860.jpg
 
that's called Old South Church -- sometimes 'New' Old South Church to distinguish it from its predecessor on Washington STreet.
 
that's called Old South Church -- sometimes 'New' Old South Church to distinguish it from its predecessor on Washington STreet.

Ron -- to be correct it is the New Old South Church Building ("NOSB") -- but that name hides an "Only in Boston" history

The congregation which built NOSB was gathered in 1669 when it broke off from First Church of Boston, a Congregationalist church founded by John Winthrop in 1630. These dissenters from Boston's First Church were known as Third Church in Boston. The Third Church's congregation met first in their newly built and long gone "Cedar Meeting House" (1670).

In 1729 they (3rd Church congregation or "3C") finished building and moved into their new home the current "Old South Church" or more properly the Old South Meeting House ("OSMH") with its 56 m (183 ft) steeple --- However of course it was then known as the South Church or South Meeting House. As the largest building in New England -- OSMH was also used for community meetings including an annual memorial session to the Boston Massacre (1770).

On December 16, 1773, a public meeting on taxes (specifically the Tax on Tea) was moved from Faneuil Hall to the OSMH because of the size of the crowd (5,000 men). from this meeting -- Sam Adams led a group to toss the tea into the harbor ("Boston Tea Party"). As a consequence, when the British occupied Boston -- to punish Boston for the Tea Party the British Army turned the OSMH into an indoor riding arena with hundreds of tons of soil and gravel. it took 8 years after the liberation of Boston in 1776 to restore the interior.

Members of the congregation have included Samuel Adams, William Dawes, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Sewall, and Phillis Wheatley. Franlkin was born in 1706 in a house long since gone opposite the OSMH on Milk Street -- he is memorialized both by a Statue in front of the Old City Hall and by a portrait bust attached to a building at 1 Milk St.

Anyway -- after the Civil War However, the 3C was once again on the move -- In 1870 in response to the opening of the Back Bay as the most desirable residential district -- the very wealthy 3C congregation commissioned the Boston architectural firm of Cummings and Sears to design a new house of worship to be centrally located at Copley Sq. in the Back Bay. In 1873, the Third Church's congregation moved into their still incomplete new church building (completed ad dedicated in 1875) --- their third place of worship -- in effect the 3rd Church Building of the 3rd Church.


Meanwhile, after the Great Boston Fire of 1872 nearly destroyed the Old South Meeting House, and the move -- The Old South Meeting House was put on the auction block and a local newspaper advertised the sale:

see -- http://www.osmh.org/osmh_123456789files/leader_in_historic_preservation.aspx

"All the materials above the level of the sidewalks except the Corner Stone and the Clock in the Tower, of this ancient and historical landmark building, which has now come under the auctioneer’s hammer, and will be disposed of on Thursday, June 8, 1876, at 12 o’clock noon on the premises, on the corner of Washington and Milk Streets. The spire is covered with copper, and there is a lot of lead on roof and belfry, and the roof is covered with imported Welch slate. 60 days will be allowed for the removal. Terms cash.

The building was auctioned off for the paltry sum of $1,350 for the value of its materials. The valuable downtown lot was then freed for sale or lease. The threat of demolition galvanized a determined group of “twenty women of Boston” to raise funds to save the building from the wrecker’s ball. They enlisted the help of famous Bostonians, including Ralph Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Louisa May Alcott to rally people to help. Rousing speeches by abolitionist Wendell Phillips (leaflet # ) moved audiences to pledge funds needed to save this historic landmark. Their combined efforts raised over $400,000 – an enormous sum in the 1870’s – to purchase the building and its land. It was the first time that a public building in the United States was saved because of its association with nationally important historical events.

The Old South Meeting House was saved as a museum and was open to the public in 1877 by the Old South Association. As part of its mission to foster democratic values, Old South launched an ambitious educational program in American history and citizenship and began to publish documents from American history as “Old South Leaflets”. A wide range of events, including “Children’s Hour” “Young People’s Lectures and essay contests reached out to students of all ages."

Note -- Once a year, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Old South congregation returns to Old South Meeting House for services in its ancestral home.

back to the New Old South:
http://www.oldsouth.org/about/history

"The building was completed in 1875, and is distinguished by its tall bell tower (campanile); brown, pink and grey stonework; walls of Roxbury puddingstone; decorative carvings; its polychromatic roof of red and black slate tiles; and its copper cupola or lantern."

And from the wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Church

The church building was designed between 1870 and 1872 by the Boston architectural firm of Cummings and Sears in the Venetian Gothic style. The style follows the precepts of the British cultural theorist and architectural critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) as outlined in his treatise The Stones of Venice. Old South Church in Boston remains one of the most significant examples of Ruskin's influence on American architecture. The architects, Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, also designed the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The exterior of the church is primarily built of Roxbury conglomerate commonly called puddingstone. Many arches, and several walls of stone are striped with alternating courses of yellow-beige and deep red sandstone. The porticos and large open arches in the campanile are decorated with simple plate tracery. The upper arches of the porticos are decorated with screens of ornate wrought iron. The building is roofed in alternating bands of red and dark gray slate and the roofline finished with ornamental iron cresting.

The Campanile
The lantern of Old South Church is inspired by the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice, Italy.
A tall tower, or campanile is the trademark feature of Old South and is visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The tower, on the western end of the church, rises to a height of 246' and houses the church's 2020 pound bell. This is the second campanile built on the same site, designed by Allen and Collens it is similar to the 1875 design in its use of Moorish arches. The first tower, completed in 1875 along with the present Narthex and sanctuary, had begun to list by the late 1920s. The cause was determined to be the faulty footings and piles anchored in the soft former swampland. They were insufficient for the load of the tower. The congregation engaged the architectural firm of Allen and Collens to design a replacement campanile and a new chapel to be named in memory of the Reverend George Angier Gordon. The tower was dismantled, and early 1930s technology of steam shovel and steel pilings provided a lasting solution. Today, the pitch and height of the tower are tested annually and records attest to its enduring stability. The bell wheel, which by motion of a heavy rope swings the large bell, had deteriorated by the late 20th century requiring that the bell be rung by an external hammer. A faithful reconstruction of the original 1931 bell wheel, installed in early fall 2006, returned Old South's bell to "full swing."

The style follows the precepts of the British cultural theorist and architectural critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) as outlined in his treatise The Stones of Venice. Old South Church in Boston remains one of the most significant examples of Ruskin's influence on American architecture. The architects, Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, also designed the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The exterior of the church is primarily built of Roxbury conglomerate commonly called puddingstone. Many arches, and several walls of stone are striped with alternating courses of yellow-beige and deep red sandstone. The porticos and large open arches in the campanile are decorated with simple plate tracery. The upper arches of the porticos are decorated with screens of ornate wrought iron. The building is roofed in alternating bands of red and dark gray slate and the roofline finished with ornamental iron cresting.
[edit]The Campanile

The lantern of Old South Church is inspired by the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice, Italy.
A tall tower, or campanile is the trademark feature of Old South and is visible from several Boston neighborhoods. The tower, on the western end of the church, rises to a height of 246' and houses the church's 2020 pound bell. This is the second campanile built on the same site, designed by Allen and Collens it is similar to the 1875 design in its use of Moorish arches. The first tower, completed in 1875 along with the present Narthex and sanctuary, had begun to list by the late 1920s. The cause was determined to be the faulty footings and piles anchored in the soft former swampland. They were insufficient for the load of the tower. The congregation engaged the architectural firm of Allen and Collens to design a replacement campanile and a new chapel to be named in memory of the Reverend George Angier Gordon. The tower was dismantled, and early 1930s technology of steam shovel and steel pilings provided a lasting solution. Today, the pitch and height of the tower are tested annually and records attest to its enduring stability. The bell wheel, which by motion of a heavy rope swings the large bell, had deteriorated by the late 20th century requiring that the bell be rung by an external hammer. A faithful reconstruction of the original 1931 bell wheel, installed in early fall 2006, returned Old South's bell to "full swing."

The Lantern
Centered above the Sanctuary on the east side of the church is a copper clad cupola surrounded by twelve ornate gothic arched windows. This feature is reminiscent of the cupolas of the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice. While the lantern provides a striking visual presence it was also built with function in mind. In the days before mechanical fans and air conditioning a series of mechanically operated louvers allowed for window panels to be opened to help cool the sanctuary inside."

there is a lot more on both the wiki and the old south's web site on the architecture and decorative arts associated with the church


As they say -- Only in Boston

I think that the tetrachy (pun?) at Copley: BPL, Trinity, JH tower and New Old South -- might be one of the greatest urban assemblages of architecture anywhere

Here's hoping that the new tower at Copley Place will be a worthy addition to the assemblage
 
Okay, I'll bite:
  1. Symphony Hall
  2. Jordan Hall
  3. The Ames Building
 
Given all the flack the Kennedy Greenway has received I nominate three world-class linear landscapes:

-the Esplanade
-the Emerald Necklace
-the SW Corridor Park
 
Quincy Marketplace
Public Garden
Boston Common
Thomas Park (just visited it for the first time last month--it's breathtaking!)
Symphony Hall
MFA
Charles River Esplanade
Longfellow Bridge
 
Thomas Park -- that's Telegraph Hill (aka Dorchester Heights) in South Boston?
 
I don't know how I could've forgotten this one:

POST OFFICE SQUARE

It often slips my mind unless I'm physically in the financial district, but I think Post Office Square is one of the most beautifully designed, well-maintained, and frequently used public spaces in the entire city. I probably ate lunch out there on the lawn/benches about 40 times this year, along with another couple thousand people.
 
I don't know how I could've forgotten this one:

POST OFFICE SQUARE

It often slips my mind unless I'm physically in the financial district, but I think Post Office Square is one of the most beautifully designed, well-maintained, and frequently used public spaces in the entire city. I probably ate lunch out there on the lawn/benches about 40 times this year, along with another couple thousand people.

That was going to be my nomination too. I love Post Office Sq.
 
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