Holocaust Museum Boston | 125 Tremont Street | Downtown

[shmessy]

Amazing the contrast between the two side by side new developments coming to that space - - -first, the white spaceship/completely out of context Holocaust Museum building, and then the spectacular and RESPECTFUL to its surroundings Vespar Hotel.

What also strikes me comparatively is the almost complete lack of windows on the White Spaceship versus the abundance (and celebration with the undulating angles) of windows on the Vespar. Also, the Vespar keeps and celebrates the Old Boston facade of its first three stories.

Thirdly, the Orpheum sees the Vespar as the GOOD neighbor of the two (not the one it is suing re street access......yet, at least).

 

[DBM]

Amazing the contrast between the two side by side new developments coming to that space - - -first, the white spaceship/completely out of context Holocaust Museum building, and then the spectacular and RESPECTFUL to its surroundings Vespar Hotel.

What also strikes me comparatively is the almost complete lack of windows on the White Spaceship versus the abundance (and celebration with the undulating angles) of windows on the Vespar. Also, the Vespar keeps and celebrates the Old Boston facade of its first three stories.

Thirdly, the Orpheum sees the Vespar as the GOOD neighbor of the two (not the one it is suing re street access......yet, at least).

Although I find your fixation on "respectfulness" to be bizarre--an urban landscape that only regurgitates "respectful" iterations of prior architectural styles strikes me as deathly dreary and dull (and also a bit fascist/totalitarian)--I will grant that the facade preservation being done for the 9 Hamilton hotel is pretty neat. And also resonant with what was done with 1 Franklin, where MTower was built above the Burnham Bldg. aka Filene's so that the Burnham Bldg. could "breathe".

That said, life is full of trade-offs... I'm seeing now that the 9 Hamilton construction permit was issued in late February--9 months ago and counting. How much do you think that delay in mobilization might be due to the decision to preserve the facade?

I'm no structural engineer, but my (totally uninformed) speculation is if they hadn't decided to preserve the facade, the engineering of the project would've been much easier. (Though maybe it wouldn't have been approved so easily--again, trade-offs!)

 

[NHMaples]

I agree that new buildings should respect their context. It gives areas a sense of cohesiveness as opposed to clutter.

I really don't see this addition as a white spaceship though. The renders I see show a natural ivory color which doesn't clash with the earth tones in the area. The shape is somewhat blocky, but the ribs give it a more organic feel. Of course, some of what enters the eye is subjective.

 

[RandomWalk]

The BPDA project review document has a project description on page 10 that gives background on the design and the choice of location. Both are deliberate choices meant to engage people in learning about prejudice and hatred. Fitting in would be counter to that mission.

 

[tobyjug]

What was there before was one of the most mediocre buildings in town, so no loss there. The new building design has grown on me. I get the concern and wouldn’t want a whole block of it, But as a specimen piece it might be just fine.

 

[HenryAlan]

The BPDA project review document has a project description on page 10 that gives background on the design and the choice of location. Both are deliberate choices meant to engage people in learning about prejudice and hatred. Fitting in would be counter to that mission.

That's a really important point. This isn't meant to be a background building, it's meant to jar the viewer, get them out of their normal comfortable box so that they can then confront the hard lessons of the exhibits inside. Makes complete sense and I'm glad they are taking this approach.

 

[mssrro]

1/19:

 

[Java King]

I don't know if this was posted previously, but it's interesting:

 

[tobyjug]

Old pictures of the site lifted from an Old Bostonian Facebook post. The bank looks better in the rendering than it ever did in my 68 years of going past it!