Hurley Building Redevelopment | 19 Staniford St | West End

Blackbird said:
I'd be sad to see old frog-face bite the dust!
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Don’t be sad, I like him too! Just think, Ole Frog Face could be saved to make a fun sculpture in the park of the new development! It’s just the rest of the building I find to be a hot brutal mess.
 
Imo we have “enough” brutalist structures in Boston. This thing has a completely dead street wall and takes up a huge parcel of land right in downtown. Im all for keeping city hall, its an ugly icon at this point, but this building is garbage.

I dont hate all brutalist buildings at all, but theres no saving this. To drastically change it to make it more friendly to street life plus add office/lab space would take huge changes that would make it basically a new building.
 
I thought there was supposed to be an office tower there, but it was never built. :(
 
DZH22 said:
No new info here, but it's an informative site with a cool picture.
https://www.paulrudolphheritagefoundation.org/196205-boston-government-services-center

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I won't say we dodged any bullets because this section of the city is riddled with urban renewal bullet holes, but it's wild to think that it could have actually been worse. What is that mess between Union/Congress where the Holocaust Memorial is? And the overpass from City Hall to Faneuil Hall is interesting. I think we're better off without it, but it would have made for an interesting photo vantage point in the direction of P.O. Square.
 
the lindemann is way cooler than hurley. if one of the two were to be lost, i'd choose hurley (though i think, in both cases, if either were demo'd future generations would think we were a buncha fuckin dopes).
 
Lrfox said:
I won't say we dodged any bullets because this section of the city is riddled with urban renewal bullet holes, but it's wild to think that it could have actually been worse. What is that mess between Union/Congress where the Holocaust Memorial is? And the overpass from City Hall to Faneuil Hall is interesting. I think we're better off without it, but it would have made for an interesting photo vantage point in the direction of P.O. Square.
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The mess you cite was supposed to be a motel...glad it didn't make it. The overpass was to go to the plaza at 60 State Street. that was finally filled with the new beer hall. It would have disguised the ugly garage entrance at City Hall and eliminated the need to descend 100 steps to get from the Plaza to the street. The whole project was another "looks great from the air but sucks on street level" 60's projects. Boston was desperate to dig itself out from the post-War doldrums, thus the central artery and the urban renewal razing of so much of the central city.
 
atlantaden said:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, please, just call in the bulldozers and level the whole damn concrete mess!
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I like some of Paul Rudolph's work, but not this one. The UMass Dartmouth campus designed by Mr. Rudolph is well suited for it's site in the open countryside. The Hurley Building itself isn't that bad, it's just the inappropriate location and lack of street level interaction and accessibility. It's a walled fortress hulking over the city, but this site needs buildings that are lively and interactive with the city's pedestrian street life. I'd love to see a few small streets punched through, with some low rise development and a couple of towers, all with ground level retail. Also, the same done with 1-2-3 Center Plaza and the low-rise portion of the Federal Building.
 
As much as I appreciate certain sculptural parts of this building and the sweeping staircases (which can't be used by the public), it seems there is no alternative. Refurbishment and reuse will only further bastardize the architecture. And since it dominates such a huge block and is hostile to pedestrians, a nice competition for a significant mixed-use complex would be in order.
 
I'm surprised we still haven't heard anything about this one yet regarding any actual proposals. I hope they collectively figure out that 400' isn't going to cut it and we get something 700'+ here. They should just take this old Winthrop Square proposal and move it to the Hurley. Otherwise to make it work at the lower heights we'll probably end up with a fatter version of the McCormack Building.

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