Hmm... I like all of these except 888 Boylston which isn't a bad building either but the weird decorative and nonsensical V bracing is just too much.
Kenmore Square North (WHOOP) | 533-541 Commonwealth Ave | Fenway
- Thread starter 12345
- Start date
Hmm... I like all of these except 888 Boylston which isn't a bad building either but the weird decorative and nonsensical V bracing is just too much.
I can't decide if people's animosity to this building is just due just pent up feelings of nostalgia for something that was lost twenty years ago or something actually legitimate.
Sorry folks, old Kenmore isn't coming back. Time to move on. The city is changing.
Sorry folks, old Kenmore isn't coming back. Time to move on. The city is changing.
bigpicture7
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2016
- Messages
- 3,762
- Reaction score
- 8,700
So you thought my posts and policy suggestions were about nostalgia? To the contrary, they were about the future.
I have no issue with developers adding office and retail capacity to Kenmore, but believe there are better ways to execute what's being done for the long-term health of the city.
Old Kenmore isn’t coming back but the final product here was more or less dictated by preserving the public’s ability to see an advertisement for an oil company. What an embarrassment.
i get that the city is changing, and in many (most) ways for the better. it's a safer, cleaner, more prosperous place than it was decades ago. i also understand how gentrification works and how with the good that such evolution brings comes the "bad."
i'm not saying that unless they knock down hotel commonwealth and reopen the rat and planet records etc. that kenmore square is destined to suck -- it's more that it's undeniable that current and recent developments have turned what was a vibrant area with character into a strip of anytown, USA, that people pass through on their way to/from fenway park unless they're staying at the ridiculous hotel that was so butt-ugly upon completion that it needed to be tweaked soas to be merely "bleh."
this isn't about being against boston changing (i'm all for building tall, i'm all for aggressive and creative development) -- this is about changes for the worse that could be avoided or mitigated. as another poster noted, this particular development is straight out of rt 128 office park suburbia. it has no place in a city square -- particularly if it means entirely knocking down a detailed, unique, pre-war structure.
i'm not saying that unless they knock down hotel commonwealth and reopen the rat and planet records etc. that kenmore square is destined to suck -- it's more that it's undeniable that current and recent developments have turned what was a vibrant area with character into a strip of anytown, USA, that people pass through on their way to/from fenway park unless they're staying at the ridiculous hotel that was so butt-ugly upon completion that it needed to be tweaked soas to be merely "bleh."
this isn't about being against boston changing (i'm all for building tall, i'm all for aggressive and creative development) -- this is about changes for the worse that could be avoided or mitigated. as another poster noted, this particular development is straight out of rt 128 office park suburbia. it has no place in a city square -- particularly if it means entirely knocking down a detailed, unique, pre-war structure.
+1, BP7. Preserving a detailed facade and building around and over it doesn't equate to mummifying Kenmore Square. It's very forward thinking, while at the same time keeps Boston's uniqueness in comparison to other cities that simply don't have these gifts of old time workmanship.
.
guitarguynboston
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2009
- Messages
- 237
- Reaction score
- 304
Why can't we have laws/deals like we do with residental where so much affordable housing is getting built because of the high end condos. For so many exspensive and chain businesses added, so many commercial space is created for mom and pop businesses where the leases will be cheaper. So has to be done soon or all we will be left with is a few big businesses like Amazon and Wal-Mart
whighlander
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Messages
- 7,812
- Reaction score
- 647
Guitarguy -- if you drive or even walk around -- you will find lots of small retail places for lease
There is no shortage of spots in older buildings for Moms and Pops to set up shop -- the problem is that unless they are selling food in some form its hard to make a successful business -- people mostly either buy on-line or Big Box
Massachoicetts
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2019
- Messages
- 573
- Reaction score
- 713
to be replaced by:
Any questions as to why some of us are upset about this?
I think it looks great. Adding too much height would make us lose the Citgo sign.. which is intricate to Boston Culture.
I think the building looks great and I am a huge supporter of build as high as you can... but here, it would ruin a big part of what Boston is.
However... I think it does look quite Office Parky and Id wish they blend it a little better into the area. The ground level looks too sterile too.
stick n move
Superstar
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2009
- Messages
- 11,191
- Reaction score
- 15,367
Last edited:
That was the point.
This isn't some parking lot in Malden.
It's Kenmore Square.
Height isn't the issue. The generic nature of it is.
I would love to hear Brian Golden at BPDA explain why this is an improvement. Or even a fair trade.
Kenmore presents challenges. No doubt. The current building has issues. Okay. Your job is hard. Understood.
But trading historical detail for this?
Kenmore presents challenges. No doubt. The current building has issues. Okay. Your job is hard. Understood.
But trading historical detail for this?
North Shore
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2014
- Messages
- 234
- Reaction score
- 244
A red brick and glass multilevel structure that would look perfectly at home with any office park located off of 128 vs. the existing structure that has some stunning architectural features.
Such a shame.
Such a shame.
Czervik.Construction
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2013
- Messages
- 1,881
- Reaction score
- 983
I know my view is unpopular...
I am dismayed by the sanitized transformation of Kenmore. My worst fears over the decades for Harvard and Central Squares quickly manifested in Kenmore instead.
The proposed building is stunning in its banality, already covered at length here.
However, the current building is dumpy and not worth saving. It is not a unique jewel box representation of an architectural style.
There are miles of buildings like this in NYC, Philly, Chicago, etc.
The loss of this building will not change the fact that Kenmore has been white washed for a long time and the new building, although dull will not make the square any less appealing.
Plus that Studio Gang building will more than make up for this development.
Happy Friday, everyone.
I am dismayed by the sanitized transformation of Kenmore. My worst fears over the decades for Harvard and Central Squares quickly manifested in Kenmore instead.
The proposed building is stunning in its banality, already covered at length here.
However, the current building is dumpy and not worth saving. It is not a unique jewel box representation of an architectural style.
There are miles of buildings like this in NYC, Philly, Chicago, etc.
The loss of this building will not change the fact that Kenmore has been white washed for a long time and the new building, although dull will not make the square any less appealing.
Plus that Studio Gang building will more than make up for this development.
Happy Friday, everyone.
^Czervik, nothing incorrect about your assessment of the current building. (As far as I know.)
My concern mimics your own. Your word "banal" sums it up. Perfectly.
I fear the slow creep of mediocrity intruding in too many places in our city.
It is true - not everything can be saved - but not everything we save needs to be noteworthy. History alone has meaning. A city's collective memory has value. This is one reason we love our city.
If you are going to trade history for some proposed benefit, then allow the public the benefit, not just the landowner. This new building would be banal even on 128. (I'm sure the architect means well, and is simply endeavoring to please a client. I get it. But the stakes are too high to mince words any longer.)
This Square vibrates with history for all of us who grew up here, and the many more who went to school in our city. It is an important crossroad.
Tawdry in parts? Yes! Wonderfully so! That's a city. Can it be improved. Yes. Just take care!
If you nibble relentlessly at the fabric of anything, you will eventually change the very nature of the thing itself.
I realize this sounds, well... overstated. Okay. Guilty. But is it really? Or will the day come when we wake up and we look out and we say to ourselves, "Our city has changed, and not for the better."
I've said this before: a neighborhood without a history is like a person without a biography.
Once gone. It's gone.
If I had wanted to live in Houston I would have moved there.
My concern mimics your own. Your word "banal" sums it up. Perfectly.
I fear the slow creep of mediocrity intruding in too many places in our city.
It is true - not everything can be saved - but not everything we save needs to be noteworthy. History alone has meaning. A city's collective memory has value. This is one reason we love our city.
If you are going to trade history for some proposed benefit, then allow the public the benefit, not just the landowner. This new building would be banal even on 128. (I'm sure the architect means well, and is simply endeavoring to please a client. I get it. But the stakes are too high to mince words any longer.)
This Square vibrates with history for all of us who grew up here, and the many more who went to school in our city. It is an important crossroad.
Tawdry in parts? Yes! Wonderfully so! That's a city. Can it be improved. Yes. Just take care!
If you nibble relentlessly at the fabric of anything, you will eventually change the very nature of the thing itself.
I realize this sounds, well... overstated. Okay. Guilty. But is it really? Or will the day come when we wake up and we look out and we say to ourselves, "Our city has changed, and not for the better."
I've said this before: a neighborhood without a history is like a person without a biography.
Once gone. It's gone.
If I had wanted to live in Houston I would have moved there.
