Liberty Mutual Tower | 157 Berkeley Street | Back Bay

Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Toeing the line between elegant an bland.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Looks like Carson Pirie Scott only taller and without Louis Sullivan's mastery.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This would be better if there weren't the setback, more of a FlatIron type building.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

/\ Man I hope it even looks as nice as that one. /\

Not terrible but not great. At least we will have something to watch growing for a while.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I somewhat like. Looks like the base of the Trump tower in Chicago.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I <3 Carson Pirie Scott.

If this was anything close to that, I'd be thrilled. This rendering is simply too small to judge this sucker yet.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I give it a tentative thumbs-up, as I enjoy seeing flatiron-shaped buildings. I hope there will be ground-floor retail or restaurant spaces.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Looking at the rendering, this building appears to extend beyond the existing surface lot. Are they actually going to demolish the whole fucking block for this stumpy piece of garbage?

Don't let the flattering perspective fool you--this thing will be nearly as wide as it is tall. This is Seaport-level planning/architecture.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

briv said:
Looking at the rendering, this building appears to extend beyond the existing surface lot. Are they actually going to demolish the whole fucking block for this stumpy piece of garbage?

Don't let the flattering perspective fool you--this thing will be nearly as wide as it is tall. This is Seaport-level planning/architecture.
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I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. The perspective is exaggerated making the building look more triangular than it really will be.

- - - - -

[edit] -- actually, the existing building is very triangluar:

b1777a_liberty.jpg


4359912239_4370853953_b.jpg
 
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Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

The new building looks to me like it makes much better use of the triangle shape than the Salvation Army building did.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

My judgement of this project is probably a bit premature. That said, this is no Flatiron Building. Its Columbus/Berkeley St corner is about a 30 degree angle, pretty much identical to the Arlington/Stuart St corner of the Park Plaza Hotel. Not super dramatic, but that's neither here nor there.

My problem is the girth of this thing. The Tower's footprint is, at least judging from the rendering, a long (300' give or take) trapezoid about the same width as the new Hancock. Even at pushing 800', the Hancock's wide side is, IMO, pretty inelegant, to say the least. Now imagine a building as wide as the wide-side of the Hancock at what? 300' or so? Thats this building. If you want to see a real life example, just look at One Marina Park Drive.

Beyond this, I really don't like the idea of leveling virtually a whole block and replacing it with one monolithic building. I think the historic increment of development (in other words, scale) of this city is as worthy of preservation as its historic architecture.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

Should have included setbacks like these:

2169781925_8488f3f17e_o.jpg
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I'm with briv 100% on this. I'm surprised people aren't up in arms over this project. Especially the demolitions.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This just makes me sad because I love the Salvation Army Building. Oh well. A more slender tower around 450' keeping the SA building as a base would be nice.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I'm not too enamored with the Salvation Army building, but I can see the value of having a few different street-level facades for us urbanists. Unfortunately, that's probably the last thing a corporate office tower wants. Hopefully the street level will be well executed, but I'm holding judgment on anything until we get better renders.
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

I like it. The SA building looks like an abandoned army bunker. But yes, the proposal could use a setback
 
Re: Liberty Mutual plans major Boston expansion

This is from the BRA's blog:
The BRA said:
Liberty Mutual Files PNF for 157 Berkeley Street

Today, Friday, May 14, 2010, Liberty Mutual filed a project notification form (PNF) with the BRA. The proposed project calls for a new Class-A commercial office building located at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Berkeley Street. The project will function as a new home office building for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, the only Fortune 100 company that maintains its worldwide corporate headquarters in the City of Boston. Liberty Mutual will add approximately 600 full-time employees in the City of Boston as part of the project?s development. Liberty Mutual will continue to occupy its current home office buildings at 175 Berkeley and 30 St. James Avenue. A new 2-story conference center will also be constructed on the current Liberty Mutual surface parking lot on Stuart Street, and a pedestrian bridge linking the new buildings will connect both sides of the Liberty Mutual Boston campus.

There will be a 50-day public comment period. All written comments on the project are due by July 6, 2010. Public comments should be addressed to Jay Rourke, Senior Project Manager.
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