Lyrik Back Bay | 1001 Boylston Street (Parcel 12) | Back Bay

Nemo said:
Sure, why not? I'd say the Heart of the Back Bay goes from Boylston St. to the Comm Ave mall and from Arlington St. to Mass Ave. Parcel 12 makes for a nice missing bookend to the heart. The area is such a well-defined enclosure that maybe they should outline it on tourist maps and label it as such.
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Most people consider heart to mean the center. You've just described most of the Back Bay as the center. Parcel 12 is on the edge, in fact barely in the Back Bay at all, as the boundary with Kenmore/Fenway is a bit fuzzy. Definitely not the heart. It's a marketing gimmick, along with the bit about historic Newbury St., made to obfuscate the fact that this is not a part of Boston typically seen by tourists, just like they don't mention the Pike.
 
HenryAlan said:
Most people consider heart to mean the center. You've just described most of the Back Bay as the center. Parcel 12 is on the edge, in fact barely in the Back Bay at all, as the boundary with Kenmore/Fenway is a bit fuzzy. Definitely not the heart. It's a marketing gimmick, along with the bit about historic Newbury St., made to obfuscate the fact that this is not a part of Boston typically seen by tourists, just like they don't mention the Pike.
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I think you're thinking in terms of geography whereas I'm thinking in terms of urban fabric and pedestrian experience.
 
HenryAlan said:
Most people consider heart to mean the center. You've just described most of the Back Bay as the center. Parcel 12 is on the edge, in fact barely in the Back Bay at all, as the boundary with Kenmore/Fenway is a bit fuzzy. Definitely not the heart. It's a marketing gimmick, along with the bit about historic Newbury St., made to obfuscate the fact that this is not a part of Boston typically seen by tourists, just like they don't mention the Pike.
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I think you're getting too bogged down in minutiae here. Hotel guests fall out the front door onto Newbury and Boylston st its hard not to describe that as the heart of back bay. And yes of course its marketing jargon what else would it be?
 
HenryAlan said:
Regardless, it's not the heart of the Back Bay, and probably not Back Bay at all. It's okay to point that out.
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Ouch.

Anyways, it might not be “the heart” of the Back Bay, but it is an improvement for the Back Bay. Me thinks that Wu will fulfill Menino’s quest of burying much of the Pike with the next best thing to the failed Columbus Center project.

When the next developer obtains the Air Rights to the other Parcels to build over the Pike, then we can get into semantics.
 
HenryAlan said:
Regardless, it's not the heart of the Back Bay, and probably not Back Bay at all. It's okay to point that out.
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Well, what exactly do you mean by the heart of the Back Bay? Since you're talking geography, where is it located geographically? Is it some official designation by the city or some subjective definition of your own? If it's subjective, what are the subjective criteria you're using to define it?
 
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So if the Pike is the border, then the hotel is in Back Bay. But the Car Gurus, also on Parcel 12, is not. This answer is unambiguous and makes no sense, making it my preferred answer here.
 
DZH22 said:
If we were speaking of the "heart" as a singular location, I guess I would say Copley?
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I would actually agree with that, if there weren't some subtle nuances involved. Like, if we go the minutiae route, what do you consider to be the boundaries of "Copley", and are only the things inside those boundaries in the "heart" of Back Bay?
 
Nemo said:
I would actually agree with that, if there weren't some subtle nuances involved. Like, if we go the minutiae route, what do you consider to be the boundaries of "Copley", and are only the things inside those boundaries in the "heart" of Back Bay?
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Everything inside the yellow, basically immediately bordering/abutting Copley Square. Lower right looks sloppy and is meant to include the Hancock but not the garage across the street.

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DZH22 said:
Everything inside the yellow, basically immediately bordering/abutting Copley Square. Lower right looks sloppy and is meant to include the Hancock but not the garage across the street.

View attachment 45301
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Fair enough. I guess you guys think in terms of geographical boundaries, whereas I think in terms of "look and feel".
 
Nemo said:
Fair enough. I guess you guys think in terms of geographical boundaries, whereas I think in terms of "look and feel".
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This is the most Boston argument ever and giving me a laugh: "No, YOu're wRonG! NeWbuRy StrEet AnD MAsS AvE, is NOT BaCk BAy eNOuGh!"
You'd think this was some 2-star suburban dump in Waltham, Marlboro, or Norwood still calling itself "Boston". :ROFLMAO:🍿 Carry on....
 
These are the types of aB tangential rants that always happen when a building is slogging through like year 3 of its build, has looked aesthetically the same for the past umpteen months, construction barriers are still up...
Once the barriers come down and we can actually see more of the finished building, the aB discourse will proceed per regularly scheduled program of shitting on the building itself. Carry on.
 
Nemo said:
Well, what exactly do you mean by the heart of the Back Bay? Since you're talking geography, where is it located geographically? Is it some official designation by the city or some subjective definition of your own? If it's subjective, what are the subjective criteria you're using to define it?
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I don't think it's subjective at all, actually. Copley Square is objectively the heart of the Back Bay. It is reasonably close to the geographic center point by most definitions of the neighborhood, it's the location for many of the important institutions built to further the grandeur of the new neighborhood (ie churches, library), and is the focal point of multiple rapid transit lines. Mass Ave, is right on the edge of the district, not the center. Although there are many important cultural institutions, such as the Christian Science plaza and Berklee College, they aren't particularly associated with the Back Bay itself. These are objective criteria.
 
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