Millennium Tower (Filene's) | 426 Washington Street | Downtown

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Semass said:
I'm really interested to see how they tie in the glass with the stone cladding on the Washington Street corner and with the brick on Hawley. That bit of the former cladding and detail on the top corner could be an awkward transition to the glass. The glass is also bumped out about a foot or so from the the corners. Will they try to recreate some of that stone on the corner? The renders were ambiguous. Anybody know?
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Semass -- I think that the Washington St. interface is a lot easier since the Glazed architectural terra-cotta wraps around the corner and extends quite a few feet onto the Tower Side of the Burnham
filenes-department-store-boston.jpg


On the Hawley St. side the masonry wall ends abruptly
 
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^Let me state the obvious: what a wonderful building.
 
Data, I didn't know that. I would reccomend "The Devil and the White City" to anyone who would like to know more about Burnham. The pics within of the Chicago Exposition are worth the price alone.
 
is the restoration going to keep working clocks and bells on the exterior of the burnham?
 
TomOfBoston said:
Promotional video:

https://vimeo.com/84901430
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That video was a bit much -- BUT if they really achieve what they claim -- it will be known as Menino's Tower despite the failure of the other one and the failure of the earlier attempt at this one

I'm now really starting to appreciate the glass pedestal separation of the Burnham from the Tower -- connected yet visually isolated

I'm Only sorry that the city and the T couldn't have taken advantage of all this construction to begin if not complete the DTX Orange - to State Orange Line pedestrian Link thereby enabling DTX to be the T's Mega Hub with passengers able to freely move from Red to Green to Blue to Orange with one change an some walking
 
whighlander said:
I'm Only sorry that the city and the T couldn't have taken advantage of all this construction to begin if not complete the DTX Orange - to State Orange Line pedestrian Link thereby enabling DTX to be the T's Mega Hub with passengers able to freely move from Red to Green to Blue to Orange with one change an some walking
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My read is that the tower does not effect enough of the potential link to get it started in any meaningful way. I believe that the logical connection is between DTC Orange Oak Grove Platform and State Forest Hills Platform. And that connection is essentially all under the parking garage across the Franklin Street from Millennium Tower (and under Franklin Street).

So the rebuild of that parking garage is really when the opportunity arises.
 
timsox6 said:
is the restoration going to keep working clocks and bells on the exterior of the burnham?
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Also, does anyone know if the "Hub of the Universe" floor iconography will be preserved?
 
markhb said:
Also, does anyone know if the "Hub of the Universe" floor iconography will be preserved?
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After being heighlighted in the video by Millennium Partners -- it's a as MIke DuTaxus used to say "Lead Pipe Cinch" whatever that means

By the way the original reference by Oliver Wendell Homes was the Hub of the Solar System and it referred to the Mass State House

from the wiki
Boston is often referred to as "The Hub," which is short for "The Hub of the Solar System" and also "The Hub of the Universe." The original "Hub" is actually a physical place: the Massachusetts State House. Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the phrase in 1858.
Holmes wrote a series of articles in the Atlantic Monthly called The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. In Volume 1, Issue 6, he wrote: "[The] Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system. You couldn't pry that out of a Boston man, if you had the tire of all creation straightened out for a crowbar." The reference humorously (and arrogantly) implied that Boston was the center of everything commercial and intellectual at that
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Foundation for the tower crane? There's a square construction in the ground on the Franklin Street side, near the underground entrance, with a couple dozen bolts set in deep concrete, now covered with a white tarp. The bolt holes were drilled out a couple weeks ago with a drill similar to the one that dug the secant piers. Might this be the base of a tower crane?
 
Glazing is now up on the 8th floor. It doesn't follow the main curtain grid:

54x3dz.jpg
 
the offset is a little weird to my eyes, but I'm always ready to wait and see with this one
 
Time to start the doom and gloom posts about his this building is going to suck! /s

Also that looks atrocious. I agree. What's the chance some of it is temporary?
 
It looks like they are trying to echo the fact that the top floor is different on the masonry sides. Maybe it's the angle of the picture, but is this new level set back or project out a bit? That would explain the apparent "offset". (Where the tiny sheets of glass are on the bottom floors matches up to the wider sheets, which makes me wonder if it's just a wonky angle.) IMO they should have had that top strip of darker glazing be more distinct to echo the cornice line, but we shall see how it all plays out after the mullions go in.

You can sort of see how the glazing will all play out here:
boston_millennium-tower-boston_1.jpg

Glad to see they are also restoring masonry to the right corner as well.
 
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