new FBI Boston headquaters

Now if they had finished the Hurley Building's tower, THAT would be perfect for the FBI.
 
It's the sprawling lowrise brutalist structure just wast of the Brooke County Courthouse, bounded by New Chardon, Staniford and Marrimac streets.
 
It's the Health and Human Services building in Gov't Center. It's that crazy building they used in The Departed. Fantastic place to walk around, all concrete, and if the tower had been built in the center of the plaza like originally planned then it would be one of the safest places to put government offices.
 
How big was the proposed tower at the Hurley building? And did it have the same rough concrete texture to it?
 
The tower for the Hurley bldg. was supposed to be around the same height as the JFK building, I believe. It was to be of the same style with external column-like supports of concrete. If memory serves me, it may have been a five-sided building. Last pics I've seen of it was in a Boston Globe magazine section about Government Center as it was first proposed in the mid-sixties....it all looked so spiffy back then to my pre-teen eyes. The Hurley bldg. was to be the Health, Education and Welfare headquarters. There were to be several entrances and thus the flow in and out along graceful stairways, and the tower, would have utilized the pedestrian areas much more than presently.
 
Hurley building

Hurley building has the Lindemann Mental Health Center in it, or did, right?
 
Yes, in fact I'm more familiar with the moniker: Lindemann Mental Health Ctr. ...names keep changing.
 
Unbuilt tower.

rudolphtowercrjy8.jpg
 
I believe the Hurley Building is the portion that borders Cambridge St. State and municipal bureaucracies occupy this building. The Lindemann is the portion bordering Merrimack St. It is still a mental health facility, and its residents sometimes roam the terraced interior courtyard long after the State employees next door have gone home for the evening. Together, theyre known as the State Services Center, and it was supposed to be only one part of a much larger complex. For better or worse, Rudolph's full design was never realized. I believe only phase 1 of 3 was ever completed.

Here are a few more images of Rudolph's full vision in its entirety. I'm sure some of you will drool; the rest of you will probably gag:

sc4.jpg


sc5.jpg


sc1.jpg


sc2.jpg



Since Rudolph's death, his work has been reevaluated and now enjoys a renewed prestige. Many architects today view him as a genius, his work highly original and innovative--hence the intermittent outcries whenever one of Rudolph's buildings faces demolition. The latest Winthrop Sq. controversy attests to Paul Rudolph's newly anointed saint status among architects and architecture historians.

sc6.jpg


sc8.jpg


I think we could add the architects at Kallman and McKinnel to the list of Rudolph admirers as well. Though the original design for the SSC was abandoned before it could be completed, it was never really forgotten either. Decades after the scheme was abandoned, Kallman and McKinnel, I believe quite consciously, designed the Brooke Courthouse very much in harmony with Rudolph's original design. The Brook displays such an obvious and emphatic deference towards the SSC in its orientation, scale, and massing that it can be seen essentially as phase 2 of Rudolph's 3 phase scheme.

If the FBI were to occupy the SSC, hopefully they could initiate "phase 3". More than likely, the FBI would need a new tower to satisfy their space needs. Though Im sure such a tower would look nothing like the one pictured above, one can assume that the designer would show a similar respect to the SSC as to that which was shown with the Brook Court House. In other words, a very compatible reinterpretation of Rudolph's original proposal.

I think it would be very cool to see Rudolph's vision finally completed, even it that means we are left with a somewhat diluted team effort in the end. It is already already two-thirds the way there, why stop now? It would also be nice to see this block rejuvenated and to see Rudolph's original receive some much needed TLC. That Federal money would be very welcome there.
 
Does anyone know why exactly this building was never finished? The urban myth I was always told was that it was considered so ugly that they decided to stop building it. That seems highly unlikely given the need for government offices.
 
"Lack of funds" is what the AIA Boston book says of the missing tower.
 
question for Briv

Briv, I read once that this building destroyed Rudolph's career. Is this true?
 
G-men eye D Street: Convention center may get FBI as neighbor
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Wednesday, May 9, 2007


A development site next door to the Hub?s new convention center has emerged as a top contender as the FBI pushes ahead with plans to build a giant Boston area headquarters.

Hub developer Peter Palandjian has put in a proposal to build the FBI a roughly 300,000-square-foot Boston command center on D Street near the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, real estate executives familiar with the plan said.

Palandjian, who is head of Intercontinental Real Estate, is currently planning a major housing complex for the tract in South Boston?s emerging Seaport district. But the developer is prepared to switch projects if the FBI, which has taken a serious interest in his development site, wants to build its headquarters there, executives said.

?It?s certainly a site that would work for the FBI,? said David Begelfer, head of the local chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. It?s also less expensive than competing sites, he said.

Another plus for Palandjian?s development site is that it meets several important FBI security requirements, including room for an extensive setback from the street.

Still, Palandjian?s drive to secure the prestigious FBI project faces stiff competition from several other developers. The most formidable opponent is the proposed Fan Pier project, slated to take shape on the harbor between the Moakley federal courthouse and Anthony?s Pier 4.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino has pushed the idea of locating the FBI headquarters at Fan Pier, currently slated to feature upscale condo, hotel and office high-rises and shops.

However, despite the mayor?s support, the idea of putting the federal complex on valuable waterfront land is generating some concerns.

Vivien Li, head of the Boston Harbor Association, fears putting the FBI complex on Fan Pier would disrupt long-standing plans for a lively waterfront development that would be welcoming to the public. The project has long been viewed as the future crown jewel of Boston?s waterfront, with plans for parks, shops and a marina, as well as other attractions.

?The FBI is not a use that is intended to enliven the waterfront,? Li said.



Link
 
The Herald said:
Vivien Li, head of the Boston Harbor Association, fears putting the FBI complex on Fan Pier would disrupt long-standing plans for a lively waterfront development that would be welcoming to the public. The project has long been viewed as the future crown jewel of Boston?s waterfront, with plans for parks, shops and a marina, as well as other attractions.
?The FBI is not a use that is intended to enliven the waterfront,? Li said.
Click to expand...

I *gag* agree *urk* with *cack* Vivien *cough* Li. Ugh.

Now if you will excuse me I need to go take a shower. I feel all dirty.
 
Me too. I can't think of one positive thing the FBI has ever done for Boston. Why should the city do anything whatsoever to help them? Let them move to Hartford or Albany.
 
Ouch. To be a fly on the wall at the Palandjian Thanksgiving table. For those who might not have followed the story, Brothers Peter and Paul Palandjian used to run Intercontinental Real Estate together until less than a year ago when Paul got into a little trouble with the FBI for allegedly helping to fence some of the most expensive art ever stolen in Massachusetts. And now Peter wants to build the new FBI headquarters? Interesting.
 
I've got to agree with Vivien Li on this one. The area that the FBI headquarters would go will only dampen and hold up what hopefully will become a highlight of the city. An FBI building there would only be a deterrent for that. I can't think of a single way that an FBI regional headquarters there could possibly do to make that area more attractive for potential developers.
 
I think that D Street site is a good one for the FBI. Fan Pier on the other hand would be terrible.
 
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