One Kenmore Square | 560 Commonwealth Avenue | Kenmore Square

Rover said:
I don't remember the "old" Kendall square of....what 20? 30? years ago but it is pretty generic. However if it replaced a bunch of old warehouses and axle repair shops then I suppose it's better than before.
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Rover -- No the Old Kendall of my MIT undergrad days was mostly a lot of open fields from Tech Square to the existing Volpe Building [Broadway & 3rd] and the Badger Building [Main and 3rd] and back to what is now Galileo Way
Starting in 1979 Boston Properties began to build what until recently was called Cambridge Center [the brick low rises along Main St and the parking garages

Before there were open fields behind MIT there had been a diverse thriving industrial area -- that part of Cambridge [on both sides of Mass Ave] was a major manufacturing center from the 1880's until immediate Post WWII

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a pale imitation of that industrial exuberance was still there when I was an undergraduate [the 2 pulleys with the twisted belt]

Between WWII and 1960 a lot of the old businesses [e.g. Kendall Boiler & Tank, Carr Fastener, Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, American Biltrite Rubber Co, Simplex Wire and Cable, New England Carbide*1] began to close and /or relocate with some of the old buildings being repurposed by Polaroid, Draper Lab
a few of the oldies such Olmsted-Flint and Interstate Tool still persisted in business [if not thriving by the early 1980's]

Cyclo-Core Carbide-Tipped Rotary Bits go through for you,
drilling 1/4" to 6" diameter holes in vitreous tile and hard concrete,
New England Carbide Tool Company, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

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circa 1954 -- note the company is still in business in Eastern MA -- just not in Cambridge

A real big broom [as in the West End or Scollay Sq] swept the area clean for the NASA Electronics Research Center -- about the time when the Apollo project was initiated
of course for various reasons [some the stuff of conspiracy theories] the only part to get build is what we call today the Volpe Center -- the rest was left as open fields for many years
which about 40 years ago began to fill in with the brick and glass along Main and assorted parking structures

Now -- this late 20th C KSq physical environ is in the process of evolving into the 21st C KSq

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Welcome to the Most Innovative Square Mile on the Planet.

About | Kendall Square

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Kendall Square Association

One hundred years ago, Kendall Square was an industrial yard, and today it is the epicenter of global innovation.
Kendall companies are solving today’s problems with the technology of tomorrow and reimagining a future that is more resilient and inclusive.....
Located in Cambridge, MA, Kendall Square is an internationally recognized innovation district propelled by the synergies of imagination and ingenuity.....
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whighlander said:
Between WWII and 1960 a lot of the old businesses [e.g. Kendall Boiler & Tank, Carr Fastener, Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, American Biltrite Rubber Co, Simplex Wire and Cable, New England Carbide*1] began to close and /or relocate with some of the old buildings being repurposed by Polaroid, Draper Lab
a few of the oldies such Olmsted-Flint and Interstate Tool still persisted in business [if not thriving by the early 1980's]
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Around 1960 my mother worked on the assembly line at the Carr Fastener factory in Kendall Square for several years. The area back then smelled like candy from the Necco factory, I assume.
 
Not a 'good news' update, unfortunately, but...at least the project is still being actively pursued.

From yesterday's Boston Globe article on Kenmore Square's past/present:

"...On the other side of the Buckminster, developer Robert Korff has city approvals to build a flatiron-shaped high-rise hotel where a squat Citizens Bank now sits, and is planning a nearly-one-acre plaza where Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street meet that he hopes will make the western edge of the square more friendly to pedestrians.

“That will be a very important new public space,” said Korff, who is trying to secure financing after a deal with a “major hotel brand” fell through amid the pandemic. “It’s going to change the character of the square in so many different ways. It’s going to knit it all together.”

There’s plans for more green space too: a new design for the Kenmore end of the Commonwealth Avenue mall, and a proposal to link the Esplanade and the Emerald Necklace. Several smaller residential projects also are in the works. [...]"

From: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04...square-does-end-an-era-mean-promising-future/
 
There was an interesting note just before this that the Hotel Buckminster is going to propose adding another floor. That's a nice building, esp if renovated and more added on top
 
curcuas said:
There was an interesting note just before this that the Hotel Buckminster is going to propose adding another floor. That's a nice building, esp if renovated and more added on top
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If the ground floor of Buckminster was better activated at the street level to open up with a Parisian-style cafe that would do wonders to the look and feel of that corner of Kenmore.
 
Actress Kay Kendall once stayed at the Buckminster.
 
It's not Speck's project, though, and the developer hasn't been able to finance his projects in Newton, much less this.
 
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