Our Lady of Good Voyage | Seaport Sq Parcel H | 55 - 57 Seaport Blvd | Seaport

I assumed that clear pane was either temporary or would have a stained glass window installed behind it.

If the Catholic Church is VE'ing out stained glass on a new church then I think it's time for all of us to just pack up and go home....

Recall that the deal is that the current builder finishes the shell and turns the keys over this summer, but other specialized contractors take over for interior (religious) build-out. I suspect that all stained glass is part of that.

They've got lots of good options for the rose window:
1) somewhere the Boston Archdiocese has a whole warehouse full of furnishings, including windows from closed parishes,
2) there's a larger swap meet market with other dioceses that have similar warehouses
3) Re-set the little window from the current sanctuary in the center of a larger one.
4) Donors love giving windows.
 
The cross looks more substantial in the renderings. Less spindly, longer crossbeam, yellower.
Agreed. That part does seem to have been VE'd (note that the as-built copper "hat" on top of the steeple is also much less substantial than in the renderings).
 
Because this church is human scaled, simple, and fairly traditional, it will be a key building that orients people within the Seaport. No one will give you directions to turn right after the third glass box. There is potential for the programming in the glass boxes to become recognizable ("turn left after the movie theater"). But as for the buildings themselves, the church will be one of the most easily identifiable landmarks.
 
Recall that the deal is that the current builder finishes the shell and turns the keys over this summer, but other specialized contractors take over for interior (religious) build-out. I suspect that all stained glass is part of that.

They've got lots of good options for the rose window:
1) somewhere the Boston Archdiocese has a whole warehouse full of furnishings, including windows from closed parishes,
2) there's a larger swap meet market with other dioceses that have similar warehouses
3) Re-set the little window from the current sanctuary in the center of a larger one.
4) Donors love giving windows.

Arlington -- you are missing the marketing opportunity

When you walk into any church in the Boston Archdiocese there are small little bits of text on the lower corners of the windows:

e.g. "Given in Loving memory of ..... or in honor of .... by ......"

I Suggest possibly John B. Hynes, III, CEO and managing partner of Boston Global Investors, a small replica would look good on the family's Christmas Tree
 
Recall that the deal is that the current builder finishes the shell and turns the keys over this summer, but other specialized contractors take over for interior (religious) build-out. I suspect that all stained glass is part of that.

They've got lots of good options for the rose window:
1) somewhere the Boston Archdiocese has a whole warehouse full of furnishings, including windows from closed parishes,
2) there's a larger swap meet market with other dioceses that have similar warehouses
3) Re-set the little window from the current sanctuary in the center of a larger one.
4) Donors love giving windows.

That would be an extremely strange way to go about it, installing windows on a brand new building just to take them out and replace them immediately....but daaaaamn I hope your right. This is turning out pretty good so far kind of knowing what its supposed to look like in the end, but if those are taken out this thing is a complete failure. Damn I hope your right on this. Especially for the doorway. Look at the renders how good that looks around the door. If its just dark glass, a door, and then a tinted glass circle above its going to be such a fail. I have faith though that this will pull through, theres nooo way they're going to leave this thing as a brick box with tinted windows located right at the gateway to their shiny new neighborhood that they are trying to pitch to world renowned companies.
 
As I look at the current windows (from a distance) they all look like either temporary, or "outermost building envelope" kinda things that could yet have stained glass installed as an inner facing or as a separate ornamental layer, particularly if they don't have any moving parts.

OT: When Baltimore redid its 200-year old cathedral (designed by Benj. Latrobe, who also did US Capitol), and stripped both Victorian and 1940s ornament to get back to Federal Period white walls and clear glass, the 1940s era glass went to a parish in the burbs. I'm sure Boston has a similar reserve of furnishings somewhere, even if not a cathedral, and I'm aware of at least 2 other examples in Virginia of new church buildings whose window dimensions were tweaked so as to receive windows from a disassembled church elsewhere.
 
Last edited:
Looks like they may be getting ready for stained glass installation behind the porthole.
 
Who is the tenant for the office building on the same block? (featured in the pictures above ^).

I was also trying to figure out if the church includes the flat-roofed single-story connector (I assume so), and whether they've left a provision for connecting into the office building if they needed, for example, classroom/ social space (the "church hall" / "church basement" space)? for things like AA meetings (or whatever).
 
The office tenant is Boston Global Investors, the master developer of the Seaport
 
What's the utility to connecting the chapel to the BGI office? Shared utilities? I ask only because at the moment that connecting wall looks awful.
 
What's the utility to connecting the chapel to the BGI office? Shared utilities? I ask only because at the moment that connecting wall looks awful.
I assume that the connector is actually a single-story sacristy/vestry where vestments, books, candles, chalices, & whatnot get stored and where the priest gets robed before services. [hence the little entry door to the left of the connector's window, which has been VEd from the original renders into what looks like a regular metal exterior door, but is so small that it is hard to see behind the equipment & construction barriers]

Might be a common fire-exit door, too?
 
I only wish that the bell tower had been capped with some sort of small pointed top with the Cross mounted on the point. Other than that, with it's simple design, slate roof and fine brickwork, it's a nice addition to the Seaport.
 
Who is the tenant for the office building on the same block? (featured in the pictures above ^).

I was also trying to figure out if the church includes the flat-roofed single-story connector (I assume so), and whether they've left a provision for connecting into the office building if they needed, for example, classroom/ social space (the "church hall" / "church basement" space)? for things like AA meetings (or whatever).

Our Lady of Good Voyage is associated with the South Boston Seaport Collaborative. It contains three other churches, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Peter, and St. Monica/St. Augustin. Many of those activities you mentioned would be run out of the larger churches, compared to Our Lady of Good voyage, which I believe is considered a chapel.

http://www.southbostononline.com/a-new-concept-south-boston-seaport-catholic-collaborative/
 

Back
Top