Pope Building and Its Neighborhood

Jimbo,

This is what we've got:

1) You are looking from west to east.

2) The immediate foreground Pike is now covered by Copley Place. The photo appears to have been taken from the former Huntington Ave. bridge.

3) The bridge in the midground is for Dartmouth Street.

4) The 10 (?) story brick building behind Dartmouth Street on the left is the University Club/John Hancock Visitors' Center.

5) The Y would be behind that. I believe it is obscured.

6) Looking to the right on the South End side of the Pike, the low brick structure on Dartmouth is Back Bay Station.

7) I am guessing that the midrise in the back of the station is in the vicinity of 75 Clarendon.

8) Generally speaking, much of what you see in the photo is now covered with air rights development, specifically Copley Place and the John Hancock Parking Garage.

9) The fact that the shot is unrecognisable to many is encouraging, because it points out the powerfully transformative effect of air rights development. The area where Copley Place is now was a miserable mudhole after the destruction of the S.S. Pierce Building (roughly where the Westin is now) and the construction/destruction wrought by the Pike. Yes, Copley Place is a truly mediocre thing, with its stupid big blank walls and gerbil tubes (like its first cousin, the crappy Simon mall that ate downtown Indianapolis). Although it can't touch S.S. Pierce, nonetheless Copley Place revived Dartmouth Street, allowed some Back Bay elan to migrate down Huntington, created housing at Tent City and connected the Back Bay and the South End for the first time since the advent of rail. Though Copley Place would be better designed today, and despite its many aesthetic (and social) shortcomings, it works commercially (Korpacz A plus rating) and as a connector. Hopefully, the Simon/Needless Markup tower will clean up some weak elements (it the City can figure out how to negotiate).

10) You have to think something even better could be developed on the air rights today.

Toby
 
I'm hogging this convo, I realize, but just want to add, I wish I had written my column in the South End News as well as you just did ... the reasons to build on Columbus Center are exactly the ones you point out, using Copley Place as the example.

Now, back to our topic: Pope!
 
JimboJones said:
Now, back to our topic: Pope!
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You are right to remind me Jimbo. The reason I posted that Pike picture is that you can make out the Pope Building in the distant left, and you get a general sense of its neighborhood from the shot.
 
Not going off-topic, but here's a photo of the Back Bay / South End subway / commuter rail / Amtrak station, today. Compare & contrast to same spot, circa 1975.

back-bay-orange-line-3.jpg
 
No Jimbo Jones! Not off topic at all! Don't leave just yet!
See how nicely Darmouth Street is filling in compared to that desolate scene in the old photo. Air rights development did so much to improve it, even that awful, could have /should have been better parking garage helped the Pope Building neighborhood.
How could we do more to upgrade today's scene, I wonder?
 
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About 10-15 years ago the T talked about developting the Back Bay Station site. It will happend some day when the market is ready.
 
tobyjug said:
I think I know the answer, but I (mis)remember a post that said Ned lives here. Ned: please give us the history of the building, how it grew in height (twice?), what Pope made, whether Mistral is a good neighbor, etc.
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Pope, as in Colonel Pope, was a major contributor to the bicycle craze of the late 19th century, was a founder of the League of American Wheelmen and was the leading force behind the Good Roads Movement in the United States.
 
kmp1284 said:
$2,057 per square foot, LOL ... it has some decent views, but other than that it looks like a shitty 80's mcmansion in suburban Omaha.
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I totally disagree. I think it looks great. The views are pretty incredible, and it's pretty damn big. I assume you're saying it's 80s because of the large amount of black & white...I agree it's not perfect but I like that styling (though I think the black is a tad overwhelming).
 
I see no appeal. Between the color scheme, wall to wall, gaudy bath fixtures, etc. it screams 'real joisey' to quote a line from Mad Men. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the person trying to unload this is in the construction biz in Chelsea. If you want views, those from Ritz and Mandarin blow this out of the water while offering a good variety of amenities, and at a significant discount to boot. The only amenity I see here is a guaranteed early wake-up call from the fire station across the street or a conveniently timed pile-up on the highway next door.
 
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