View Boston (Observatory) | Prudential Tower | Back Bay

I wrote about the cost earlier in the thread. It's nuts. A lot can be built with nearly a fifth of a billion dollars. I am no construction expert but it seems like this project should be able to be done for about half the announced cost.
Extrapolating from the Bunker Hill Housing Project figures, but, you could build 350 low income housing units for $182 million, just as an example.
 
Anyone who thinks the Pru facade should be removed should be jettisoned off this planet. It badly needs some cleaning but its an awesome facade with a ton of detail that isn't really apparent from the ground.
 
Anyone who thinks the Pru facade should be removed should be jettisoned off this planet. It badly needs some cleaning but its an awesome facade with a ton of detail that isn't really apparent from the ground.
From what other vantage point are 99.99% of people interacting with the exterior of this building?
 
From what other vantage point are 99.99% of people interacting with the exterior of this building?

What's your point? We shouldn't care that buildings have architecturally interesting facades? I guess we're done on this forum then. Might as well pack it up and go home boys.

Glass everything, that'll solve all our problems! We can start by taking all the brick buildings in Boston and replacing them with glass and concrete boxes.
 
I think there are ways to modernize the facade without totally losing the "Pru feel", like keeping the color palette the same but using a different material and more modern, streamlined glass. I've also always thought they should make an actual pointed crown incorporating the huge antenna on top. Plus it will bring the official height somewhere close to 900'.

That antenna has a function, though. It needs to be exposed for the broadcasting equipment to work.
 
Anyone who thinks the Pru facade should be removed should be jettisoned off this planet. It badly needs some cleaning but its an awesome facade with a ton of detail that isn't really apparent from the ground.

Put me in the "I love the Pru facade" camp as well. There really aren't many towers of this size and style in most other places. It's pretty detailed and with a good cleaning, it'd be pretty stellar to look at (frankly, it already is). It looks pretty good to me from Boylston or the mall galleries. It's just unfortunate that it's set off the street in the middle of a mall rather than being part of the street wall. I think it'd be appreciated more if it were (and the sheer verticality would be impossible to ignore).
 
The Pru, as everyone might know, was the very first tall office tower that Boston has gotten. For practically the whole time the complex was there' construction & changes were going on, all the way back to the main building itself. I think though, that the TOTH should've been kept & remodeled, but that's just me. It was almost like WOTW before 09-11. :giggle:
 
What's your point? We shouldn't care that buildings have architecturally interesting facades? I guess we're done on this forum then. Might as well pack it up and go home boys.

Glass everything, that'll solve all our problems! We can start by taking all the brick buildings in Boston and replacing them with glass and concrete boxes.
I was just responding to your strange comment.
 
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Crane sticking out
 
Awesome! I hope the lettering on the PRUDENTIAL sign gets a bit of a cleaning, but not a full on replacement.
 
Awesome! I hope the lettering on the PRUDENTIAL sign gets a bit of a cleaning, but not a full on replacement.

They are supposed to do something with that also. I think make it bigger. :giggle:
 
Looks like lights on under the floor where the restaurant was!! :giggle:
 
It’ll be sad to see these mature trees go when they start on the new entrance to the observatory. This interior park is wonderful and I hope it doesn’t change too much. View attachment 14105View attachment 14106
At one of the public meetings, Boston Property said their arborist advised they are showing signs of stress (dying), and would be replaced no matter approve of the plan. They do have replacement of an equivalent shade coverage in their proposal, IIRC.
 
Will they ever paint over the pinkish material like they did in the mall interior?
 

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