Ragon Institute | 624 Main Street | Kendall Square

As of 8/6/23
 

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Charlie_mta said:
Man, that shot is beyond awesome. This and so many other new buildings and restored old buildings in the greater Kendall Square area are outstanding.
Who'da thunk that the science nerds would be the ones to get it right!
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MIT and Northeastern science nerds, yes. Harvard science nerds, definitely no.
 
Wow. Those are some of the most impressive photos I’ve seen on this board. Nice work framing the curving facade.
 
^^^^ As a Cantabridgian, I have a hard time explaining that back in the day, the whole Central Sq / Kendall Sq / Cambridgeport area, aside from MIT and a few software companies, was a dangerous, polluted area, full of carcasses from an industrial past that left long ago.

I get about halfway through my story and I get that, "this person thinks I am completely crazy" feeling as they look at the endless rows of new buildings and the sanitized feel of the whole area.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
^^^^ As a Cantabridgian, I have a hard time explaining that back in the day, the whole Central Sq / Kendall Sq / Cambridgeport area, aside from MIT and a few software companies, was a dangerous, polluted area, full of carcasses from an industrial past that left long ago.

I get about halfway through my story and I get that, "this person thinks I am completely crazy" feeling as they look at the endless rows of new buildings and the sanitized feel of the whole area.
Click to expand...

I have a separate, but related, set of experiences in dealing with people who knew the Kendall of the '80s and '90s but not really the Kendall of before or after. Upon seeing it today, they tend to say things like "there used to be nothing here!," where I then remind them, actually, there used to be a TON here. From mid-1800s to mid-1900s Kendall was packed.
 
And then everything was "renewed" and we ended up with a West-End-North miserable moonscape. I can't find the aerial I've seen from a few developer presentations, but this one gets the point across. Gotta be peak "nothing there!" period. Supposedly late-1970. Technology Square and Draper holding things together.

blog.samseidel.org

Kendall Square, a brief historical sketch.

[Note: The panel discussion on innovation districts held in April at Harvard's GSD is viewable by clicking here .] Kendall Square is the s...
blog.samseidel.org blog.samseidel.org

1718642397176.png

1718642722143.png
 
Justbuildit said:
And then everything was "renewed" and we ended up with a West-End-North miserable moonscape. I can't find the aerial I've seen from a few developer presentations, but this one gets the point across. Gotta be peak "nothing there!" period. Supposedly late-1970. Technology Square and Draper holding things together.

blog.samseidel.org

Kendall Square, a brief historical sketch.

[Note: The panel discussion on innovation districts held in April at Harvard's GSD is viewable by clicking here .] Kendall Square is the s...
blog.samseidel.org blog.samseidel.org
Click to expand...
Here's the 1930 view from the Leventhal Map Center (Bromley Atlas):
atlascope.org

Atlascope Boston

Atlascope Boston is a tool for exploring historic urban atlases in metropolitan Boston and telling stories about how places have changed over time. A project of the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library.
atlascope.org atlascope.org

Gets the point across about density (except for MIT's green space, of course)
 
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