Seaport Neighborhood - Infill and Discussion

Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

From the Herald:

Marty Walsh looks to bring Grand Prix to Boston

Grand Prix race cars could be roaring down the streets of Boston — Monaco-style — if Mayor Martin J. Walsh can convince organizers the city can transform the Seaport District into a speedway.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/08/racing_in_the_streets

We are always commenting on how the Seaport streets are built like raceways, now we know why!
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I am totally down for this. No better place in the city to put it, too.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

Please oh please oh please make this happen! Holy hell I would love to view some F1 in person!
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

I'm pretty sure somewhere back in this thread people actually suggested we host F1 in the Seaport.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

So where stands the process of the chapel that's going on Parcel H (on the corner of Sleeper St & Seaport Blvd.) ...being created to replace the Our Lady of Good Voyage chapel that was acquired/swapped to complete Parcel D?

We have this recent 2014 mockup (but it may just be a massing model)
CHURCH+RENDER+COMPOSITE_JH.jpg

and this set of pictures posted here in Feb 2011, which despite its "Mike Brady" style at least seem plausible in its large north-facing windows (e.g. it is aware of its end-cap location) and looks similar in style to the "worker's chapels" of the 1950s (e.g. St. Anthony's Shrine @ DTX)
briv said:
In other news, I stumbled across these renderings of the relocated Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel:

seaport_square13.jpg


seaport_square14.jpg


seaport_square12.jpg


seaport_square11.jpg


What a nice inviting brick wall. I guess the tall thing with the crucifix is to tell people this is a church and not a Silver Line station headhouse or underground parking garage entrance.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

What a waste of insanely valuable land.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

^Many of us could say the same about some of the buildings built/being built/will be built in this district. At least the chapel will be freely open to the public, and a quiet refuge for the insane worker-bees populating this area by day! (full disclosure: I am no longer an active priest and have no direct interest in seeing this chapel built, nor have I a comment as yet on its architecture! I haven't figured out how to change my nom de plum here so it remains Padre Mike.)
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

The church rendering at top is as off the shelf, no thought to it, phone it in dull as you can get. I'll gladly take the Mike Brady SL headhouse/garage entrance. It isn't Ronchamps but it will do nicely. Love the belfry.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

meddlepal said:
What a waste of insanely valuable land.
Click to expand...
I suspect the site was chosen in part because the abutters wanted to keep/have windows, and that the chapel, being limited in height, permits that. So it was always going to be a small box here.

In some places (e.g. the Pru) chapels work well as "ground floor retail". There are also plenty of examples of office-building-over-chapel (Tremont Temple), that work about the same as office-building-over-theater. Or even St Anthony's Shrine, which is Monestery-over-double-decker-chapel. I wish we'd see more of that, like topping it with a hostel or offices, but, not a huge loss.

And religious uses always "do well" in the CBD (St. Patricks in NYC, of course, but also the chapel at the Pru) as near-100% pedestrian access (no parking) and this one seems to be located ideally to draw pedestrians from not just the whole Seaport but also from a decent amount of the South Station to Aquarium strip.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

meddlepal said:
What a waste of insanely valuable land.
Click to expand...

The chapel has been there since 1952. It could have stayed until 2152. There were probably active freight tracks on Fan Pier in 1952.
 
Re: Innovation Dist. / South Boston Seaport

meddlepal said:
What a waste of insanely valuable land.
Click to expand...

I disagree, I think you need to break up this area with smaller buildings like this because it is such a blank template that its going to be nonstop office towers.
 
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