Shreve, Crump & Low Redevelopment | 334-364 Boylston Street | Back Bay

bdurden said:
These seem like exceptions to the rule — hardly commonplace. Is it not true that methods used in the past to build are no longer feasible and possibly even allowed?
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Its not common place world wide purely due to economics and tastes. Modernism is whats in fashion today and aside from that most real estate projects are about spending the least money while making the most return. Once classical buildings come back in fashion they will be built in mass again. There are some architects today who specialize in building classical buildings, but its still not back “in” yet. Here is a great example robert stern who does most classical style buildings in the us and actually designed the building of this thread.
https://www.ramsa.com/projects

In europe where it was important to rebuild a lot of what was lost after ww2 there are thousands and thousands and like I said entire cities that were rebuilt after ww2. Go look at budapest on google earth, most of the classical buildings you see were rebuilt after being destroyed in ww2. Historic downtown dresden was recently rebuilt and is still under construction, historic potsdam is being rebuilt, old warsaw was rebuilt, in my new build classical buildings thread downtown bath england that was gutted by brutalism has been rebuilt in a classical style, gdansk was rebuilt post ww2, notre dame was gutted by fire and is being restored right now, in spain the la sagrada famalia church has been under construction since the 1800s and is still under construction…. And on and on and on. Theres so much if you know where to look or what youre looking at.

Here are some resources for you. Here is the european reconstruction thread on skyscrapercity where you can find all of the different reconstructions going on now.
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/forums/european-classic-architecture-and-landscapes.192/

And heres the thread for non historical reconstructions where its just new classical style buildings being built around the world. Even though this style is not as common its still 834 pages long.
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/new-classical-architecture.1022349/page-834
 
AndreyD said:
photo_2024-08-16-16-00-38-jpeg.54062
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I have to say, that is an ugly building (in my opinion of course).
 
It looks like the intrusion of just another insurance company (no matter who the tenants end up being) onto Boylston St., shutting down yet another block on a street that ought to have a ton of mixed use buildings, including apartments that are affordable to more than the wealthy.
 
stick n move said:
Its not common place world wide purely due to economics and tastes. Modernism is whats in fashion today and aside from that most real estate projects are about spending the least money while making the most return. Once classical buildings come back in fashion they will be built in mass again. There are some architects today who specialize in building classical buildings, but its still not back “in” yet. Here is a great example robert stern who does most classical style buildings in the us and actually designed the building of this thread.
https://www.ramsa.com/projects

In europe where it was important to rebuild a lot of what was lost after ww2 there are thousands and thousands and like I said entire cities that were rebuilt after ww2. Go look at budapest on google earth, most of the classical buildings you see were rebuilt after being destroyed in ww2. Historic downtown dresden was recently rebuilt and is still under construction, historic potsdam is being rebuilt, old warsaw was rebuilt, in my new build classical buildings thread downtown bath england that was gutted by brutalism has been rebuilt in a classical style, gdansk was rebuilt post ww2, notre dame was gutted by fire and is being restored right now, in spain the la sagrada famalia church has been under construction since the 1800s and is still under construction…. And on and on and on. Theres so much if you know where to look or what youre looking at.

Here are some resources for you. Here is the european reconstruction thread on skyscrapercity where you can find all of the different reconstructions going on now.
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/forums/european-classic-architecture-and-landscapes.192/

And heres the thread for non historical reconstructions where its just new classical style buildings being built around the world. Even though this style is not as common its still 834 pages long.
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/new-classical-architecture.1022349/page-834
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RAMSA no doubt leads the pack in getting those pre-war style buildings in NYC designed right. Gotta wonder why we cant get something of that quality at such a premiere location in Boston adjacent to the Public Garden.
 
bdurden said:
This is looking surprisingly post-modern (or maybe not surprising, rather disappointly so).
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That's it! Pomo is the look. I especially hate the corner wrap-around windows, the flat black windows all over the building' and the white plastic looking framing.
 
Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

In 40 years this will be as banal and "please bulldoze it now"-able as Druker's father's masterpiece, Tremont on the Common, is today.
 
stick n move said:
I mean that is just laughable. All the money and best architects in the world couldnt build the custom house tower or trinity church? You actually believe that?

Then how was the berlin palace just reconstructed and finished construction this year?
View attachment 54083
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/thre...s-humboldt-forum-u-c.1390928/page-216#replies

How was the buda castle in budapest rebuilt after being destroyed in ww2 (top pic) and is now today being restored to its original ornamentation (bottom pic)?
View attachment 54084

How is this happening?
View attachment 54085
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/thre...ruction-of-buda-castle.2378727/page-6#replies

People have been taking pictures throughout the entire construction process of both buildings, go look for yourself. Theres plenty more buildings being restored throughout europe, and entire cities that were rebuilt after ww2 like old warsaw. This obviously isnt the right thread for this (idk why he posted that in this thread) but holy crap I had to nip that in the bud.
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Just wondering, are those examples from scratch?

.
 
Well, at least the buiding this is replacing was incredibly ugly and in no way worth preserving.

Oh, wait...
 
shmessy said:
Just wondering, are those examples from scratch?

.
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The berlin palace is 100% from the ground up, this is what was built in place of the old palace in the gdr. This was then demolished and the palace has been rebuilt.
1724132913146.png


The buda castle had most of its walls demolished, the entire interior gutted, and the roof collapsed in. You could technically say the castle was not 100% from the ground up, but the castle district is an entire district where most of the buildings were entirely demolished and the up close image I shared is of the ministry of finance building which is being built 100% from scratch, along with many other buildings in the district including archduke josephs palace.

1724133237402.jpeg
 
The huge windows will be nice for the tenant but so far this building isn't oozing the super high-end vibe that I was hoping it would to compensate for the destruction of the historic structures on the site :(
 
awood91 said:
The huge windows will be nice for the tenant but so far this building isn't oozing the super high-end vibe that I was hoping it would to compensate for the destruction of the historic structures on the site :(
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As others have mentioned, it is oozing "insurance HQ" or "federal bureaucracy". The kind of building a cost accountant would love. (Just paint the halls institutional green or battleship gray.)
 
I said above that this is the kind of building we'll all be very happy to see torn down in 30-40 years. I think we may actually want to see it torn down and replaced almost as soon as it's built. Ugh.
 
awood91 said:
The huge windows will be nice for the tenant but so far this building isn't oozing the super high-end vibe that I was hoping it would to compensate for the destruction of the historic structures on the site :(
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The brick on the alley side kind of ruins the comparison I'm about to make, but it almost feels like a throwback to 1970s modernist Financial District buildings.
 
Aprehensive_Words said:
The brick on the alley side kind of ruins the comparison I'm about to make, but it almost feels like a throwback to 1970s modernist Financial District buildings.
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There's a context component to this: if nothing had been here before it would be less disappointing. Also, thinking about this modernist take, it might be a welcome upgrade to the low rise federal building abutting City Hall/ Sudbury St (JFK?)
 
The other aspect of the context is the location. For this prominent location, on a very noticeable Back Bay corner, overlooking the Public Garden and historic Arlington Street Church, this is the best Boston's planning process could do. Really sad.
 
JeffDowntown said:
The other aspect of the context is the location. For this prominent location, on a very noticeable Back Bay corner, overlooking the Public Garden and historic Arlington Street Church, this is the best Boston's planning process could do. Really sad.
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Very similar to that Holocaust Museum going up across the street from the Common and Park Street Church.

Mayor Wu and the BPDA need to need to look out for the city better than this. Maybe we'll get an Apple Store next to the Paul Revere House.
 
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