St Paul's Cathedral Alteration (Nautilus Pediment) | Tremont St | Downtown Crossing

tmac9wr said:
I had no idea that guy was famous...but somehow everyone in Boston appears to know him.

I guess that speaks volumes about the low homeless level in Boston...which is nice!
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He's actually not even homeless. Nor claims residence in Boston. He lives in a group home in Framingham.

He's easily the most famous character on the streets of Bosotn, though, yes. Along with Louie the Tricycle Guy.
 
I "need food money today" lady often seen with a tin foil hat sitting just outside of Park St. Station is quickly rising in local fame and is providing very tough competition to the Spaaare Chaaange guy and the Louie the tricycle guy
 
As far as I know, Spare Change Guy got his fame because that two bit hack reporter VB put him into some of his dumb fuck reports. I think it's pathetic that that this fat slob and all of followers see this homeless man as someone worth mocking. Spare Change Guy obviously has some sort of mental illness and is homeless, you don't get any lower than that in our society, so to mock lowers us all. When I was a teenager, I thought that Howard Stern was funny and clever when he would bribe a bunch of insecure mentally unstable people to do embarrassing acts in live radio. Then as I got older I realized that Stern was just mentally insecure himself and very sad man who projected his insecurity on to others. It's the same with VB and it's the same with anyone who mocks this homeless man.

Sorry to get off topic.
 
It is certainly curious that the pediment remained this way for so long:

circa 1870:
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The building looked better when you could see more of the sides:

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When Howard Stern threw the Frisbee at the guy and hit him in the head in his movie, it was funny.
 
bolehboleh said:
...as I got older I realized that Stern was just mentally insecure himself and very sad man who projected his insecurity on to others.
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I catch at least some of the Stern Show every day -- I enjoy him most when he's insightful, and laugh at a lot of the outrageous stuff as well. I think he'd completely agree with your observations about him.
 
I hope the finish product looks better than those drawings. I think when something's been unfinished for this long, they should just leave it.

hijack continues... I heard about 9/11 and listened to the whole thing unfold through the Stern show. They were great believe it or not.
 
Now I've hijacked. But, I happened across the 9/11 broadcast by Howard Stern on YouTube and synced it with a video from the local CBS affiliate and also CNN and played them for 3 hours. An odd mix of humor with wise commentary and a healthy dose of racism.

Usually I think he's stupid. The movie & the book worked b/c he saved the best parts for them.
 
I look at it and get a feeling that they are enshrining in stone the kind of thing that you'd expect to see at a mall-concept store. Its a lot of empty streetview calories.

You can wax about it being nature, and growth, and a fibbinnocci spiral and whatnot, but at best, it feels like a branch of the Museum Store has wandered from its mall, or a Ripley's Believe it or Not has strayed from a tourist strip, except it is stone and therefore can't be changed when it passes from fashion.

Or perhaps a ersatz/anachronistic meeting place of the Pythagoreans has been unearthed.

It is hard to believe we've waited 193 years for this.
 
Arlington said:
Or perhaps a ersatz/anachronistic meeting place of the Pythagoreans has been unearthed.

It is hard to believe we've waited 193 years for this.
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Good one!

Actually, it is the desperate effort of a dying diocese to show that it is hip and relevant.
 
gooseberry said:
I hope the finish product looks better than those drawings. I think when something's been unfinished for this long, they should just leave it.

I agree....having had 32 years experience in church ministry (not Episcopal) after leaving a couple of years ago, I got very frustrated with church communities that have tried the latest "trend" in order to draw attention to themselves. Being a classicist when dealing with pure architectural forms, especially from the Classical period, I was hoping, when I heard about this project, that there would be some kind of figural composition. The circular form is jarring within the triangular pediment. And the blue background?? And across from the Common?? It just doesn't seem to fit. I'm hoping the grime of the city will mask it in time. IMHO, the diocese should focus its attention on repairing the external lighting scheme of Trinity Church in Copley Square and leave St. Paul's pediment alone. But I suppose there'll be someone who'll wax eloquently about the project....
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I'll reserve final judgment, but I agree with the gist of the comments above that the addition seems incongruent and a bit "cheesy" for lack of a better word. It's a shame to see an insensitive addition to the Cathedral facing the Boston Common. In the last 50 years what was once a significant streetwall of interesting buildings facing the Common along Tremont has been systematically denigrated for various reasons leaving us with only a shadow of what formerly existed.
 
commuter guy said:
In the last 50 years what was once a significant streetwall of interesting buildings facing the Common along Tremont has been systematically denigrated for various reasons leaving us with only a shadow of what formerly existed.
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Daddy Druker being easily the party with the most blood on his hands there. Just sayin'.
 
Thanks for the photos. Its good to see that this is being installed in front of the ancient, uncut stones that have waited for 193 years (so far).

In the grand scheme of things, the Nautilus a temporary installation, and that lowers the stakes considerably.

So it will be nice to look at as the the stones wait in peace for decades more.

But it sure is going to look like it's the Boston Pythagorean Meetinghouse.
 
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