The Boulevard (née The Times/Littlest Bar) | 110 Broad St | Downtown

The back of the building is much modified. The likely vintage of those windows is around 1950, and not pre WWII. If so, that suggests this portion of the building may have been modified about the time the Central Artery was built, or later. That wall itself probably does not date to the Bulfinch original; it would not surprise me that part of the original building was cleaved off and demolished a long time ago.
 
The rendering appears to show shutters added to the windows. Is this a part of the restoration?
 
stick n move said:
The rendering appears to show shutters added to the windows. Is this a part of the restoration?
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Bulfinch houses in Boston built after 1800 have shutters, those built in the latter part of the 18th Century do not.
 
stick n move said:
So are they adding them or not?
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the-littlest-bar-boston-6489221.jpg
 
i don't see "THE LITTLEST BAR" in the render. Will it stay?
 
Inside sources say that there's plans to replace the lettering with "A MODERATELY-SIZED ATM LOBBY"
 
^ lol nice. We lost two neighborhood watering holes that had character, friendly faces, outdoor patios, reasonably priced beer and food and we get a sterile ATM lobby and BMWs darting at us on the sidewalk trying to get to their heated garage. Big win for the city
 
Suffolk 83 said:
^ lol nice. We lost two neighborhood watering holes that had character, friendly faces, outdoor patios, reasonably priced beer and food and we get a sterile ATM lobby and BMWs darting at us on the sidewalk trying to get to their heated garage. Big win for the city
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The hysteria in this thread is somewhat pathetic. Sure we are losing two watering holes and a handsome if somewhat undistinguished building. What we are getting, however, is well designed, will fit in well and will repair the scar that faced the Greenway. While it may not be reasonably priced beer and food, it will have beer and food and outdoor seating. The majority of the first floor will be commercial with 3500 s.f. of space. From Finegold Alexander's website:

A historic Bulfinch warehouse, which is currently on the site, will be fully restored and re-imagined as the new residential lobby. The majority of the new ground floor will house a café with indoor and outdoor seating areas
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.
 
stellarfun said:
The back of the building is much modified. The likely vintage of those windows is around 1950, and not pre WWII. If so, that suggests this portion of the building may have been modified about the time the Central Artery was built, or later. That wall itself probably does not date to the Bulfinch original; it would not surprise me that part of the original building was cleaved off and demolished a long time ago.
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Stellar -- I think the later 19th C part of the hybrid 110 Broad Building was clearly truncated when the Fitzgerald Expressway was being built in the 1950's -- or if not truncated then the windows were bricked-up to shield the internals from the traffic just beyond

https://goo.gl/maps/QiKZoJfzaaR2

centralartery005-1224.r.jpg

circa 1954
 
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Btw there are very similar buildings up the street - I assume also part of the same original India Wharf build out - that have been intergrated elegantly enough into larger contemporary structures - may add up to a pretty nice street continuity, actually..

27640319386_71fcd4ac6c_c.jpg
 
CSTH said:
Btw there are very similar buildings up the street - I assume also part of the same original India Wharf build out - that have been intergrated elegantly enough into larger contemporary structures - may add up to a pretty nice street continuity, actually..
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Yeah, now that I think of it, this is a big reason why I've been hesitant to chime in with all the concerns about the loss here. The majority of modern development on Broad Street has been respectful of the architectural heritage and integrates preserved/restored facades.

This development doesn't feel particularly disrespectful and especially not a harbinger for widespread loss of these types of buildings.

I've been out of work all week. I'll try to swing by on my lunches this week to document the continued demolition if they haven't already done a work blitz this weekend.
 
Here's your destruction porn of the day - click through for the full hi-res pics on Imgur. I tried to get photos of the interior for the enterprising architectural archeologists trying to figure out the state of infrastructure behind the facade to be preserved:








 
More destruction gore from this afternoon:
















I think we've argued the (de)merits of this project to death, but I have to say this entire corridor is beautiful and I think this project can only add to it:




As others have pointed out, this side of Broad St is basically all modern developments that integrate preserved facades of early 20th Century architecture and older:



I'm glad it's not turning out like this though. I can only assume the older building on the corner is a different property altogether:




This isn't great but it's interesting:




And this falls short of feeling respectful like Atlantic Wharf:



With some of the design elements in this development that are intended to carry through some features of the Littlest Bar through the new construction and tie the two together, I think this will turn out to be a cut above the execution of other buildings on Broad Street.
 
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