The Clarendon

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They tore down a nice old post office to build this mess. They could have easily built around the front portion without losing square footage and it would have looked a hell of a lot nicer.
 
Bubbybu said:
world's most expensive housing project
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You ever see the episode of Happy Days when Fonzie water skis over the shark? Well, in any case, that comment is when criticism of this building officially jumped the shark.
 
Justin7 said:
They tore down a nice old post office to build this mess. They could have easily built around the front portion without losing square footage and it would have looked a hell of a lot nicer.
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i agree. you know other cities that have distinct architecture have very intelligent laws about preservation. like New Orleans requires that anything built in downtown be in the old southern french arcitechtural style; and london just has a flat "if its over 100 yrs old, it can't be demolished" law.

i hate the whole "old but not historic" argument that people bring up, which led to the building before this tower being torn down. and is leading to the arlington building torn down. those buildings fit with the rest of the city. and that was what made those buildings nice...

this. while not absolutely terrible on the scale of the city hall, looks like the architect had some unresolved issues from childhood involving lego duplo blocks. and it could have been better designed to fit with the city.
 
I thought I already jumped the shark a few weeks ago when I called this building architectural AIDS.
 
eljusticiero67 said:
i agree. you know other cities that have distinct architecture have very intelligent laws about preservation. like New Orleans requires that anything built in downtown be in the old southern french arcitechtural style; and london just has a flat "if its over 100 yrs old, it can't be demolished" law.

i hate the whole "old but not historic" argument that people bring up, which led to the building before this tower being torn down. and is leading to the arlington building torn down. those buildings fit with the rest of the city. and that was what made those buildings nice...

this. while not absolutely terrible on the scale of the city hall, looks like the architect had some unresolved issues from childhood involving lego duplo blocks. and it could have been better designed to fit with the city.
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I'm not in favor of restricting architectural style. I think that would be a major mistake that would lead to stagnation and disneyafication, but I would welcome a law that disallowed the demolition of anything which has stood for a century.
 
You guys sure are painting a nostalgic picture for the old Post Office, but I'm not buying it.

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kz1000ps said:
You guys sure are painting a nostalgic picture for the old Post Office, but I'm not buying it.

img0179ya6.jpg
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thanks for the picture of the back portion of the building that probably previously faced an alley.

does anyone have a picture of the building from the front?
 
underground said:
You ever see the episode of Happy Days when Fonzie water skis over the shark? Well, in any case, that comment is when criticism of this building officially jumped the shark.
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sorry i can let one architecturally poor building pass. but this is another in a long series. there is no level of criticism that can describe the crap being built.
 
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The old post office could be a Nebraska high school. The Clarendon didn't come out spectacularly well, but at least it's architecturally interesting - a conversation starter. It's not a Shreve-type situation wherein we're seeing a jewel box replaced by a boring glass and stucco one.

And FYI, I don't think the old post office was more than 100 years old. Looks like it stood for about 70 or 80.
 
^^Still. A facadectomy would have be preferable to the current ground facade, no?
 
In this case it really would have been a very marginal benefit, I think, if at all. I mean, it's not as if the original building, which didn't include retail or anything, interacted exemplarily with the street. Plus facadectomies don't always go so well: just look at any street in DC. And the costs associated with a facadectomy might have even delayed or killed it in this climate.
 
I would have preferred a little bit of detail/finish around the windows and corners of the building...it looks so plain. That said, it could have been worse.
 
You know I don't think it's awful, but it does look like a giant dollar sign! A boxy retro one - like a part of the set from "The Price is Right" - no? Come on down!
 
eljusticiero67 said:
thanks for the picture of the back portion of the building that probably previously faced an alley.

does anyone have a picture of the building from the front?
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Thanks for not realizing the front of the building is what you see to the left in that picture. I know it's not a dead-on shot, but it's the best that can be found in this thread.

THe post office was nothing more than an unremarkable example of early 20th-century federalism, of which Boston has more than enough of. Maybe you don't like what replaced it, but facadectomizing it would have been an utter waste of money.
 
A while ago, I believe Briv commented on the massing of this project specifically noting that the low rise portion of this development was lower than the many other surrounding buildings. After seeing pics of the old post office building, it struck me that the height and location of the low rise portion of the Clarendon seem to be nearly the same as the demolished post office. Perhaps they could have just built the highrise Clarendon next to the post office and renovated the post office. Although it may have been more cost effective to demolish and start from scratch, I'm not sure they gained any extra space by demolishing the post office.
 
Nothing you said is wrong, commuter guy, but the one thing that would've had to change to accomodate the P.O. is the entrance to the parking garage, which occupies the entire eastern edge of the property:

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Photo courtesy of jass

I assume it required access from one of the principal roads (and not just off the alley), in which case I'd say this location seems reasonable.
 
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