The Quinn (née The Berkeley) | 370-380 Harrison Ave | South End

Great pictures Beeline! We can really start seeing this streetwall and transformation right now. I love the new look!
 
Boston ZBA needs to simplify zoning code to accommodate buildings like The Quinn citywide as of right. 280 units, urban, and contextually sympathetic, and walkable.

One of these in every city neighborhood built annually will help keep pace with our regional housing needs and help stabilize real estate costs in the next 10 years.
 
You know what I love most about this project? The texture. There is depth in the framing of the windows, in how the narrow piers are slightly inset, in the little protruding blocks, and lots of other little touches. It's subtle but makes a huge difference. It's the sort of thing that looks even better for the repetition, even more striking when repeated across many rows and columns. Even the gray horizontal bands are blocky and uneven, giving the impression of stone without being obvious about it. You can do quality architecture without using quality materials. This building proves it.

Architects seem to think they need to throw a dozen different ideas into every facade to keep their buildings interesting, but it is so much more effective to do one thing and just do it well. This project does a lot of little things right. I'm impressed. Best thing going up in the city right now.
 
Poolio said:
You know what I love most about this project? The texture. There is depth in the framing of the windows, in how the narrow piers are slightly inset, in the little protruding blocks, and lots of other little touches. It's subtle but makes a huge difference. It's the sort of thing that looks even better for the repetition, even more striking when repeated across many rows and columns. Even the gray horizontal bands are blocky and uneven, giving the impression of stone without being obvious about it. You can do quality architecture without using quality materials. This building proves it.

Architects seem to think they need to throw a dozen different ideas into every facade to keep their buildings interesting, but it is so much more effective to do one thing and just do it well. This project does a lot of little things right. I'm impressed. Best thing going up in the city right now.
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Although the building is obviously under construction, at a casual glance you feel like the facade has been there forever.

It is amazing how similar this feels to the salvaged facade of 100 Shawmut just a few blocks away.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Although the building is obviously under construction, at a casual glance you feel like the facade has been there forever.

It is amazing how similar this feels to the salvaged facade of 100 Shawmut just a few blocks away.
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Very true. I hadn't been following this thread, so when I first looked through the recent set of images, I couldn't decide whether it was new construction or a facadectomy. It really looks natural and timeless.
 
What's the neighborhood like in terms of cafes, restaurants, etc.? It looks desolate, like you could fire a cannon down that street at night and on weekends and not hit anything. Unless it is just that photo and things are popping around the corner.
 
Czervik.Construction said:
What's the neighborhood like in terms of cafes, restaurants, etc.? It looks desolate, like you could fire a cannon down that street at night and on weekends and not hit anything. Unless it is just that photo and things are popping around the corner.
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Lots of new housing, amenities are beginning to follow but don't yet match the residential density. There is a Whole Foods, though, which goes a long way.
 
HenryAlan said:
Lots of new housing, amenities are beginning to follow but don't yet match the residential density. There is a Whole Foods, though, which goes a long way.
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There is actually a lot more than the the Whole Foods in place already:

Coffee Shops: Capital One Cafe, Cuppacoffe, Tatte...
Restaurants: Sweetgreen, Bar Mezzana, Fuji, Area Four, Shore Leave...
Plus a CVS.

All in the new developments (Ink Block, Troy or 345 Harrison).
 
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Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that there was nothing else. But with thousands of housing units, there could and eventually will be even more consumer oriented businesses.
 
HenryAlan said:
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that there was nothing else. But with thousands of housing units, there could and eventually will be even more consumer oriented businesses.
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Agreed, and The Quinn will have ground floor retail. All the new residential buildings have been encouraged to include ground floor retail components.
 
SOWA is also right up the street when it's open. Also, there's a new Yellow Door Taqueria that's replacing Lion's tail. Hoping it has more staying power.
 
HenryAlan said:
Lots of new housing, amenities are beginning to follow but don't yet match the residential density. There is a Whole Foods, though, which goes a long way.
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What kind of gains are you expecting?
Boston is growing, but landlords and State liquor licensing is killing off what scant retail & restaurant/bars we have.
 
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odurandina said:
What kind of gains are you expecting?
Boston is growing, but landlords and State liquor licensing is killing off what scant retail & restaurant/bars we have.
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Odurandina -- After becoming a city in the early 1800's -- Boston itself rapidly grew in population as waves of newly arriving migrants settled in the newly made land in the mid to late 19th C. First the Irish, then the Italians and then Eastern/Central Europeans poured into the South End and then Dorchester, etc.. Gradually these immigrant groups began to achieve local political power in the city -- even electing a Mayor {Irish and finally the Italians]. Meanwhile, the old-line Yankees began to leave Boston itself for first the inner and then later outer suburbs. The Yankees commuted into the core of the city via far flung rail lines radiating outward. The Yankees contrived to maintain control of the city where they worked, although mostly didn't live -- by establishing a number of State Licensing Boards and such, which superseded local authority.

This system of State control of many local functions still exists today -- and has even been enhanced through the creation first of the Metropolitan District Commission in the late 19th C and then its successors [e.g. MWRA] and finally the copycat "alphabet-soup" agencies in the mid 20th C [MBTA, Massport, Mass Convention Center Authority, etc.]

I suppose in a sense that the resultant smearing of authority between Boston and Beacon Hill was inevitable given that the Legislature sits and the Governor governs in the midst of the largest and most important urbanity in Massachusetts.

This is something which is quite rare among the larger population states e.g. 25 largest in population].
Note the States with Largest Urban Area and Capital being the same -- e.g. Boston are in Green --
the states where the largest versus capital is ambiguous e.g. Minneapolis-St. Paul are in Blue-Green

State Capital Largest Metro / City [MSA] -- or two if close in size
California Sacramento LA
Texas Austin Dallas / Houston
Florida Tallahassee Miami / Jacksonville
New York Albany New York City
Pennsylvania Harrisburg Philadelphia
Illinois Springfield Chicago
Ohio Columbus Cleveland / Columbus
Georgia Atlanta Atlanta
North Carolina Raleigh Charlotte
Michigan Lansing Detroit
New Jersey Trenton Newark
Virginia Richmond Virginia Beach / DC Metro [in VA]
Washington Olympia Seattle
Arizona Phoenix Phoenix
Massachusetts Boston Boston
Tennessee Nashville Memphis
Indiana Indianapolis Indianapolis
Missouri Jefferson City Kansas City / St. Louis
Maryland Annapolis Baltimore
Wisconsin Madison Milwaukee
Colorado Denver Denver
Minnesota St. Paul Minneapolis -- St. Paul [aka Twin Cities]
South Carolina Columbia Columbia
Alabama Montgomery Birmingham
Louisiana Baton Rouge New Orleans

So out of the 25 largest states by 2020 population estimate
4 have the capital in the largest MSA [typically the largest city population]
2 are ambiguous for various reasons
and none of the top 10 states have that configuration essentially designed for chaos
 
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Nice, sounds like there are some options already. Give it a year and there will probably be 5 bank branches and 6 oversized CVS/Walgreens in the area

JeffDowntown said:
There is actually a lot more than the the Whole Foods in place already:

Coffee Shops: Capital One Cafe, Cuppacoffe, Tatte...
Restaurants: Sweetgreen, Bar Mezzana, Fuji, Area Four, Shore Leave...
Plus a CVS.

All in the new developments (Ink Block, Troy or 345 Harrison).
Click to expand...
 
This just goes to show that modern prefab/precast facades can look incredible and be huge assets to their surroundings and neighborhood. If precast is the way they need to go in order to have the budget to create high quality detailed facades then Im all for it.

We only need to look no further than hayward place, lovejoy wharf, liberty mutual, and now here to see how good precast facades can be executed. If theyre going to look like this then I say more precast! These are the types of buildings that we need getting built in this day and age to offset all the glass or low quality cheap facades going up, and also to expand the amount of buildings that look like this much further out than they are now.

The “feel” of Boston can be expanded out in all directions with buildings like this, from the relatively small core of years past, to a much bigger city overall. High quality looking brick and masonry facades infilled throughout all the neighborhoods would really stitch the greater city overall together. Im all for it. Washington place in newton is a great example of this happening now.
 
stick n move said:
This just goes to show that modern prefab/precast facades can look incredible and be huge assets to their surroundings and neighborhood. If precast is the way they need to go in order to have the budget to create high quality detailed facades then Im all for it.

We only need to look no further than hayward place, lovejoy wharf, liberty mutual, and now here to see how good precast facades can be executed. If theyre going to look like this then I say more precast! These are the types of buildings that we need getting built in this day and age to offset all the glass or low quality cheap facades going up, and also to expand the amount of buildings that look like this much further out than they are now.

The “feel” of Boston can be expanded out in all directions with buildings like this, from the relatively small core of years past, to a much bigger city overall. High quality looking brick and masonry facades infilled throughout all the neighborhoods would really stitch the greater city overall together. Im all for it. Washington place in newton is a great example of this happening now.
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Stick -- I think you are right on target with these comments

There is no reason that quality precast can't be the Terracotta of the 21st C
 
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