Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

I don't mean to beat a dead horse and won't ask anymore, but is it now a given there will be no lighting at the top of this tower? I mean...exterior construction has been mostly complete for a while now. And NO lighting at the top at night. Nothing. Is this it?

Disappointed? Very.
Am I shocked? No, not in Boston.
 
What is slowly getting nibbled away - what makes Boston truly Boston - cannot be reclaimed when lost.

Is this better than what was once there, a public garage? That’s the wrong question. The better question: Was this the best we could do? I say, no.

I'm not one to defend Winthrop Center, but, this is pretty contradictory. Could this have been better? Yes, of course. Was the condemed concrete parking garage something that made Boston truly Boston that it replaced? Really? If anything that garage was the thing that slowly chipped away at what makes Boston, Boston and was long already lost before this building came along.
 
20230318_163756.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20230318_164241.jpg
    20230318_164241.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 172
Lights are still on now. They are a bit underwhelming, Im hoping they arent done yet and are only half the height they should be
 
Last edited:
Lights are still on now. They are a bit underwhelming, Im hoping they arent done yet and are only half the height they should be
I’m cautiously optimistic; the upper triangle part of the fin seems to be what was lit overnight; the bottom half was not lit (yet?)

It was a welcome surprise (shock) to me this morning, turning onto Dot Ave at 6:15 when it was still quite dark. When I got to Back Bay around 630, it did look underwhelming… it reminded me of those skateboard deterrent clips they put on low slung walls.

9BBE5DB1-A7F2-4A41-B4C6-AF204EC6DE02.jpeg
 
I'm pleasantly surprised to see they are lighting this at all. There's no way the lights will extend any further down the building since those become the occupiable floors, but it beats another of our tallest towers disappearing into the night.

I thought (still think) they should do something similar on 1 Dalton, in the top 2 floor areas where nobody's living. Except I was hoping for a softer light between the slats, instead of the more LED type lights here.
 
I would bet theyre going to extend the lighting all the way down, since thats how theyve always depicted it. One of the last renders ever released lines up perfectly with what were seeing, they just havent turned on the rest of the floors yet.

0FD01FD6-937E-4EBC-B2A1-DBCF69EFCD10.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I agree, I think the rest of the lighting hasn't been fully installed. I will say, WS will very much look tallest once the sun goes down.

View attachment 35662

The lighting actually seems kind of similar to that of 1 International Place, with the short vertical lines right at the top. It may be simple and no frills, but it does its job by obviously revealing the building's full envelope in the dark.

I still doubt the lighting extends down any further, although the render above says otherwise. The brightness seems like it would negatively affect the penthouse units if it was on those same floors.
 
I have it on good authority that the first move in dates are imminent, but no later than first week of April. This means the connecting block of Devonshire should be opening very soon. The crown lights and entry column construction are all positive signs!
 

Back
Top