Winthrop Center | 115 Winthrop Square | Financial District

Looking over the Garden from Arlington Street

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kinda looks beautiful here…

. . . and this is my favorite viewpoint. This, Dewey Square, and from Memorial Drive (but from the right spot so as to not overlap with Millennium) are about it. This is shaping up as one of the more unremarkable and unmemorable ~700' towers in the country. I'd call it "Manhattan filler", but it's a bit too fat for that description.
 
This looks far shorter than it is from almost every angle, looking shorter than MT from most sides. Even from the places you see it the clearest, it's underwhelming and will look like in-fill. I doubt the 20-30 feet extra of crown will make much difference. It's not offensive, it's just... there.

Winthrop center at the complaint department
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I am absolutely loving the pleated façade. The fractured reflections of the sky are so interesting. As the glass gets further up we should see some spectacular sunset images with the pleats catching different colors of sky in vertical stripes all the way up the building.
 
I have not been in town to see this building, but is it or is it not suppose to be taller than MT. It looks close from certain angles and it looks like a bit more before it tops off, but this continues to confound me, I don't need the 1,000 footer Menino called for all those years ago, but if this thing were simply 10 stories or whatever the max height could be, why didn't they do it? Downtown needs a signature tower and we still don't have it (and won't for a very long time in my not so educated opinion. I think South Station is going to be cool because it's not cluttered in with everything else, but still not a, WOW, that's Boston.
 
I have not been in town to see this building, but is it or is it not suppose to be taller than MT. It looks close from certain angles and it looks like a bit more before it tops off, but this continues to confound me

Millenium Tower is 685', Winthrop Center is going to be 691'.

if this thing were simply 10 stories or whatever the max height could be, why didn't they do it?

IIRC the FAA would not allow a building taller than 702'. I have no idea as to why they didn't go the extra 11 feet, although it probably wouldn't have made a huge difference in terms of visuals. Would have been cool to get it past the 700' mark nonetheless.
 
In the renders, the same views showed what we are seeing now. From the common or back bay, it looks slightly shorter than MT in the renders. I'm sure it's the grade in which the buildings are constructed. I believe it said Winthrop was 709' above grade, 691' in height. I don't know what Millennium is AG but I assume that would answer a few of these questions.
 
It's been discussed earlier. The different in height between MT and WT is 6 ft which in itself wouldn't be noticeable and WT sits somewhere between 15-30 ft below MT. Given that information, regardless of where in that grade range WT sits, there will be no instance where WT would look definitively taller than MT aside from views where WT is closer than MT. Based on just measurement, however, WT is taller than MT.
 
I was just hoping for enough of a difference between them to create some variety in downtowns newest/tallest buildings. I guess if it's not height, I should be hoping for enough of a different look to make them stand out. For those of you who have seen them up close, does that seem to be the case?
 
I was just hoping for enough of a difference between them to create some variety in downtowns newest/tallest buildings. I guess if it's not height, I should be hoping for enough of a different look to make them stand out. For those of you who have seen them up close, does that seem to be the case?
We really won't know until the crown is up and the glass is finished. For now MT looks taller and the glass on both appears similarly from a distance. That being said, Winthrop is looking much nicer from ground level up close, with very nice detailing, whereas MT is super plain.
 
I was just hoping for enough of a difference between them to create some variety in downtowns newest/tallest buildings. I guess if it's not height, I should be hoping for enough of a different look to make them stand out. For those of you who have seen them up close, does that seem to be the case?
I would say, had WT been less of a box shape or wasn't all glass then it could be more distinctive. Minneapolis is a good example of having 3 towers of similar height as their tallests but each being able to stand out on it's own thanks to the difference in material and shape of the towers. So if you're expecting like Minneapolis, then probably not.

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The combination of MT, WT, and ST, being all glass and of similar height will probably look more like a glass version of Singapore's Big 3
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. . . and this is my favorite viewpoint. This, Dewey Square, and from Memorial Drive (but from the right spot so as to not overlap with Millennium) are about it. This is shaping up as one of the more unremarkable and unmemorable ~700' towers in the country. I'd call it "Manhattan filler", but it's a bit too fat for that description.

Looks like the "cocoon" has been removed or is being removed, indicating that the building has reached the top!! :)
 

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