Mayor Walsh wants to illuminate Boston City Hall, which opened in 1969. William Rawn’s redesign of architect Philip Johnson’s 1971 addition to the Boston Public Library is coming to fruition. These two events bring home the complications of deciding what architecture to preserve in a history-obsessed city. These buildings have commonalities. They are public, built Read More…
If you’re a traveler and an architecture enthusiast, you may have been on the Chicago River architectural boat tour. It is splendid, with good stories about the Windy City’s fine buildings. You may be surprised to learn that Boston also has an architectural river (and harbor) trip. You’ll also be surprised to find that you Read More…
The following commentary was submitted by North End resident, Forbes Dewey. We have had several comments about the architecture in Boston recently and at least one article by a normally astute reporter really missed the point. First, there was no mention of what I consider to be the four classics of Boston: the Customs House Read More…
Recently when long-time friends, all Bostonians, gathered for dinner, a question was posed: What are the best buildings built in Boston in the last 50 years? Everyone had a hard time coming up with an answer. Three were acknowledged to be okay—the John Hancock Tower, the Federal Reserve Bank and Rowe’s Wharf. But the buildings Read More…
A few weeks ago architecture in Boston was the topic of this column. It must have hit a nerve because many people wrote or phoned to say they also were concerned about the pedestrian nature of the architecture that has been Boston’s stock in trade for the past several years. So I’d like to introduce Read More…