What is happening at Boston City Hall is an embarrassment for which all who love Boston must take responsibility. Like so many familiar things, we sometimes become blind to the reality:
• With the Massachusetts and City of Boston flags fraying in the wind, three grimy flagpoles, scarred by time, stand out in front of City Hall.
Comments
That hideous building is an embarrassment for Boston. Thank goodness that era of architectural fashion quickly passed!
The entire building needs to be torn down with prejudice and the property needs to be completely re-done. A couple of low-rise modern, clean office buildings with some green public space will do quite nicely thank you very much. It's not that complicated. Borrow the money from the Chinese of you have to.
It's a beautiful example of brutalist architecture that should be respected and preserved. We don't need another new banal piece of civic architecture such as the police headquaters, which is likely what we would get. I couldn't agree with the writer more.
It seems to me that "insensitivity, apparent indifference, and detachment" are the essence of brutalist architecture. I say leave it in a dilapidated state. If you are not going to tear it down, this is how it should look -- a barren wasteland of concrete, intimidating and unpleasant for the people who have to pass by. Don't put lipstick on a pig.
I'll take the police headquarters over city hall plaza any day. At least it doesn't appear to be designed to crush the soul.
This isn’t an issue of the architectural style or of some of the design issues (there is a difference between style and how it is applied in a building). The issue is lack of cleanliness, poor maintenance and sloppy upkeep. First, clean the place. Second, convene a quick analysis of where improvements in signage and lighting can take place for both the interior and exterior spaces. A lighting designer has a lot to work with for potentially interesting outcomes. Lastly, it is not difficult to get some discipline around the haphazard parking. Regardless of what one thinks of the style, that is no excuse for benign (some might argue calculated) neglect to continue.
The building is 50 years old, and it has been given virtually nothing beyond minimal maintenance. Under Menino's reign it has not even been receiving that. An investment of thought and money, with some clever interventions could transform what is a internationally recognized landmark into a building that can serve the city for another 50 years. All it takes iis vision, and dynamic city leadership that has been sadly missing for many years.
Don't worry. In a month the Big Apple Circus will change the plaza from neglected urban blight to gawdy rural white trash. short of demolishing city hall the entire plaza SORELY needs a complete makeover. Shame on the city and mayor for allowing the plaza to become the embarrassment it is.
Tear down this cement bunker! It is a disgrace to democracy. A Tall modern skyscraper on the cite owned by the city and leased to a private property manager to maintain it. 3/4 of the building leased to private companies and 1/4 used by the city with opulent entryway, state of the art systems and a green space park eliminating the brick would be beautiful and fiscally smart.
The conditions described can be applied across the board to the attitude of those managing the city; neglect of fundamental responsibility and contempt for the taxpaying public. As ugly as the plaza and building may be it doesn't take much effort to keep something like this in reasonable, presentable, fashion does it? What it takes is the WILL to do so and a managerial standard in place that makes workers down the line take both responsibility and a little pride in such things. But Boston (as well as most of Massachusetts) is a city run by the city employees FOR the city employees, first, last and always. That's the priority as this and the recent stories of all manner of thievery and mismanagement have shown (leaving one to wonder where such mismanagement and corruption ends). Essential neglect of such things as basic as the condition of a city hall speak volumes about the attitude that prevails throughout city goverment. The management doesn't care what people think, period.
I disagree. I think much of the neglect of our public spaces can be attributed to a public who is so obsessed with avoiding "wasted" tax dollars that our city officials don't dare spend that money on such "luxuries" as cleaning up the trash or repainting municipal trash cans. Of course there is plenty of cronyism to go around, but mostly we have only ourselves to blame for the neglect.
There once was a quaint concept called civic pride, something has been noticeably absent from our city government since Kevin White was last in the Mayor's Office.
One of the many reasons its time for the mayor to go. Love or hate the architecture, the lack of upkeep is due to managerial neglect
Whether you like the building or not one of the reasons it is so depressing is the neglect and lack of upkeep it has suffered. No public space, no matter how well designed, will remain appealing without care. Menino doesn't like the building so he lets it fall into ruin in the hope that conditions will finally get bad enough to justify his disdain and his desire to tear it down. If a private landlord neglected a property like this the city would cite him for it.
Menino is too stupid to retire or accept the harm he is doing to Boston.
The greatest thing Menino could do for Boston is to tear that blight on the eyes down. Even a heap of rubble would be an improvement on what is standing there. It's even worse on the inside. I pity the poor people who have to work in it.
YES_NativeBos has it right,"The issue is lack of cleanliness, poor maintenance and sloppy upkeep." Also, Boston city has the same sloppy upkeep, including pot-holed roads. Take a drive down to the beautiful ICA building at night. The terrible roads, lack of street lights, and signage is a disgrace!
p.s. Is Mayor Menino still 'squatting' rent-free in the Parkman House mansion in the Back Bay?
I agree that the plaza is a mess, as is the interior of the building. But any real fixes are fairly expensive, and I think most residents would rather see their schools, parks and roads get the money rather than the building. Not my view, but I think its the view of the majority who rarely get near City Hall.
As for the building, I actually like the exterior. The plaza and the interior of the building need work, but I hope the building itself doens't fall victim to the needs of the rest of the site.
There are some in city govt who truly believe in public service, civic pride, etc. And there is a fair number of earnest managers and workers, mostly those who aren't "political." But by and large, the impression one gets is that most folks in City Hall are either focusing on how to look good and get re-elected (play to the unions) or thinking about how the world owes them a living (hand in hand with unions and collective bargaining). It's their essence and cynicism that is evident in how this pitiful building looks and feels. Lucrative contracts for employees can't leave much for such basics as property maintenance. There isn't any leadership on this topic, either. How else to explain the unmanned reception desk, pitiful and cheap signs, toxic water bubblers, filthy staircases, pathetic smokers' haven at the north exit, etc.? Failing to plan = planning to fail. No, City Hall does not really care.
Back on February 19th of last year, the Sunday Globe printed a letter from me in response to an article the Globe ran about Boston's City Hall. The caption of the letter (written by the Globe editors) was "Its overseers have not been kind to this structure" and the letter read in part:
"The city has not been kind to the building. On a recent visit, I noticed that much of the metal work on the counters had fallen into disrepair, and that no one seemed to care about maintaining the lighted elevator signs explaining which agency is on which floor. Compare this with the condition of commercial office buildings such as One Beacon Street or 60 State Street, both of similar vintage as Boston City Hall and both still considered class A addresses."
When constructed, the cost per square foot and quality of Boston's City Hall was equal or higher than the new major commercial buildings of the era. However, while virtually all of those buildings have received careful maintenance, lobby improvements, and even major interior renovations (e.g., 28 State Street), the Boston City Hall has been neglected disgracefully.
Unfortunately, it is the nature of the public sector to prefer ribbon-cutting ceremonies on major capital projects to performing the basic day-to-day tasks needed to maintain those projects. It's hard to get a photo op by spending the tax-payers' money on replacing worn carpet or keeping the windows washed. One need only to walk along the Charles River under the Longfellow Bridge to see how a few decades of leaving steel unpainted can result in a $255-million repair project. (See the February 28th Boston Globe story "Longfellow Bridge repairs, disruption to start in summer.")
I believe the 513,000 square foot Boston City Hall cost about $26-million to build in 1968. Using the Engineering News Record's construction cost index (1968=1155; 2012=9421), that's about $214-million today, or about $410 per square foot -- not an inexpensive building by any stretch of the imagination.
No sane investor would allow such a substantial asset to deteriorate like this.
You are right on target here, Kevin Fallon. The City Hall is a beautiful representation of post 50's banal architecture, which, alas, has been making its return. In its robust way, it is a masterpiece, something of which all Bostonians should be very proud. It's a singular building, and hats off to is (then young) masterful architects. Bravo! It needs to be brightened a bit, internally, with some bursts of color. And the beautiful plaza needs to be treated with some respect, as the author of the Globe piece states. But Bostonians should be bursting their buttons with the gem, not listening to Mayor Menino's nonsense about replacing the building. And certainly not paying any attention to some of the foolish comments here (not mine). May the Boston City Hall have a long and respected life as one of the city's Architectural jewels. New Yorkers are envious.