The only reason City Hall is the most hated building in Boston is because most people somehow manage to completely ignore the Government Service Center on Cambridge Street between Staniford and New Chardon.
But the building, which houses various government offices, such as the Lindemann Mental Health Center, would have been harder to ignore under architect Paul Rudolph's original plans, which called for a 23-story tower - all intended to be part of what we now call Government Center, rising from the remains of old Scollay Square.
Ironically, Rudolph incorporated design elements as an answer to the vast, unforgiving sea of brick that was City Hall Plaza - undulating steps and benches that were supposed to draw people in:
Rudolph began designing the center in the early 1960s. The tower was canceled in the 1970s - after the building meant to surround it was finished.
Library of Congress collection of photos and drawing of Rudolph's Boston work (from which the above photos were taken).
The dream behind Boston’s forbidding Government Service Center.
More photos.
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Why Should Property Values Be The God We Worship?
By Oscar Worthy
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 2:26pm
(Asking for a friend.)
Agree Spot On
By John Costello
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 2:50pm
For those of you who do not know what FAR is, it is Floor To Area ratio. That is if you have a FAR of 1 and you have a 40,000 SF lot, you can build 40,000 SF of building. FAR of 2.0 on a 40,000 square foot lot, means you can have an 80,000 SF building, and so on.
As far as the Federal Reserve goes, it is time for at least the "open space" along Summer Street to go. What a great place to have a street car switchback for the Summer Street light rail line that needs to be built as opposed to a....gondola.
Not going to happen
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 4:12pm
That open space is there for a reason.
Remember the Oklahoma City Bombing? Before that there was street parking and a drive up on that section. I used it a couple of times when picking up friends who worked there.
I remember walking over and waiting for my friend who worked for the Fed to come down and head to lunch in early May, 1995. I noticed that they had closed off the drive around, put up no parking signs along the edge, and there were federales lurking in the area. Dude in an 18-wheeler pulled into the empty parking spaces, hopped out, and was immediately surrounded by guys with guns. He had ignored the no parking and no standing signs at his peril.
It was tense for a minute or two.
Sometime after that, they permanently closed the drive up area, took over the parking spaces, and bumped it out to create the current buffer zone next to the building. It is great for pedestrians moving through the area - benches and little gardens.
However, I cannot forget the purpose that it serves - it keeps crazies from pulling up to the building and detonating trucks. I really don't think they will ever let anything near that side of the building again.
Nope
By anon
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 3:07pm
Have you ever been to this site Ari? Go there during the day. Learn something. A Mental Health Ctr does not equal Volpe. The state needs to find a new home for the mental health center. Do you have the cash for that?
Plaza needs more plants
By Tim Mc.
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 2:32pm
No one wants to hang out in an ugly expanse of fake stone (except for I guess skateboarders!) Concrete is not what makes people feel comfortable and welcome.
Au Contraire
By BlackKat
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 4:16pm
I feel warm and fuzzy when I am in or around brutalist architechture. Concrete is my favorite building material and I wish we had more residential structures in the city that use it.
We can have both
By Tim Mc.
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 4:30pm
I think you're very much in the minority on that. But luckily, we can have both! Concrete building, surrounded by plants.
Other articles
By Charles Bahne
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 4:24pm
A few years ago I found some other online articles about this building, which unfortunately aren't all easily available today:
"The Architecture of Madness" from Metropolis magazine:
https://installations08.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/b...
This link has the first part of the article, but unfortunately the link "for full article go to" is no longer working, and I was unable to find it elsewhere.
"Architecture of Insanity" from Singapore Architect magazine:
https://slideus.org/philosophy-of-the-money.html?u...
Complete the Captcha and click on Confirm to download a PDF. The image is small in the PDF file but you can enlarge it to make it readable. (Without downloading, it's too tiny to read on screen.)
"Concrete Therapy" from Harvard Design magazine:
http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/40/con...
I once heard that cost overruns were a major reason for failure to complete the project. Supposedly Rudolph wanted a more "battered" effect on the concrete surfaces so he had workers batter them manually with hammers, increasing the labor costs significantly. I believe the McCormack Building at 1 Ashburton Place was erected to house the offices that were supposed to have been put in the tower of this complex.
Is this where the Brooke Courthouse was later built instead?
By Ron Newman
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 4:48pm
This is behind the Brooke Courthouse.
By section77
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 7:42pm
It was planned for where that park behind it and the garage for the Lindemann Center now sit. As I said before it still could happen.
Hmmm
By anon
Wed, 03/07/2018 - 6:04pm
It's not tbat bad looking. And it would have completed the project. Government Center has always looked like it wasn't completed, like a puzzle with missing pieces.
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