Hey, there! Log in / Register
Plywood windows never a good look for a Boston skyscraper
By adamg on Sun, 10/23/2022 - 2:07pm
Our own Cybah looked up and noticed all these plywood windows on the new 55-story Millennium Partners tower in Winthrop Square. Probably nothing to worry about, but Bostonians still haven't forgotten time the Hancock tower became the world's tallest plywood building in the early 1970s.
1973 Hancock photo by Ernst Halberstadt, from the BPL's Ernst Halberstadt collection.
Update:
Marc Ebuña writes this is no Hancock in the making:
Those are where the tower crane was mounted to the building. The window panels will be installed later by the same crane built into the mechanical penthouse at the top that will be used to do maintenance/window washing on the building when it's occupied.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Thanks Adam
As Stevebikes on twitter pointed out. This is pretty normal.
(and I know it is too). Its for construction access.. exhausts, exterior elevators, crane access. Still funny to see it so high up tho.
See how they’re all aligned
That’s because the opening were used to support construction infrastructure.
They just waiting on the glass to arrive.
Ah yes, the Plywood Palace
The Hancock opened my freshman year of college. Quite the welcome to Boston. As a junior, I took the class Probability for Civil Engineers. Our prof liked to use examples from unnamed tall buildings with windows that fell out, where you had to figure out the probability that the responsible party was the architect, construction engineer, contractor, etc. given certain facts.
Plywood Ranch, wasn't it?
Plywood Ranch, wasn't it?
I guess it had multiple names
I never heard Plywood Ranch, only Plywood Palace.
I built several projects
I built several projects using "Hancock" plywood from Grossman's
Building 19
Building 19 sold them. I remember the flyer. They couldn't tell where they came from, but they said they would make really cool coffee tables and cautioned that the customer was responsible for moving it.
Amazing no one got killed.
Ah, the Plywood Palace
When I moved back to Boston in 2006, got a job with Deloitte Consulting, which was on floors 19-21. First thing out of my mother’s mouth was to watch out for the falling windows!
And I have to give the property owners credit. There was one window in our 20th floor conference room that was bulging one day. They shut down that whole area and replaced the window quicker than a pothole could be repaired on Clarendon Street.
I get this is about safety...
I get this is about safety... But you'd think someone in building management would say "hey let's paint the boards blue" lol , they just stand out so much
Spend more money than necessary?
No way.