4 ms·

Boston City Hall is not only ugly on the outside, it's ugly on the inside. For one of the meeting areas (city council, I believe) they have this wooden furnitur

Boston City Hall is not only ugly on the outside, it's ugly on the inside. For one of the meeting areas (city council, I believe) they have this wooden furniture and some tapestries and old paintings on the concrete walls, but it can't make that cold space warm. Outside, Government Center plaza channels the wind coming off the nearby harbor. It's also the site of one of the most infamous images from the 1970s bussing crisis (https://www.npr.org/2016/09/18/494442131/life-after-iconic-photo-todays-parallels-of-american-flags-role-in-racial-protes https://www.npr.org/2016/09/18/494442131/life-after-iconic-p...) which tainted that space early in its existence.

xefer 8y ago
I heartily agree with this statement. I had a business meeting in there years ago and it was the first time I had ever really been inside. I couldn't believe how miserable and depressing the place was. There's always a discussion going on about what to do with Government Center and City Hall. To me the best thing to do would be to admit the entire enterprise was a tragic mistake, and restore the original street layout. I'm not suggesting they restore the old look - sadly that's lost forever, but at least give the place some actual street life. If the City Hall building really must be saved, then deconstruct it instead of just demolishing it, and rebuild it out in some industrial park in the suburbs where it would blend in with its natural environment.
thrower123 8y ago
It's a profoundly ugly building. The whole hulking slabs of inevitably discolored and gross-looking concrete look is really not good for a government building; it just looks seedy and corrupt and authoritarian. It gives off too many dystopian vibes, and makes me think of the police station in Mad Max or City 17 from HL2. Particularly in Boston, which has its own style and so many beautiful old buildings.
- paleotrope 8y ago
  It's even more evocative of a totalitarian state with the giant face of John Collins on the side of the building.

xefer 8y ago

I heartily agree with this statement. I had a business meeting in there years ago and it was the first time I had ever really been inside. I couldn't believe how miserable and depressing the place was. There's always a discussion going on about what to do with Government Center and City Hall. To me the best thing to do would be to admit the entire enterprise was a tragic mistake, and restore the original street layout. I'm not suggesting they restore the old look - sadly that's lost forever, but at least give the place some actual street life. If the City Hall building really must be saved, then deconstruct it instead of just demolishing it, and rebuild it out in some industrial park in the suburbs where it would blend in with its natural environment.

thrower123 8y ago

It's a profoundly ugly building. The whole hulking slabs of inevitably discolored and gross-looking concrete look is really not good for a government building; it just looks seedy and corrupt and authoritarian. It gives off too many dystopian vibes, and makes me think of the police station in Mad Max or City 17 from HL2. Particularly in Boston, which has its own style and so many beautiful old buildings.

paleotrope 8y ago
It's even more evocative of a totalitarian state with the giant face of John Collins on the side of the building.