Hi,
Welcome to Looking Around Boston, a newsletter about art and culture in Boston and beyond. If you aren’t already signed up, you can do that here.
It’s been an unseasonably warm winter here in Boston. This weekend, it felt like spring came early. I took advantage of the (possibly climate change–induced) weather to go on a little art walk in downtown Boston yesterday with an art-loving friend (and newsletter subscriber!).
Our goal was to see the public art on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the beautiful above-ground park that replaced 93 when the highway went underground during the Big Dig. But as it turns out, March isn’t the best time to see art installations there; maybe they go up during the summer? We did get to say hi to Stefan Thelen’s Resonance, a mural I highlighted in the first issue of this newsletter.
We ended up working our way away from the waterfront and back toward the Boston Public Market so I could get a breakfast sandwich. Along the way, we found a couple notable pieces of architecture that I wanted to share with you.
I’ve lived in the Boston area my whole life and I don’t think I’ve ever walked through the New England Holocaust Memorial. It’s right by the entrance to Faneuil Hall. Designed by architect Stanley Saitowitz and championed by Holocaust survivor Stephan Ross, who found a new life in Boston in the 1940s, the memorial is extremely beautiful. Its glass towers are surrounded by tree branches; lining the path are stones inscribed with words of survivors and historians who urge you not to look away or forget from what happened to them.
Each tower represents a different concentration camp. As you get closer, you see that the glass looks frosted over; then you notice that the frosting is actually tiny numbers stacked on top of each other all the way up, each sequence of numbers representing someone who died. We walked slowly through and I wished I could read every number, but I think part of the point is that you couldn’t, even if you had all day.
After visiting the public market, we ended up on City Hall Plaza. City Hall is my least favorite building in Boston, and I know I’m not alone. People even called for City Hall to be demolished before construction was finished! But why do so many people have such negative feelings toward the building?
Boston City Hall was designed in the 1960s by two Columbia University architects, Gerhard Kallmann and Michael McKinnell. It’s an example of the Brutalist style of architecture—which does not mean that the architecture is meant to look brutal or harsh, but rather refers to the style of pouring raw concrete. (Think of the word for French sparkling wine, called “brut” because it is unsweetened and dry.) The building has been subjected to a lot of hate over the years, and it can seem dull and depressing; it’s a bit of a concrete monstrosity among the shiny skyscrapers and quaint historic buildings of downtown Boston.
On the other hand, lots of architecture buffs say it’s an important historical landmark and should be preserved as an excellent example of Brutalism, a significant 20th century architectural style. City Hall is designed so that the lower levels of the building, which are more visible and accessible to the public, would contain the departments of city government that are most important to its citizens—making Boston’s civil servants symbolically and actually more accessible to the people they serve.
Both the New England Holocaust Memorial and Boston City Hall ask us: How do we preserve our memories and our culture for the future? And, how can we take lessons from our past and live them today, in the present?
Let me know in comments what you think of Boston City Hall, and whether it should be demolished or preserved. (For the record, I don’t like it, but I’m not actively calling for a wrecking ball to come in, either.)
That’s all for today. Have a great week, and next time you walk around the city, maybe take a closer look at the buildings you see and ask yourselves what they are trying to tell you.
Cordelia
Monuments and memory
I love the Holocaust Memorial, especially that it's "interactive." You actually have to WALK THROUGH IT, which has such a powerful impact – so different from observing other memorials "from a distance."
And I am so glad that it's in such a heavily-trafficked place. This could have been tucked away from the throngs of tourists who overtake the area in the summer, but no – it's right there as a reminder to all. I stop by every time I'm in the area because it's so compelling and chilling.
City hall always seems to pop up out of nowhere no matter which direction I come at it from or how familiar I am with my route. I like the piazza-feel all around it though, and I'm curious about those wide, brick-lined spaces.