modern architecture

Lincoln Street Garage // 1956

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Few buildings in Boston showcase the evolution of its neighborhood (or bring out the architectural critics) quite as well as the Lincoln Street Garage in the Leather District of Boston. This Post-WWII mixed use building was originally constructed in 1956, on the former site of the United States Hotel (1839), one of the first major hotels in the nation, which was razed in 1930. The original building was designed by architect Archie Riskin, and stood three stories high with parking on half of the second floor and on the 3rd floor and roof. A fifth floor of office space was designed and constructed by 1959 also by Riskin. Due to its site at the edge of a historic commercial/industrial district and adjacent to the Central Artery, a raised highway that snaked its way through Downtown Boston, the building was minimally visible and faded away to obscurity until the late 1990s when the highway was buried under the city as part of the “Big Dig”. The open scar and subsequent re-greening of much of the former highway spaces necessitated the owners to re-work the building, due to its newfound gateway presence into the neighborhood. Brian Healey Architects renovated the building, adding an additional floor of offices and reworked facades. The result is a Post-war mixed-use hodgepodge of a building that expresses its use visually on each floor in a no-nonsense way, making it a unique urban building. Additionally the building has long been rented to small businesses, almost all Asian-owned with direct ties to the Chinatown and Leather District neighborhoods. Recent plans have been approved for a new office tower on the site and supported by preservation groups stating that “the existing garage is historically significant or beneficial to the neighborhood”, but to me, the further erasure of quirky buildings for more out-of-context developments is not the way to go.

Stone & Webster Office Building // 1975

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Stone & Webster, established in 1893 by MIT graduates Charles Stone and Edwin Webster, was a national leader in electrification and power generation, and provided services in engineering, construction, environmental remediation, infrastructure, and plant operation for industrial clients. After the Boston Redevelopment Authority acquired and demolished sections of South Station for redevelopment, Stone & Webster decided to relocate their offices to this new site. Los Angeles-based architectural firm Welton Becket & Associates, designed the office building in a late International-style, which serves as a counter to the masonry and classically designed, South Station nearby. The steel frame with metal and glass skin and boxy form are effective at delineating the building from its neighbor, but is not pedestrian-friendly at the ground level as the raised ground floor is lined at the sidewalk by concrete steps. The building is now largely leased to Fidelity Investments.

Forest House // 1975

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Photo courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

While Cornwall, Connecticut is known for its 19th century architecture, there are some amazing Mid-Century Modern houses hidden away on forested lots there. This is the Eric and Anne Bohlin House (aka Forest House) designed by architect Peter Bohlin of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson for his parents as a summer retreat. The residence was completed in 1975 and sited between dense evergreens and bright deciduous woodland in a sparsely developed part of town. Camouflaged among the trees, the green-stained exterior hovers above a boulder-strewn landscape, resting on concrete piers, with large windows to take advantage of the glorious forest views. This is a great example of high-quality, site-specific house designs, which are becoming a rarity in recent years.

Former Newton Savings Bank Building // 1962

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Opened in 1962 as the Newton Savings Bank, this unique Mid-20th century Modern banking structure showcases the forms and materials not conceived in previous decades. The building is located on the Newton Centre Green, adjacent to the former Newton Centre Methodist Episcopal Church, and provides a sharp contrast between the stone building in the Romanesque style and more contemporary forms. The bank was designed by Bastille and Halsey Associates, established in 1953 by partners, Robert Adams Bastille and William Ashbaugh Halsey. Now occupied by a Citizens Bank with professional offices also inside, the building exhibits precast concrete “zipper” banding between floors that are broken up by solid brick masses in the facade. What do you think of these corporate modern buildings?

Temple Beth Israel, Danielson // 1955

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Temple Beth Israel is a unique, Mid-Century Modern former synagogue, that can be found in the village of Danielson, in the town of Killingly, Connecticut. Ground was broken on the temple in 1951 and the foundation and basement were completed soon-after. Funding was tight and the building remained unfinished for years. During the first years that the congregation used the unfinished synagogue, while continually striving for additional funds to complete the building. A congregation member Mary Riseman’ s son William Riseman, an architect, designed the building and the Riseman family donated the fieldstone for the building from a quarry on their farm. The building was eventually completed in 1961, ten years after its ground-breaking ceremony, with young, recently graduated architect, Maurice Finegold as designer of the interior of the main floor sanctuary and more, completing the project. The congregation, a blend of Orthodox and Conservative adherents, was generally served by itinerant rabbis, often religious students. Dwindling membership forced the congregation to merge with another in nearby Putnam, and the building was eventually sold. A secular preservation society was organized to keep it, which has transformed it into a cultural and historical center, dedicated to preserving the history of the Jewish experience in the area.

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Roxbury // 1915

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Breaking ground in 1915, this early Modern church building must have turned heads when it was being built in Roxbury! In October, 1907, a fine lot of land with a house on it, at the corner of Elm Hill Avenue and Howland Street, was purchased for eighteen thousand dollars by a group of Christian Science followers. In October, 1911, a building committee of five was elected by the church, and by the summer of 1914 the building fund had made such satisfactory growth that ground was broken and work for the new structure begun in September. The congregation hired the illustrious architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge to design the edifice of classic and imposing design. Constructed of gray tapestry brick with limestone trimmings, the auditorium seated upwards of one thousand members, under the dome roof. Today, the building is occupied by Grace Church of All Nations.

Yale University Art Gallery // 1953

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Yale University’s School of Architecture was in the midst transition when Louis Kahn joined the faculty in 1947. The post-war years at Yale trended away from the school’s Beaux-Arts lineage towards the avant-garde, and Modernist principles brought over from European architects. When the University called for a new wing for its existing Venetian Gothic style Art Gallery Building (1928), they obviously had no choice but to make a statement for the future of the school. Architecture professor Louis Kahn worked with Anne Tyng, who was both a professional partner and his “muse”, who heavily influenced his works, including here where she designed the concrete tetrahedral slab ceiling at the interior galleries. As a professor and practicing architect, Kahn hoped for students and visitors would engage with the building, even interior spaces often overlooked design-wise, such as the stairwells. While the facades are fairly minimal in design details, because the attention was paid to the interiors, which provide protection from natural light while also allowing for large floor plates for customizable exhibitions. The structure is Yale’s first true Modernist building on a campus which soon after was dominated by some of the country’s most iconic examples of the style.

Dublin Hill Deck House // 1974

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I don’t share Mid-Century buildings on here enough, mostly due to the fact that so many of the houses of the period are secluded down winding driveways and surrounded by trees! This stunning house is located in Southbury, Connecticut, and is a great example of a Deck House. The Deck House was a housing type developed by architect Carl Koch. According to At Home With Tomorrow, he began his lifelong mission to create “the good, the beautiful, and the inexpensive” in housing while at Harvard under the guidance of Walter Gropius, who is famous for the development of the Modernist Movement in architecture. After the war, he turned his focus on the housing shortage, a symptom of the Great Depression, WWII, and returning Veterans with growing families and VA mortgage loan offers. His solution was for an affordable house of pre-fabricated parts to cut costs and provide streamlined construction. In 1953, his Techbuilt house was launched, after a decade of research. William Berkes and Robert Brownell had worked with Koch at Techbuilt after graduate school, but wanted to create a design of their own. They left Techbuilt in 1959 and founded Deck House, using the same principles. The exposed Douglas fir beams, wood panel ceilings and mahogany trim and window casements are what give the deck house a lot of its signature aesthetic. A wall of glazing, open floor plan with sloping roof rafters extending beyond the walls and a low placement in seemingly untouched nature are further elements that have endeared these houses to the modern homeowner.

Tower Records Building // 1918 & 1986

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New England is home to just three projects by world-renowned (and sometimes maligned) architect Frank Gehry. To me, architecture is best when it makes you stop, look, critique, and comment on it. Architecture is an art, and it should evoke emotion and discussion. Gehry’s work does just that. His only project to date in Boston is located at the corner of Newbury Street and Massachusetts Avenue in the Back Bay, a project I would assume most don’t realize was a Frank Gehry design. The building was originally built as a seven-story office building (originally planned as eight stories) over an MBTA station lobby in 1918. Designed by Arthur Bowditch, the building was completed a year later, built of buff brick and concrete. The Boston Elevated Railway Company (BERy) moved into the top floors of the building and it became known as the Transit Building. The construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike in the 1960s removed neighboring buildings to the south, exposing the southern, unadorned façade of the building. By 1986, owner-developer Richard Cohen began a major renovation of the building with Tower Records as the main tenant. Gehry worked with local architects Schwartz-Silver who added an eighth floor with a cornice support by angled struts. The south and east sides of the building were sheathed in lead-coated copper with the street-facing west and north sides retaining their original brick and stone, but with added glass canopies supported by more angled struts. As housing became more desirable, the top five floors were converted into 54 condominiums. The design is timeless and showcases how new and old can work together in a juxtaposition of styles well! What do you think of the building?

Knoll International Furniture Showroom // 1980

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An exemplar of late International Style, this stucco-clad concrete building stands apart from its traditional Back Bay neighbors and is located on one of the city’s most busy streets, Newbury Street. Built as the showroom and offices for Knoll International furniture, its crisp design is an elegant statement in form and details of Bauhaus- and Le Corbusier–inspired architecture, including its asymmetrical composition, curvilinear lower facade, horizontal window bands, and stairwell located behind a glass brick wall. The building was designed by Gwathmey, Siegel and Associates who have a great diversity of commissions, all with thoughtful site-specific designs. The building reinforced the positive qualities of modernist architecture at a time when some architects were advocating for historic revivals and Post-Modernism. The building was later occupied by DKNY and is presently rented out by Lenscrafters.