Architecture
Inside the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's New Renzo Piano Wing
The new Renzo Piano wing at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Photo by Matthew Reed Baker) New wings and new buildings have been sprouting up […]
We're Wasting Our Infrastructure
A great many of the things that are interesting and which offer a us a real chance to express the spirit of our age are […]
Tear Down the Televisions!
I can’t remember if this thought struck me while in the checkout line at the supermarket or while I was filling my car at the […]
Three Deckers: A Boston Icon
Holiday time is family time, right? Everyone piled in together, hemmed in by Christmas trees, rented banquet tables, kids’ presents, and the chairs brought up […]
Mid-Century Modern: Preservation or New Construction?
My business partner and I have a new listing coming on today in Lincoln. It’s a 1957 house designed by noted Modernist architect, […]
Could Boston’s Urban Ring Be Another High Line?
It is hard not to be impressed with the astonishing, multi-phase redevelopment of an old industrial elevated rail line in New York known as The […]
Fenway Park: What Really Needs Preserving?
The area surrounding Fenway Park, circa 1912. Even as we struggle to come to terms with the Red Sox epic collapse, I still find myself […]
Casino? Casino!
OK. Apparently, we are beyond the point in the discussion where I say that encouraging people to gamble is a pretty bad idea. And I […]
The Top 10 Houses in Film
Spend a chilly fall weekend watching classic architecture in living color: 1. Ice Storm, filmed on location in New Canaan. This gorgeous and little-known Ang […]
Minding the Mass. Ave./Boylston Gap
I was walking on Mass. Ave. surrounded by U-Hauls and overflowing SUVs when I found myself at the intersection with Boylston, sitting atop the gulch […]
Re-Branding Boston: It Takes a Plan
If Boston is going to re-frame itself for the 21st century, we are going to have to see a large-scale vision of that future. It […]
Getting On Without Borders
While there are many tears among bibliophiles over the demise of bookstores in the Internet age — and even by city revenue managers over the […]
Why Do Bostonians Vilify Tall Buildings?
As we slowly emerge from the parallel universe that is the now-completed debt-ceiling crisis, it brings to mind some other ways in which small groups […]
The New Northern Avenue
I had to look up to a street sign to know where I was for a moment, as I did not recognize the street. Northern […]
Park It: Getting to the Harbor Islands
How do you get people to get beyond the city limits to explore the Harbor Islands? A study in approaches: 1) You design a public […]