Charles St. Jail Hotel

[JoeGallows]

Yaaarrr, she be topped off.

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/JailHotel1.jpg

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/JailHotel2.JPG

This is one construction site you can get quite close and cuddly with whilst avoiding the welding sparks, of course.

http://fb.xenostarz.com/joestuff/construction/JailHotel3.jpg

[bowesst]

Thanks for the update. Does a rendering for this building exist?

[ChunkyMonkey]

I didn't realize how large this hotel was going to be. The hotel boom in Boston is going strong though most of them are luxury hotels. We really need a some medium priced hotels.

[FastLane]

While not in "Boston proper", I should think that many of the hotels u/c and planned for the South Boston/Seaport District might be considered "medium priced".

[justin]

Why are those two not 'Boston proper'?

justin

[FastLane]

^^ I didn't know quite what phrase to use. Obviously the South Boston Waterfront is part of the City of Boston. I guess I meant Downtown.

Regardless, I mostly wanted to point out that a number of medium-cost hotels were accompanying the recent boom in luxury hotels.

[quadratdackel]

^ This is correct use of "Boston Proper". This term refers to the original city of Boston. Southie was annexed in 1804. I usually think of Boston Proper as being everything whose mailing address is Boston, MA. (Letters sent to JP for example are addressed Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, even though it's now part of the City of Boston. Side note- many towns adjacent to Rochester, NY are addressed Rochester even though they're separate municipalities.) This includes the original Boston plus Back Bay. Not sure how Southie's addressed.

http://www.bpl.org/research/govdocs/bospop.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Boston%2C_Massachusetts#Geographic_expa nsion

[Ron Newman]

actually, most if not all of what we now call the South Boston Waterfront was just plain water in 1804. As was the Back Bay, Fenway, most of the South End ...

[TheBostonian]

There's the book: Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston
Nancy S. Seasholes

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262194945/103-9685882-5587021?v=glance&n=283155

I saw this author speak at Umass Boston, which is especially interesting because the campus is almost entirely man made land. Here's a map of what land was added and when:

http://www.radicalcartography.net/?boston-f-g

[castevens]

are they applying the facade yet?

[DowntownDave]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/JailDistant-01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/Jail0624-03.jpg

Any idea's what's up with the freestanding wall on the right?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/Jail0624-02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/Jail0624-01.jpg

[Merper]

looks like it may be a facade mockup...

did you happen to see the other side?

[KentXie]

As mention by naushoncap122 (but I want to keep it under 1 thread instead of multiple ones) there is a problem with the scaffolding.

Dangling scaffolding causes traffic jam on Storrow Drive

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff and Boston.com staff | July 3, 2006

A large scaffolding platform on the 14th floor of a building under construction at Charles Street and Storrow Drive became unstable this afternoon when a support beam bent and the platform was left dangling high over the ground below.

Officials said fortunately workers on the platform at the time were able to get off the scaffolding safely.

However, traffic on both sides of Storrow Drive had to be rerouted as a safety precaution. Traffic over the Longfellow Bridge and along Charles Street was being slowed because of the incident and pedestrian traffic was diverted around the scene.

Even though the normal traffic volume was below normal because of the long holiday weekend the closing of the road did present problems for those making their way to the nearby Hatch Shell for tonight's Boston Pops rehearsal performance of the program it will present Tuesday night at its traditional July 4th concert.

Before the incident took place it had been planned to close Storrow Drive West to highway traffic at 6:30 p.m. because of the rehearsal.

Offficials said they did not know for sure what caused the scaffolding to drop but it might have been due to excessive weight.

The hotel construction project is being carried out on what was originally the site of the historic Charles Street Jail.

The new building in what is generally referred as the Charles Circle area will be 16-stories high and is near the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Shortly after 6 p.m. it was reported a 75-foot crane was enroute from South Boston to work on the removal of the dangling platform. It was not immediately learned just how long such a job would take.

Television reports from the scene showed workmen holding lines keeping the platform secured to the building.

WHDH-TV also reported that Boston television stations had been requested by State Police to keep news helicopters away from the accident scene for fear vibrations from the copters might cause the platform to fall.

[FastLane]

Some pics from today:

http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/JailHotel.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n31/edwenger/WestEndPano.jpg

[bostonman]

Pics from 8/30 of the hotel and the Charles/MGH Station:

Hotel:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/themeparkfreak/Construction/Charles%20Street%20Jail%20House%20Hotel/IMGP0511.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/themeparkfreak/Construction/Charles%20Street%20Jail%20House%20Hotel/IMGP0507.jpg

Station:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/themeparkfreak/Construction/Charles%20MGH%20Station/IMGP0509.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/themeparkfreak/Construction/Charles%20MGH%20Station/IMGP0508.jpg[/quote]

[DowntownDave]

And now the cupola is in place... :) I think that the original cupola was painted white; I'll be curious to see if this is the final color.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-05.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-07.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-09.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-11.jpg

Oh, and the hotel is ok, too... ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-08.jpg

In case anyone has forgotten when Boston was founded. The condition of the seal is remarkable given how old it must be:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-06.jpg

[kz1000ps]

The cupola looks like a remnant of the Hotel Commonwealth from its early cartoonish days.

[vanshnookenraggen]

I'm really impressed at how nice the jail looks.

[type001]

Me too. It's really awesome!

Those pictures are awesome too! You already get a great sense of how the skyline will look once the jail and hotel are completed. And for some reason, the 7th pic down is just breathtaking. I love the contrast of downtown Boston with the jail and new hotel in the front.

[ablarc]

The cupola looks like a remnant of the Hotel Commonwealth from its early cartoonish days.
Exactly. A thin caricature.

[DowntownDave]

The original cupola featured a clock:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail.jpg

[aws129]

That cupola looks utterly fake and completely out of proportion to the rest of the building. And I hope that's not the final color....

[bostonman]

I'm sorry, but in my opinion, that cupola looks awful. I really hope that they end up doing something to the cupola or the building to make it fit in more.

[awood91]

Former Charles St. jail reborn as Liberty Hotel
Developer hires two managers for the luxury site
By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | September 30, 2006
When it opens as a luxury hotel next June, the former Charles Street Jail on Cambridge Street in Boston will have a name reflecting what its former occupants longed for: Liberty.

Developer Richard L. Friedman said yesterday he has hired a general manager and sales manager for the hotel and -- following a long and spirited discussion -- decided to call the it The Liberty Hotel.
``It's a Boston kind of name," Friedman, who owns the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, among other properties. ``The opposite of confinement."
Built in 1851, the old granite jailhouse was an imposing structure that seemed right out of a Dickens novel. It is located on Charles Circle, where the city of Boston is renovating Cambridge Street and the MBTA is improving the Charles/MGH Red Line station.
Because it is a historic structure, the jail must be preserved, and is now being renovated. Meanwhile, a 16-story wing Friedman added has been topped off with steel, and a 22,000-pound cupola was swung into place this month over the jail.
``The cupola was cut out of the original building -- they didn't have enough money," Friedman said. He found early plans for it, though, had one fashioned out of glass and aluminum, and placed it over the dome at the center of the old structure, which is in the shape of a cruciform, or cross.
Friedman said the historic preservation and restoration, overseen by Ann Beha Architects of Boston, has been extensive.
Views outward will be of the Charles River and the Esplanade. ``There will be some bars on windows on the lower floor," said Friedman, and some actual cells will remain.
``You'll know this was a jail," he said.
Project costs have risen about 20 percent, to about $120 million, he said. The project is receiving about $14 million in state and federal tax credits because so much of the building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is being preserved.
The 300-room Liberty Hotel will be operated by MTM Management LLC of Seattle, founded by Jim Treadway, who Friedman said grew up on Beacon Hill not far from the jail.
Friedman's firm, Carpenter & Co., is developing the hotel with Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel LP of Seattle, a pension-fund adviser. The architect is Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., and the interiors are being designed by Alexandra Champalimaud & Associates Inc. of New York.
Friedman said Stuart Meyerson, who formerly ran Hyatt Regency hotels in Cambridge and Newport, R.I., has been hired as general manager. Sean Reardon, formerly director of sales and marketing at the Westin Copley Place hotel, will do marketing.

[justin]

Former Charles St. jail reborn as Liberty Hotel

... to mark the passage of our own Ermaechtigungsgesetz?

justin

[ablarc]

On March 23, 1933, the newly elected members of the Reichstag met in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's "Erm?chtigungsgesetz". The "Enabling Act" was officially called the 'Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich.'

Opponents to the bill argued that if it was passed, it would end democracy in Germany and establish a legal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. To soften resistance to the passing of the Enabling Act, the Nazis secretly caused confusion in order to create an atmosphere in which the law seem necessary to restore order.

On February 27, 1933, Nazis burned the Reichstag building, and a seat of the German government, causing frenzy and outrage. They successfully blamed the fire on the Communists, and claimed it marked the beginning of a widespread terrorism and unrest threatening the safety of the German "Homeland." On the day of the vote, Nazi storm troopers gathered around the opera house chanting, "Full powers - or else! We want the bill - or fire and murder!"

More: http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/actpat.htm

[tocoto]

The original cupola featured a clock:

Gives new meaning to "doin' time".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail.jpg

[DowntownDave]

Don;t make me have to come clean your clock....

[ChunkyMonkey]

I don't get it, I thought they were aiming for historical accuracy. Why couldn't they recreate the original cupola rather than the out-of-proportion disneyfied version that they have now? That color is also quite awful. What were they thinking?

[Charlie_mta]

It looks like they got the new cupola on sale at Home Depot. :twisted:

I agree, it is completely out of proportion and plastic looking.

[naushoncap122]

I've been following this board for about a year, essentially since I got into the local development scene. Anyway, this is just the first thought I have when I read this board which seems to be full of wannabe architects and armchair developers: rather than the idiotic bitching about every single project, take some initiative, and go out and make your own mark. My firm has something in the works right now that would blow away any realistic project out there, and shockingly it isn't 12,000 feet, that seems to be the going rate for satisfaction here, but the market isn't right at the moment, just like it isn't quite right for two one thousand footers plus sst, gateway center and the seaport. It's a pipedream and nothing more, go to houston if you like high buildings and higher vacancy rates.

[tocoto]

I've been following this board for about a year, essentially since I got into the local development scene. Anyway, this is just the first thought I have when I read this board which seems to be full of wannabe architects and armchair developers: rather than the idiotic bitching about every single project, take some initiative, and go out and make your own mark. My firm has something in the works right now that would blow away any realistic project out there, and shockingly it isn't 12,000 feet, that seems to be the going rate for satisfaction here, but the market isn't right at the moment, just like it isn't quite right for two one thousand footers plus sst, gateway center and the seaport. It's a pipedream and nothing more, go to houston if you like high buildings and higher vacancy rates.


There's nothing forcing you to read the forum, write to it, change it or insult the intelligence of its members.

[Scott]

"My firm has something in the works right now that would blow away any realistic project out there....but the market isn't right at the moment".

ORLY?

If a project isn't realistic then it must be unrealistic and thus, a pipe dream.

[awood91]

yes, naushoncap122, the fact that you would write a considerably long post just to order people around is incredibly rude and unthoughtful. I'm sure others here would agree with me when i say that this forum is for people who want to be productive and/or gather information, not for people who just post to put people down.

[bosdevelopment]

There's some contradiction in there.

He's generally right about the incessant bitching though.

[ablarc]

I've been following this board for about a year, essentially since I got into the local development scene. Anyway, this is just the first thought I have when I read this board which seems to be full of wannabe architects and armchair developers: rather than the idiotic bitching about every single project, take some initiative, and go out and make your own mark.
Some of us are involved in developing, and others doubtless will be in the future. Being in the former group, I think the urban design comments on this forum are mostly better informed and more sophisticated than those of my colleagues. If I wanted to have pointless conversations with ignoramuses who have been victimized by their educations, I would talk to them about cities. But I'm here --like you-- because the talk is good. Good enough to have you "following the board for about a year."

So why don't you try being a bit more civil and contribute something a little positive? Tell us more about your firm's bombshell project; you don't have to compromise its identity to do that. And I'm sure we'll all overlook your initial hissy fit in next to no time.

Welcome!

[naushoncap122]

I apologize for it sounding very hissy fittish, I didn't realize how bad it was until well after I posted it.

In regards to the bombshell project, I perhaps may have gone overboard with better than anything, it isn't a potential renzo piano tower, but it certainly will clean up newbury a bit more. Essentially this is still really vague, but the goal is a foster or calatrava designed 10 floor, maybe more, mixed use condo or boutique hotel/retail building. Unfortunately, in order to be successful as both condo and hotel, and looking at the relatively small plot of land, I would have to go upwards of 20 which even with starting prices of 1.5 per condo or 500 a night in the hotel, would never fly. I think with the intended clientele it could be pushed through the BBAC with less problems than if it were just a marriott or something. If that doesn't fly, our big plan 5 years down the road is a 35-40 floor mirror glass condo/apartment/hotel tower in the theater district. As a VC firm our main focus is biotech but with my family's history in architecture, I have always had a soft spot for development.

[ablarc]

In regards to the bombshell project?it certainly will clean up newbury a bit more.
Hope it?s for that *@#$%&#* parking lot at Dartmouth.

Essentially this is still really vague, but the goal is a foster or calatrava designed 10 floor, maybe more, mixed use condo or boutique hotel/retail building. Unfortunately, in order to be successful as both condo and hotel, and looking at the relatively small plot of land, I would have to go upwards of 20 which even with starting prices of 1.5 per condo or 500 a night in the hotel, would never fly.
The numbers wouldn?t fly or the configuration wouldn?t fly with the NIMBYs and the regulators?

I think with the intended clientele it could be pushed through the BBAC with less problems than if it were just a marriott or something.
For sure; everybody loves rich folks. There are getting to be more and more of them all the time, and they?re getting so rich they want a dozen pieds-a-terre ? one in each of their favorite hot spots. Trouble is, they can only live in one of them at a time, so most of them are usually empty. Have you checked out Trump?s time-share hotel proposal for these folks on the fringes of SoHo?

I?m at work on a project for these obscenely rich people in Charleston. You can imagine the lively interest the historical folks are showing in that one. The trick to getting them on your side is to come in way exceeding their wildest dreams and hopes ?something you can do when you don?t have to worry much about construction cost, as is the case with this market.

These people will pay through the nose for something that really tickles their fancy and delivers the goods. Remember these are the folks waiting in line for Bugattis at a million euros. That one delivers the goods, and they?re goods that nobody really needs: 250 mph, 1001 HP, 16 cylinders.

In an interview, the chairman of Volkswagen (Bugattii's maker) divulged they make a substantial profit on each car; they decided the car would sell more briskly at a million euros than at cost plus the usual markup. (Why, it's the million Euro Bugatti!) Pulls people's chain. And it also helps that they have the finest materials, technology and design.

If that doesn't fly?
It?ll fly. Just do it.

[ablarc]

naushoncap122, I got to read your reply before you deleted it. Your secret's safe with me. IMO your project is eminently do-able. It's all in the approach. Does 32 stories and 495 feet sound about right? *Hint* That should get you going on a train of thought. Also: think Singer Building.

[bosdevelopment]

In my opinion this guy doesn't sound credible. His writing just plain sucks.

[Ron Newman]

I don't think you'll get approval for 10, let alone 20, stories on Newbury Street. Certain areas of the city have a sacrosanct height limit; this is one of them.

Move one block over to Boylston, you'll have more chance. Boylston also has more junky buildings that could use demolition.

[ablarc]

I don't think you'll get approval for 10, let alone 20, stories on Newbury Street. Certain areas of the city have a sacrosanct height limit; this is one of them.

Move one block over to Boylston, you'll have more chance. Boylston also has more junky buildings that could use demolition.
That's what you'll hear from most people, but in my experience if you far exceed people's expectations they'll often abandon conventional wisdom.

Not long ago a planning official said to me: "Show us something that we like and we'll approve it."

[sidewalks]

A couple of things...

Planning officials can tell you anything they want. They may well want to approve a boldly designed building that exceeds the zoning envelope, but at the end of the day they are bureaucrats who are beholden to the mayor. If the community is loud enough, the city will almost always back down...

Ron inadvertently touched upon something that I have to address. His suggestion that the developer 'move over to Boylston street' is a statement often made by community members...and it drives me crazy. This isn't a simcity game where one can whimsically pick and chose a parcel of land to develop. Real Estate is not a liquid asset that is easily acquired...The suggestion that the developer 'move over a street' is as naive and ill conceived as it would be to suggest to a friend who complains about the weather, that he 'move to Florida'. The likely response is, 'yeah, thanks genius'. There is quite a bit tied up in such a decision. Such an offhanded comment can only be made by someone who doesn't really appreciate all the variables and contingencies that are involved in that decision...No offense intended, Ron.

[bosdevelopment]

A couple of things...

Planning officials can tell you anything they want. They may well want to approve a boldly designed building that exceeds the zoning envelope, but at the end of the day they are bureaucrats who are beholden to the mayor. If the community is loud enough, the city will almost always back down...

Ron inadvertently touched upon something that I have to address. His suggestion that the developer 'move over to Boylston street' is a statement often made by community members...and it drives me crazy. This isn't a simcity game where one can whimsically pick and chose a parcel of land to develop. Real Estate is not a liquid asset that is easily acquired...The suggestion that the developer 'move over a street' is as naive and ill conceived as it would be to suggest to a friend who complains about the weather, that he 'move to Florida'. The likely response is, 'yeah, thanks genius'. There is quite a bit tied up in such a decision. Such an offhanded comment can only be made by someone who doesn't really appreciate all the variables and contingencies that are involved in that decision...No offense intended, Ron.

Those are my sentiments exactly. The term "fungible" that some no doubt econ major brought up about oil is not applicable to real estate. Developers can't pick and choose parcels as they go.

[cityrecord]

A couple of things...

Planning officials can tell you anything they want. They may well want to approve a boldly designed building that exceeds the zoning envelope, but at the end of the day they are bureaucrats who are beholden to the mayor. If the community is loud enough, the city will almost always back down...

Ron inadvertently touched upon something that I have to address. His suggestion that the developer 'move over to Boylston street' is a statement often made by community members...and it drives me crazy. This isn't a simcity game where one can whimsically pick and chose a parcel of land to develop. Real Estate is not a liquid asset that is easily acquired...The suggestion that the developer 'move over a street' is as naive and ill conceived as it would be to suggest to a friend who complains about the weather, that he 'move to Florida'. The likely response is, 'yeah, thanks genius'. There is quite a bit tied up in such a decision. Such an offhanded comment can only be made by someone who doesn't really appreciate all the variables and contingencies that are involved in that decision...No offense intended, Ron.

Those are my sentiments exactly. The term "fungible" that some no doubt econ major brought up about oil is not applicable to real estate. Developers can't pick and choose parcels as they go.

While developers can't pick and choose parcels as they go, they can at least do a little thinking before acquiring a parcel or proposing a development. I've heard so many developers say "we can't make any money unless you let us have XXX floors or XXX units of housing" when grovelling for a zoning variance. Guess what? The economics of the site aren't the city's problem, the community's problem, or anyone else's problem. It's the developer's problem if they can't figure out a way to build profitably in a way that satisfies zoning. People act like there is a divine right to a zoning variance.

So yes, a developer should move over to Boylston Street if they want to build big. Can't find a building site on Boylston street? Boo-effin-hoo.

[ablarc]

A couple of things...

Planning officials can tell you anything they want. They may well want to approve a boldly designed building that exceeds the zoning envelope, but at the end of the day they are bureaucrats who are beholden to the mayor. If the community is loud enough, the city will almost always back down...
I was including the community in my assessment. Show the community something they really love and they'll actually agitate to get the bureaucrats to let it be built --even if it violates regulations. That has happened to two projects I'm involved with.

The time is propitious for that approach; people are figuring out that what the regulations bring them is mostly crap..

[bosdevelopment]

A couple of things...

Planning officials can tell you anything they want. They may well want to approve a boldly designed building that exceeds the zoning envelope, but at the end of the day they are bureaucrats who are beholden to the mayor. If the community is loud enough, the city will almost always back down...

Ron inadvertently touched upon something that I have to address. His suggestion that the developer 'move over to Boylston street' is a statement often made by community members...and it drives me crazy. This isn't a simcity game where one can whimsically pick and chose a parcel of land to develop. Real Estate is not a liquid asset that is easily acquired...The suggestion that the developer 'move over a street' is as naive and ill conceived as it would be to suggest to a friend who complains about the weather, that he 'move to Florida'. The likely response is, 'yeah, thanks genius'. There is quite a bit tied up in such a decision. Such an offhanded comment can only be made by someone who doesn't really appreciate all the variables and contingencies that are involved in that decision...No offense intended, Ron.

Those are my sentiments exactly. The term "fungible" that some no doubt econ major brought up about oil is not applicable to real estate. Developers can't pick and choose parcels as they go.

While developers can't pick and choose parcels as they go, they can at least do a little thinking before acquiring a parcel or proposing a development. I've heard so many developers say "we can't make any money unless you let us have XXX floors or XXX units of housing" when grovelling for a zoning variance. Guess what? The economics of the site aren't the city's problem, the community's problem, or anyone else's problem. It's the developer's problem if they can't figure out a way to build profitably in a way that satisfies zoning. People act like there is a divine right to a zoning variance.

So yes, a developer should move over to Boylston Street if they want to build big. Can't find a building site on Boylston street? Boo-effin-hoo.

So basically, you're placing the burden on the developers and in affect blaming them for the lack of decent construction.

[cityrecord]

Who else would bear the burden for proposing a project that has a chance to get approved?

[Waldorf]

Zoning in Massachusetts is arbitrary. Everything is up for negotiation, especially in Boston. It is an unwritten rule that prevails today (and, as everyone knows, began since the founding of this country).

[cityrecord]

Zoning in Massachusetts is arbitrary. Everything is up for negotiation, especially in Boston. It is an unwritten rule that prevails today (and, as everyone knows, began since the founding of this country). Zoning isn't arbitrary. The granting of zoning variances is arbitrary. There are some parts of the city however, where zoning variances are rarely given while in other neighborhoods zoning variances are easy to obtain. If a developer's first thought for a project is "I need a zoning variance to get this done and can't make any money unless I get the variance" I don't want to hear the developer whining about regulations or not getting a variance, especially if they're trying to build in the Back Bay or any other architectural conservation district in the city.

[aws129]

Just to be clear: It's not the city's duty to bend over backwards and accept whatever the developer wants.

I think we're sometimes a little too biased towards developers on this forum -- do we really believe that a developer should be allowed to build whatever wherever?

[Ron Newman]

This part of the discussion started with someone who had a (self-described) "vague" proposal to build well over the height limit on Newbury Street. He didn't indicate that he actually owned any property there. So I think my response was perfectly reasonable -- why don't you take your project somewhere else where it will encounter less resistance?

Newbury Street doesn't need "cleaning up", by the way. I'd love to see that parking lot developed, but surely this can be done in a way that respects the scale of the existing buildings surrounding it. After all, every other building there was put up within these constraints.

[sidewalks]

The developer is forced to operate in a system that does not respect stated rules. The fact that the city does not enforce the zoning code honestly, creates repercussions with regard to land value and development strategy.

There's a saying that 'a donkey is a horse made by committee'. That perfectly describes Boston's zoning code. The well intentioned menino administration has pursued a planning strategy that gives a voice to every constituency. Inevitably, the most vocal advocates in the community are those who believe that development is bad and density is terrible. The result is a zoning code that is poor expression of land use policy. And though the neighborhood 'masterplans' that were created through extensive community input are hailed, they are not viable documents. The BRA is forced to play the bad guy on the back end- and support variances for developments that exceed an unrealistically restrictive zoning code. The developer always looks like the greedy tyrant pitted against the community. This works fairly well for the politicians who can kill any project that creates negative political fallout, and support projects that do not generate significant opposition.

But this is a very poor planning strategy. While variances should be all but impossible to secure, the zoning code must be radically revised to reflect real urban dimensions...this would not sit well with either the city or the community. Why? Because, a zoning code that REALLY allowed for As-of-Right development, would take away the city and the community's right to whimsically veto projects that may not meet with the approval of a self-appointed band of NIMBY activists .

As long as this haphazard system continues to exist, developers will continue to flaunt irrelevant zoning guidelines.

[sidewalks]

This part of the discussion started with someone who had a (self-described) "vague" proposal to build well over the height limit on Newbury Street. He didn't indicate that he actually owned any property there. So I think my response was perfectly reasonable -- why don't you take your project somewhere else where it will encounter less resistance?

Newbury Street doesn't need "cleaning up", by the way. I'd love to see that parking lot developed, but surely this can be done in a way that respects the scale of the existing buildings surrounding it. After all, every other building there was put up within these constraints.

I can only assume that naushoncap actually does own the parcel. No real developer would ever discuss a "proposal" for a site he does not already have under agreement. If he doesn't actually have the site under control, and is just spouting off about fantastical development plans, he isn't worth addressing as a credible developer.

[Ron Newman]

Ultimately, what you seem to object to is the local democratic process. Which, though flawed, is still preferable to the alternatives. (Those alternatives brought us, for example, Charles River Park.)

[sidewalks]

I respect your viewpoint Ron, and I think you bring a lot to this forum, but I also think you represent an ideology that has been disproportionately influenced by an era of developer and community relations that has long since ended. It feels to me like most of the 50-65 something year old 'community activists' are still fighting the battles of the 1960s.

With regard to the 'democratic process'...Boston is just about the only place that has this absurd permitting system. Planning and development should not be decided by a group of self important pontificators with too much time on their hands. That is not a democratic process. These community meetings are generally dominated by the same group of NIMBY activists who are the self-appointed arbiters of good city planning and design.

[Scott]

We get a lot of foolishness like that on this forum "you represent an ideology..." or you must believe x, y and z.

[bostonman]

Oh, sweet ?Liberty? by Suzanne Besser

Come June, the old jailhouse will be really rocking, though not to the tune of ?Jailhouse Rock.?

The jury?s in. After years of deliberation ? well, not really ? the Cambridge-based real estate developers Carpenter & Company, Inc., who have been transforming the old Charles Street Jail into a new 300-room hotel, have reached a verdict. It will call the hotel ?Liberty,? said Vice-President and General Counsel Peter Diana.

That?s Liberty, as in ?liberty and justice for all.? Oh, the irony of it all.

Diana said his marketing team just didn?t think a name such as the ?Old Charles Street Jail Hotel? or ?Inn Carceration? ? the goofiest name suggested to them ? would ultimately cause people to stay in their hotel.

?Liberty conveys the opposite of confinement,? said Diana, who has clearly forgotten that long-term confinements in hotel rooms bring increased revenues. ?Plus, the name gives it a revolutionary feel, a sort of colonial touch, which is appropriate for Boston.?

?I claim to plead ignorance on such matters,? said John Achatz, Beacon Hill Civic Association president who has worked for years on Cambridge Street developments. But he was quick to admit that he was not surprised at the name choice. ?After all, Boston is the cradle of liberty, and here the hotel is downtown,? he said. ?Anyway, it?s sort of a cute term for a jail.?

?A ?catchy? name,? Diana called it. Catchy, yes, but not catchy enough to house disruptive hotel guests in leftover jail cells. Only a few of the walls of the cells once used to house disruptive individuals in the past have been preserved in the lower two levels of the hotel. After guests check in at the main lobby on the second floor, they will pass several of the cell walls as they walk to the bank of elevators on their way to the guests rooms. Diana did not confirm that the cell walls were left there to remind guests of appropriate behavior.

While the guest rooms will be located in the newly-constructed building adjacent to the historic one, the old county jail will contain on its five floors meeting rooms, two restaurants, a bar, and a ballroom with large windows, suitable for those seeking escape from dancing the jailhouse rock with their partners.

http://www.beaconhilltimes.com/

[bosdevelopment]

Who else would bear the burden for proposing a project that has a chance to get approved?

well i added that you blame the developers.

[Scott]

^Um yes, if I wanted to add on my house and it is within zoning I can do that as of right. If the addition is beyond zoning then the burden falls on me to convince the city/town to allow me to build it.

If you think the area is zoned improperly or that zoning itself is unnessesary then those are different issues.

[DowntownDave]

A building under construction here today made me think of the jail again. And I had a hunch about the cupola.


Sure enough, they reproduced the cupola of the Charlestown State Prison, not the Charles Street Jail!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/fig94.jpg

DOH!

[statler]

Nice find!

Now compare it to this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/NelsonAndBronte/CharlesMGH/CSJail-05.jpg

Anyone involved in architecture/construction: Could this thing be clad in a stone facade? It would still be cheap & tacky but slightly less cheap & tacky.

[kz1000ps]

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6657/jail1mj4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Mock-up

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2543/jail3aj6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9425/jail2oj2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[castevens]

my neck hurts now

[kz1000ps]

Oopsies!

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6346/jail2vj0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[chumbolly]

One minor nit about this project: the design of the arched windows on the wing that connects the hotel to the hospital building is different than on the other wings. This wing was restored first, and the window design seem more like a restoration than a replacement, and is much nicer as a result.

[briv]

Is that new hotel building clad in granite?

[chumbolly]

No, it's clad in dark red brick.

Does anyone know why brick cladding is often added from the top down? That always puzzles me.

[kz1000ps]

Briv, I'm not sure why, but the brick came out looking grey in that last picture. Check the second pic I posted to see a close-up of the facade mockup for the new portion.

Chumbolly, I was wondering the same thing.

[TC]

Does anyone know why brick cladding is often added from the top down? That always puzzles me.

It's called top/down construction. It is the best way to finish a building, minimizing the damage from subsequent contractors walking through finished areas and creating punchlist items. As they work there way down the building there should be little to no traffic on the upper floors.

*Getting the masonry installed allows the windows to be installed which gets the floor 'weather tight', allowing for the finish trades to start.

[kz1000ps]

http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/7195/img12531uz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Lrfox]

To the inquiry about the brick being applied from the top down...

On today's buildings such as this one, it's more of a decorative brick, not a structural brick. it's made from the same material, but it's not nearly as thick and is essentially "glued" (for lack of a better word) to the side of the building. Because the this decorative brick is not integral to the actual structure, it can be applied from either the top or the bottom.

Now, if the building were and ACTUAL brick structure, there is absolutely no way they could be laid from the top to the bottom. i'd love to see a mason try it though.

hope that helped

[kz1000ps]

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1963/img1627kp1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Mike]

I think that looks pretty good ... better than what I was expecting, anyway.

[kz1000ps]

http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/3395/img4382gh0.jpg

[xec]

Great windows. The jail restoration is turning out spectacular.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r289/trixecol/0704140177.jpg

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r289/trixecol/0704140182S.jpg

[vanshnookenraggen]

Wow, they did a damn fine job there.

[Padre Mike]

BTW, regarding the cupola....in a new book on the architect, Gridley J. F. Bryant, his original plans, illustrated in the book, called for a cupola very similar to the new one, with windows that would bring light into the inner recesses of the jail. A smaller cupola with clocks, and the reduction of other details, replaced the original plan as a cost-cutting measure. So it appears to be a case of "back to the future". Hopefully if Gridley is watching, he'll feel vindicated!

[ablarc]

...in a new book on the architect, Gridley J. F. Bryant, his original plans, illustrated in the book, called for a cupola very similar to the new one, with windows that would bring light into the inner recesses of the jail. A smaller cupola with clocks, and the reduction of other details, replaced the original plan as a cost-cutting measure. So it appears to be a case of "back to the future". Hopefully if Gridley is watching, he'll feel vindicated!
Maybe, but I doubt his original design was as gauche as what has just been built.

Picture?

[kz1000ps]

Today. Mass Eye and Ear Infirmiry makes a guest appearance as the tower addition's toupe, and note how well it works with the overall ensemble.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5229/img0839cd6.jpg

[singbat]

Today. Mass Eye and Ear Infirmiry makes a guest appearance as the tower addition's toupe, and note how well it works with the overall ensemble.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5229/img0839cd6.jpg

where you were standing is a big area. anyone know what the program is for the former yard?

also, did you see that structure framing the front door-- the steel and glass (??) awning (if thats what you call it)? it looks too permanent to be there only during the build. but i can't believe they plan on keeping it. seems way too utilitarian compared to the rest of the restoration....

[kz1000ps]

A shot of the steel and glass awning singbat was talking about. And I hve no clue what will be done with the yard.. clearly a drop off loop doesn't need that much space

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6949/img1055xm0.jpg

[kennedy]

i like it all, including the cupola and the awning. for the yard, probably a circular driveway, and water feature in the center, and a couple flagpoles. this reminds me very much of the jefferson hotel, in richmond virginia. thats a good thing. the only thing i dont like is masseyeear.

[kz1000ps]

Yesterday

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7418/img3964gh0.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7797/img3963qc0.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3834/img3965uo1.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6877/img3966xg3.jpg

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/8682/img3967cc2.jpg

[TheBostonBoy]

Wow thanks kz! Great angles in these pictures!
This is coming along great, I really love the brick facade and the glass on the side. It looks very nice, especially behind the old jail building

[palindrome]

I agree, very nice indeed. I originally did not like the brick because it looked dull and faded maroon, but these pictures are a 180 for me.

[vanshnookenraggen]

I agree, very nice indeed. I originally did not like the brick because it looked dull and faded maroon, but these pictures are a 180 for me.

[kz1000ps]

http://img490.imageshack.us/img490/7792/img7321bl6.jpg

[palindrome]

Thanks kz, once again, you single handedly fuel this forum with pictures!

As for the building, it looks ok. Nothing special, but not bad either.

[vanshnookenraggen]

We need more "background" buildings like this. It is handsome but not pretentious, simple but not boring. These are the types of designs that do a lot with a little and do a good job of it.

[chumbolly]

This gets my award for project of the year. The original jail looks terrific--remember what a dead zone this used to be, crumbling away behind that huge wall and Buzzy's? Now it looks like a new building, except for the fact that no new building would ever be built with such expensive materials. And the addition is darn near perfect for what it is. It steps up nicely to MEEI; it uses traditional materials but avoids looking fake colonial; and it's nicely proportioned. I also appreciate that it doesn't have any tarty flourishes in an attempt to make a statement or look flashy. This is sort of like a 7-Series BMW before Bangle pranged the design--discreetly better than everything else.

I think the MEEI tower is improved by it's new neighbor--somehow it seems to pop out more and yet be scaled down as well.

I'd bet that the developer does extremely well with this property--it will be filled with wealthy sick people and visiting doctors irregardless of business cycles. I wouldn't be surprised if it consistently ran above 90% capacity.

[kz1000ps]

This is sort of like a 7-Series BMW before Bangle pranged the design--discreetly better than everything else.

Ugh, please do NOT mention Bangle around me -- that guy has ruined my favorite car company! UGH!

Back to the building, I agree 100% with what you said. And I really like that red-grey brick they used; IMO it really helps give this building its dignity.

[Merper]

is the cuppola finished?

looks unfinished to me... shouldn't it be white?

[kz1000ps]

Hotel aims to captivate

City's newest inn preserves touches of old Charles Street Jail, but there's a price to pay for the luxury

By Thomas C. Palmer Jr., Globe Staff | September 4, 2007

One restaurant is called Clink. Another is Scampo, Italian for "escape." The bar is named Alibi.

"You'll know this was a jail," developer Richard L. Friedman promised last year, when he was in the middle of converting the 156-year-old Charles Street Jail into the Liberty Hotel.

He was telling the truth.

The 298-room hotel, at Charles Circle on the site of the old jail, officially opens tomorrow, following a $150 million renovation that included construction of a 16-story tower.

The slogan: "Be captivated."

Narrow cell door openings and bars remain as reminders of the structure's past life. Tile blocks in the floor, forming the footprint of a cell, illustrate how confining the place used to be. Some of the interior brick walls are the same ones that involuntary guests stared at.

Guests don't have to be accused of committing a crime to spend the night, as was required for almost a century and a half, but there is a fairly stiff price to pay: Rates for regular rooms range from $319 to $525 a night. The 16th-floor presidential suite, at $5,500 a night, is as big as a modest suburban home, with a balcony overlooking the Back Bay and a view of the Charles River from the bathtub.

Hotel executives wouldn't say whether that luxury suite was built with Hillary Clinton - a pal of developer Friedman - in mind. But it is a spectacular space, as is most of the rest of the brick and granite complex, which is vying to be Boston's number one place to stay, or just to meet and hang out.

The exterior has been impeccably restored, with turret-like roof vents and decorative oval panes with the original glass.

The 3,000-square-foot Liberty Ballroom features chandeliers modeled on 19th century designs. Carpets and walls have historic color schemes and patterns, like the crewel work of the time, Regan Dillon, director of public relations, said during a preopening tour.

"This is our Breathtaking Room," said Dillon, showing one of the 18 units in the renovated jail structure looking out on the Esplanade; it's $575 a night (more on July Fourth). Somewhat less expensive accommodations include Fantastic Rooms, Ultra Fantastic Rooms, and Spectacular Rooms.

The hotel entrance, across from an MBTA station, has an almost claustrophobically low ceiling. But after dropping their luggage just inside the doors, guests will take an escalator up to an 80-by-80-foot lobby under a 90-foot rotunda.

The space was once an indoor exercise area for inmates, with cellblocks extending out like spokes. Now it accommodates the front desk, a lounge, and a bar. It is also not a bad place to just stare up at some ingenious architecture.

A false ceiling was removed, and a cupola taller than the jail had ever seen was manufactured and installed. Peter Diana, vice president of Carpenter & Co., the developer, said the restoration matches what was originally designed for the jail. In a 19th century cost-cutting move, a cheaper cupola was erected.

The new one is "taller and nicer looking," Diana said, but that and other changes drove the initial cost estimate of $100 million up by about 50 percent.

Liberty Hotel was designed by Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., with historic work by Ann Beha Associates. Interiors are by Alexandra Champalimaud & Associates Inc. of New York, and art by Boston artist Anja Kola. A striking red, white, and black mural extending between escalators leading to the lobby is the work of Providence artist Coral Bourgeois. The hotel is operated by MTM Luxury Lodging of Seattle; general manager is Stuart Meyerson.

Boston chef Lydia Shire and club developer Pat Lyons will operate the Scampo restaurant, and Lyons will run the Alibi bar.

Friedman and his partner, Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel LP, a Seattle pension fund adviser, are counting on a chunk of business from Massachusetts General Hospital, which is connected to the jail and owns the property it is built on.

A few years ago, Friedman, who developed the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, struggled to include in his Charles Circle development a small plot of land formerly occupied by Buzzy's Fabulous Roast Beef, a legendary late-night take-out spot.

After Mass. General bought the property for $2.75 million, and Buzzy's closed, Friedman vowed to memorialize it in the hotel.

Dillon said a Buzzy's sandwich one day will appear in the lineup at Clink.

Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/09/04/hotel_aims_to_captivate/

[RandySavage]

The hotel is open and the central, 5-story lobby is very impressive. Next time you're nearby you should check it out. Unfortunately, the cupola is going to remain that hideous tan color and there are no plans to paint it or cover it with faux stonework, as I had hoped.

[bosdevelopment]

The hotel is open and the central, 5-story lobby is very impressive. Next time you're nearby you should check it out. Unfortunately, the cupola is going to remain that hideous tan color and there are no plans to paint it or cover it with faux stonework, as I had hoped.

I thought the cupola was the most unique/intriguing part of the building - Completely sticks out from the rest of the facade

[kennedy]

Did you like the steel awning thing? And yes, the cupola in yellow looks good. Sticks out above the trees, looks very colonial. I know what colonial yellow is, too, a good 85% of houses where I live are painted that precise color.

[aws129]

I hate the cupola, historically accurate or not -- it looks like plastic.

[palindrome]

Anyone else notice how the brick sort of changes colors. In direct sunlight it looks whitewashed or faded, but in the shade it looks like a richer brick color.

[Lrfox]

Notorious Boston Jail Becomes HotelNotorious Jail Becomes Hotel

No longer is it hard time to spend the night in this slammer.
By Denise Lavoie, AP

The elegant iron-railing balconies were once catwalks where guards stood watch over the inmates to make sure they didn't try to break out. If you look closely, you can still see the outline of the holes from the iron bars on the windows.

At the newly opened Liberty Hotel in Boston, it's hard to escape what this building once was: a decrepit jail where Boston locked up its most notorious prisoners.

But that's just the point.

After a five-year, $150 million renovation, the old Charles Street jail is now a luxury hotel for guests who can afford to pay anywhere from $319 a night for the lowest-priced room to $5,500 for the presidential suite. The hotel, at the foot of Boston's stately Beacon Hill neighborhood, opened in September.

Architects took pains to preserve many features of the 156-year-old stone building and its history.

The old sally port, where guards once brought prisoners from paddy wagons to their cells, is being converted into the entrance to a new restaurant, Scampo, which is Italian for "escape."

In another restaurant, named Clink, diners can look through original bars from cell doors and windows as they order smoked lobster bisque or citrus poached prawns from waiters and waitresses wearing shirts with prison numbers. The hotel bar, Alibi, is built in the jail's former drunk tank.

Instead of con men, counterfeiters and cat burglars, the guests now include Mick Jagger, Annette Bening, Meg Ryan and Eva Mendes.

The old clientele included Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, who served time for fraud in 1904 after he took a civil service exam for a friend; Frank Abagnale Jr., a 1960s con artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie "Catch Me If You Can"; a group of thieves who pulled off the Great Brinks Robbery in Boston in 1950; and a German U-boat captain who was captured in 1945 and killed himself with shards from his sunglasses.

Boston also has a luxury hotel called Jurys in the former Boston police headquarters building in fashionable Back Bay. The hotel bar is called Cuffs.

The transformation of the Charles Street Jail is stunning to some of those who spent time in the notorious lockup.

"It's a magnificent place," said Bill Baird, an activist locked up for 37 days in 1967 for breaking a Massachusetts law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives to unmarried people. His arrest led to a landmark 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing birth control for unmarried people.

"How you could take something that was so horrible and turn it into something of tremendous beauty, I don't know," said Baird, who visited the new hotel on the 40th anniversary of his conviction.

When the jail opened in 1851, it was hailed as an international model for prison architecture. Built in the shape of a cross, the granite jail had a 90-foot-high central rotunda and four wings of cells. Large arched windows provided lots of natural light and good ventilation. Each of the 220 cells housed just one inmate.

But over the years, the jail fell into disrepair and became filthy, overcrowded and prone to riots.

Joseph Salvati, who spent 10 months in the jail in 1967 and 1968 after he was charged in a gangland slaying, said everything was covered with pigeon droppings.

"They had a crew every morning that would come down with hot water hoses and brushes to scrape it off the floor and seats," he said. "You had to rush down for breakfast to get a seat that was clean."

Salvati, who was exonerated after spending 30 years in various prisons, said he gets a kick out of seeing the jail turned into a luxury hotel. It is now "very classy-looking," he said.

In the 1970s, the inmates sued over the squalid conditions. After spending a night at the jail to see things for himself, a federal judge in 1973 ordered the place closed. But it took until 1990 for a new jail to be built and the last inmates to be moved.

The property was bought by Massachusetts General Hospital, next door, which invited proposals for preserving the building's historical character.

Cambridge developer Richard Friedman said the architects tried to retain some original elements while not reminding people too much of its dark past.

"How do you transform that into a joyous place where people have fun and a good time?" Friedman said. "We tried to use a sense of humor."

Charlene Swauger of Albuquerque, N.M., who stayed at the hotel for a long weekend, said the designers preserved elements of the old jail without crossing the line into bad taste.

"I thought it was very clever. I didn't discover any ghosts or anything," she said.

Eighteen of the hotel's 298 rooms are built in the original jail. Those rooms feature the original brick walls of the jail but also have high-definition TVs. The remaining rooms are in a new 16-story tower.

Max Stern, the chief lawyer for the inmates whose lawsuit led to the jail's closing, said some aspects of the project?such as calling the restaurant Clink?are too lighthearted.

"I thought they could have been a little more objective about what it really was like," he said.

Nice to see this getting some publicity.

Original Story: http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=436275

[stellarfun]

That notorious criminal Paris Hilton stayed in the Presidential Suite during her recent Boston visit and supposedly signed her mug shot.

[unterbau]

I hate the cupola, historically accurate or not -- it looks like plastic.
Yeah, there is definitely something off about that cupola - but I can't quite figure it out.

[JimboJones]

I love cupolas, of any sort!

[kmp1284]

Nothing new to report here other than the addition of the "The Liberty Hotel" signage. I know this is too short and too traditional for most here's tastes but I think this is one of the most handsome new buildings in Boston, at least when seen in person which is a view I gather not all have actually seen. I had the brightness set too highly on my phone but it does look a lot better than this in real life.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/kmp1284/0425081422.jpg

[goody]

looks sharp much better then I would have first thought

[Boston02124]

here's an old picture I hhttp://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7248/charlesstjail001jn1.th.jpg (http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?image=charlesstjail001jn1.jpg)
ave hanging in the house,has the original oak frame,left click on pix to enlarge.

[kz1000ps]

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/6241/img7023kb2.jpg

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1608/img7029xn0.jpg

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6537/img7131qm6.jpg

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/4183/img7132pn4.jpg

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8232/img7159jw8.jpg

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/9595/img7162ae5.jpg

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/3295/img7163of9.jpg

these last two show the matchup between the hotel and the neighboring Yawkey building at MGH, completed 2004.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2488/img7165ai5.jpg

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/2199/img7166zm7.jpg

[BarbaricManchurian]

That's some nice brickwork, however, I don't really like the style of glassy brick towers, no matter how well done.