Emerson College's Paramount Center

[tobyjug]

Photographic tour of work at Paramount Theater and "Arcade" building, including today's interior shot and conceptual, if someone wants to post jpegs for me. Send e-mail!

[BarbaricManchurian]

Here are tobyjug's photos of work at the Paramount Theater:

[Ron Newman]

I suspect the interior of the Paramount will be unrecognizably changed from when it was last open. Emerson is turning it into a live stage house, but this was the only one of the big Washington Street theatres that was built strictly for movies, with no stage.

[daimio1]

now that work is visible at the emerson/paramount site, should there be a separate thread?

[Ron Newman]

Yes. (Isn't there one somewhere already?)

[Mike]

Paramount thread here: http://www.archboston.org/community/...ight=Paramount

[tobyjug]

One of the hardhats told me the tower crane goes up next week, and that the steel will begin to arrive via Washington St.

Toby

[Ron Newman]

Cool photos, thanks. All that remains of the Bijou ('Arcade') building is a facade.

[tobyjug]

4/3/08

[Arborway]

Originally Posted by Ron Newman

Emerson can't and shouldn't take over all of Downtown Crossing. This development will help a lot. Its immediate effect may be to help fill the empty spaces next door at Millennium Place (Ritz Towers) and up the street at Lafayette Place.

I know it's rather impolite to respond to something so far after the fact, but it is worth a mention in this now-resurrected thread. Emerson wants to be a "vertical campus", with as little horizontal spread as possible. They don't want building after building, along block after block. If they could put their entire campus in two buildings they'd probably do it. They've spent a ton of money in recent years to consolidate things down and avoid having the college take over the Theatre District/Chinatown/DTX.

You can thank President Jackie Liebergott for this one. It's really her vision from what I understand.

Emerson is facing an extreme housing shortage though, and it's probably going to cause friction in the neighborhood over the next few years.

[daimio1]

as an emerson alumnus, i can tell you... housing is not the main concern for emerson, it is classroom/space. what emerson (and suffolk to a lesser extent) has done is a great example of how college and community can work together. the college had just started to phase out the back bay campus when i was there, and every time i am down there, i am amazed by how smoothly the transition went.

the school is close to all T lines, so commuting is not really an issue (i lived in fenway and central sq my four years there, both were no less then 15 mins into campus... i had friends that lived at harbor point, JP, east boston, mission hill, still no less then 15/20 mins)

you can give cheers to slappy jackie all you want, but when the school is paying her an insane salary (on top of paying for a condo in the ritz tower, so she can be closer to campus, even though she lives in beacon hill), the real concern is that there are still many labor issues with their part time teachers. the current shift in the school is most likely attributed to david rosen and david ellis.

regardless, i am proud of what they are doing, not only for the neighborhood, but for the city of boston. i guess it is one step at a time.

[Scott]

i am proud of what they are doing

You should be, they raised the bar for the city and themselves. It would have been a tragedy for Boston if they had moved to Lawrence.

[tobyjug]

4/09/08

[tobyjug]

(ZZZZZZZZ!)

[Boston02124]

Nite

[tobyjug]

Day (4/25/08)



View of the project from the inside of the top floor of Filene's 1912 building.

[kz1000ps]

[tobyjug]

Does this racing helmet look like a construction hard hat to you?




I agree, Toby. But lets see what others think?



I like this project.



What's this I see? An open door? Toby believes in an "open door policy"! And look! Green light means "GO"!



Don't mind me, boys. See...I have a hard hat too!



Whoa! That first step is a real bitch!



A little tricky in here!



That Washingon St. side isn't much to look at. Used to play video games here.



Hmmm. Did I hear someone saying that "Mille Miglia" doesn't look like a union shop?



"Boys I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a job over at Battery Wharf!"



"Bye!"

[Suffolk 83]

lol I remember playing video games here and getting the bums at the homeless shelter to buy me 40's in high school. Sadly, I didn't realize jack's joke shop and the liquor store were gone.

Toby don't fall down any holes.... The Paramount sign looks really sharp in person, when did they redo that? been meaning to ask that one

[Ron Newman]

The developers of Millennium Place (now Ritz-Carlton Towers) redid both the sign and the front facade years ago, before Emerson was selected as the developer of the Paramount.