A special midday tour series will take place every Tuesday, May 5 – May 26 at noon, as part of the City of Boston’s 2015 Preservation Month. Long celebrated as the Athens of America, Boston is home to more than 2 dozen colleges, universities, and professional schools. Not surprisingly, these institutions number among their campuses many architecturally significant properties. Often converted for academic use rather than originally planned for that purpose, these buildings run the aesthetic gamut from Gothic to Art Deco, and include distinguished works by architects both famous and obscure.
But what makes these properties so attractive to institutions? With vacant city land always at a premium and new construction hardly a bargain, colleges recognize that the superior design, materials and workmanship of historic structures make them ideal candidates for adaptive reuse. Smart university administrators understand that whether converted to classrooms or offices, residence halls or performance spaces, old buildings have many decades of useful life ahead of them. And they have learned that they can ask for no more enthusiastic partners in this effort than our historic commissions and the resourceful professionals who staff them.
Concentrated in central Boston, the historic buildings now owned by Boston University, Emerson College, Northeastern University and Suffolk University reflect a common appreciation for the city’s built heritage: both as the vessel of a storied past, and as a vehicle to an exciting future. We’ll be exploring many of the best examples in a month-long series of lunch hour walks we’re calling Preservation is U. Please join the Boston Landmarks Commission each Tuesday in May for an informal graduate course in this familiar but seldom-considered aspect of Boston’s architectural record.
May 5 – Downtown Boston. Elizabeth Stifel, Boston Landmarks Commission Staff Architect. Contact elizabeth.stifel@boston.gov today to reserve a place.
May 12 – Beacon Hill. Erin Doherty, Beacon Hill Architectural Commission Staff, and Joe Bagley, City Archaeologist. Contact erin.doherty@boston.gov before May 8 to reserve a place.
May 19 – South End. Meghan Hanrahan Richard, South End Landmark District Commission Staff. Contact meghan.hanrahan@boston.gov before May 15 to reserve a place.
May 26 – Bay State Road. William Young, Director of Design Review. Contact william.young@boston.gov before May 22 to reserve a space.
