Category: Architecture
1 March, 2013 (16:29) | Architecture, Boston, churches, Cities, Condominiums, Historic, Innovations, Local issues, Real estate taxes, Rehab, Zoning |
[Concluded from yesterday's Part 2 and the preceding Part 1.] By:David A. Smith Church redevelopment into housing, as we’ve seen in the two preceding parts of this post inspired by a text from the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2012), first requires that the church itself decide to sell the property and then [...]
28 February, 2013 (16:27) | Architecture, Boston, churches, Cities, Condominiums, Historic, Innovations, Local issues, Real estate taxes, Rehab, Zoning |
[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.] By:David A. Smith Yesterday’s post on converting churches into homes, using as its sermon text a Christmastime article from the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2012), focused on why conversions are happening with increasing frequency now – declining parish activity and fortunes and rising urban residential demand had [...]
27 February, 2013 (16:17) | Architecture, Boston, churches, Cities, Condominiums, Historic, Innovations, Local issues, Real estate taxes, Rehab, Zoning |
By:David A. Smith For some properties, a change of use is much more than merely a physical reconfiguration, it is also a reinvention of the building’s soul, or for some, a loss of that soul, especially when the transition is from a sacred use (a church or synagogue) into a profane one – housing [...]
24 May, 2012 (10:29) | Architecture, Housing, Land use, Regulation, Seattle, Zoning |
By: David A. Smith Though zoning is destiny, it wears a tight corset, the squeezing into which can lead to contorted inventiveness, as shown in this cheerful little mis-titled Wall Street Journal story: Building Outside the Box Actually, Mr. Agarwala and his architect were at pains to build inside the box – [...]
13 April, 2012 (09:39) | Architecture, Boston, Brutalism, Cities, City Hall, History | 1 comment
By:David A. Smith With Boston City Hall turning fifty, the Boston Globe (February 12, 2012) decided now would be a good time for writer Leon Neyfakhto argue that somehow the spark that triggered Boston’s revival, and is today its guiding spirit, was this ugly concrete structure: City Hall design, 1962: you’ll like it [...]