Downtown Crossing

Reflections

This week’s presentations were interesting as more trends came to the surface.  As Professor Spirn mentioned, the influences of one institution in a particular site really have shaped some of the sites that people chose.  As I try to apply this to my site, it’s interesting that downtown poses a slightly different situation.  While my site hasn’t really had a specific institution that has taken over—such as the church in Adrian’s site, or the courthouse and jail—the general trends of shopping have really proven to be crucial to my site.  Being in the heart of the city, I feel like the influences lie heavily in the current trends of the nation.  It isn’t like the other sites, which are located off to the outskirts of the main city, which can be governed by a larger institution.  But the center of the city is responsible for following the rest of the city.  Property costs are probably higher for the commercial industries, due to its location.  I feel like shopping has taken over, especially during the last half century, with the obsession of the mall and department stores.  But it will be interesting to see how residential trends will start to maybe take over the ambiance, since skyscrapers allow for many residents while taking over very little physical ground space.

Wrap-Up

As I prepare for my presentation on Monday, it’s interesting to see how similar all of these sites are.  Even though they are scattered all over the city of Boston and neighboring cities of Cambridge, they all have been affected greatly by the transportation revolution.  The combination of old and new is something that seems to be universal. It’s interesting since I’ve been putting all of my focus into a small neighborhood of a very dense and populated city, yet the trends that I have found in that small area are generally found in other areas as well. Being able to listen to other people’s research reminds me of the bigger picture and how larger trends go beyond only my site.

Site Visit~Trends and Traces

I visited my site earlier this week, after all of the mayhem that ensued the weekend before.  I was cautious about going into downtown Boston, but when I arrived it was bustling with excitement—more than I’ve seen before.  Granted, the last time I visited it was the middle of winter, which could account for the lack of people.  This week, the sun was bouncing off of every surface it could find.  People walked with a purpose, dressed in suits and heels, while couples and tourists wandered around taking pictures of the historic sites while window-shopping. Pigeons and other small birds scavenged for leftover lunch pieces near the outdoor tables placed strategically at the corner of Washington and Bromfield. 
As for the historic traces and layers that I set off to see, it was apparent that this area wanted to emphasize its history.  Traditional-style buildings with incredible carvings line the streets. While the first floor facades may have changed to account for the storefronts, the rest of the building looked exquisite.  In my maps, I realized the trend of combining properties to create larger stores.  When looking for hints of this, I found exactly what I was looking for at DSW.  On the Bromfield side, the store takes over two of the old buildings, all on the second floor.
What interested me was the use of glass windows.  Staring at the DSW building, something looked odd. After a while, I noticed that after the third floor, the detailing of the building shifted.  The upper half remained traditional, but the lower half seemed plainer.  It hit me after I left—the windows on the bottom three floors, where the store resides, were significantly larger than those on the upper floors.  It interests me to see the use of glass and windows for commercial purposes, especially when they only change part of the building to accommodate for that.
On the corner of Province and School, there used to be a bank building.  Today, “The Boston Five Cents Savings Bank Building” still is engraved into the façade.  But a bank no longer lives here—instead it is a Walgreens, opening soon. 
I think my site has grown in a more vertical sense, and that is what I want to focus my paper on.  The history is still apparent, so traces will not be hard to find. Layers are shown in the vertical sense, as buildings grow continuously upward, and storefronts change the building they inhabit.  

Map Research

From spending the week looking at my maps, I think I have learned a significant amount about reading primary documents and finding resources.  Sanborn maps have been extremely useful in my search for maps of the late 1800s to the early 1900s.  And because they were used to measure fire insurance liabilities, the detail included is absolutely fantastic. 
Unfortunately, on the development side, I haven’t been able to find much that has changed. First off, there hasn’t been much residential space in the area in general.  In the 1700s, the governor and some other officials lived in the area, but the neighborhood has always been very central and has remained that way ever since. Between the years of 1895 and 1909, a few offices changed into theaters and some smaller factories and stores were converted into larger markets.  But even these slight changes may allude to more subtle shifts during this time, such as cultural changes and social attitudes.  Since there are more theaters appearing in the few couple of blocks, that might imply a focus on the arts during that time period.  It’s interesting to see how the number of printing shops gradually and steadily decreased over the later part of the 19th century.

In-Class Assignment Reflections
Site 5:
the blocks bordered by Main, Broadway, Portland, and the railroad tracks

Yellow=wood
Red=brick

Observations:
1873: the northern blocks are occupied by industrial companies, in particular an organ factory.  The railroad even branches out into the block, probably for exporting products from the factory.  The middle region is largely residential, with small but even-sized properties.  In the southern portion—the triangle bordered by Main, Portland, and Washington—all the land is owned by a single person: George M. Rogers. 
1906:
Interesting watching the development of the section owned by George Rogers.  Now it’s more developed, named Rogers Court.  On this map, I was able to distinguish colors—the red brick is primarily focused in the industrial section, while yellow wood is residential. 
I found this monopoly quite interesting, as it remains in his possession all the way to the 1916 map.

1916:
The most notable change in this ten-year period—and a very noticeable change at that—was the expansion of the soap factory.  In 1906, it was a small, wooden building taking up less than a quarter of a block.  Ten years later, it has taken over the entire block, and promoted to a brick building almost four times its original size.  This sudden expansion could potentially be the rise of a cultural issue—the perception of cleanliness.  Leading up to the roaring ‘20s, a time of glamour and luxury, soap may have raised significantly in value. 

1930s:
the diverse land use in previous maps disappears in this period. The industrial section engulfs the rest—in particular the soap factory.  It even takes over the organ factory on the neighboring block.  The railroads are extended to accommodate the thriving soap industry.  Two blocks are razed of residential buildings, replaced by almost nothing.  The Lever Bro soap company seems to have dominated this area, with so much space they don’t know what to do with it.

1970s:
Now this was the most intriguing.  Everything is completely gone. No factory, no houses, no buildings at all. A completely empty space in the middle of everything.  Luckily, my partner Thomas, knew a little more about the history of this neighborhood.  Apparently NASA bought this land to build a new hub.  They bought the land from all the owners and tore down everything, but then decided to change their mind.  It’s amazing how powerful and forceful the government can be. And then irrational—after all that, they land was never used for this purpose.  Instead, Technology Square took its place. This map actually says “technology square” in the lower right corner, suggesting that plans for this new development was already in the works.

Current:
Technology Square has taken over this region.  Since 1970s, when even the streets were destroyed, the street formation has changed entirely.  Large buildings take over entire blocks.  No trace of residential buildings. The little railroad branch leading to the factory is gone. It’s a complete commercialization of a once-residential area.

Reflection
I find it fascinating to really see the development of the industrial regions through the ages.  The soap factory started as nothing, and then grew to engulf the organ factory that had been there for half a century.  And then in the ‘70s, for the government to completely obliterate all progress made in this three-block region! It demonstrates how much power the government has, but it also implies the indecisiveness during that time period.

Site Visit~Natural Processes

The most notable thing in my site, when looking specifically for natural processes, is the lack of green. In such a central part of Boston, even though it’s just a couple of blocks away from the Commons, the rare tree looks so intentional that it seems out of place.  There are a few planters in the open space across the street from the TJ Maxx. A couple of tiny, planted trees in the intersection of School and Washington.  I can tell that they’ve tried to make a little sitting area in this corner, with benches and statues. But in the middle of such a busy intersection, no one truly sits there for long.
There are concentrations of trees in some areas: in front of the old City Hall, in the Granary Burying Ground, and planters by the apartment complex. The ulterior motives for this particular placement intrigue me. Does it accentuate the historical aspect of these monuments? Does it make the residential area seem more welcoming? I would have thought that such a pedestrian-centered street such as Washington would have some greenery to create shade in the summer, to emulate that sidewalk “feel”.  But nothing.
As I was going to bed last night, another interesting perspective popped into my head. When going out in the field with the class, the tree that engulfed the fence caught my attention: demonstrating the power and force of a tree, taking over society’s attempt to contain it. This power struggle personifies nature in a way that captures the constant battle between nature and society. Meanwhile, in a much more commercial area such as Downtown Crossing, there doesn’t seem to be the same even fight. Planted trees look sickly as they try to survive near the main roads. The trees in the cemetery are so contorted; they look like they’re lost and they don’t know what the end goal is.  I think the cold season emphasizes this, as there are no leaves on the trees--they look so vulnerable without their green armor. The dominance of the urban is clear in this area and I really like comparing this to the residential Cambridge site.

Choosing a Site

I love exploring. The hard thing at MIT is that I can never find the time to just push off all the homework that I need to do, the problem sets I need to grade, the sports practices. But now, I have an excuse to travel into the city and explore…as part of my homework!
Monday: I went to finalize my site for the rest of the semester. The stress was building, and I was nervous that I wouldn’t find the perfect fit. On the red line, I knew I wanted to check out Downtown Crossing and the Boston Children’s Museum. Getting off at the first one—Downtown Crossing—I immediately fell in love with the area. I’d only been there once before: to check out a restaurant venue, and the only thing I remembered from that time was the shopping, especially the TJ Maxx (one of my favorite stores in California). This time though, I walked around a couple of blocks, and ran into several antique shops, the old City Hall, and then…a cemetery! I had no idea what was right in front of me. This was walking distance from Park Street, where I sometimes get off the go to the movie theater, and I had never noticed it before. Only in Boston would you find something like this.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it to South Station that day, after hitting a home run on the first try.
Tuesday’s class: I picked up several things from my classmates—some things that I want to look into further when I visit my site again. I liked how someone mentioned her interest in looking into the subway stop and figuring out how that played a role in the development of the neighborhood.  I never thought about how that, even though I got there via T, I didn’t stop to think about when that was installed and how it changed the atmosphere of the area. Another thing I found interesting was Angela’s focus on the differences between North and South Station. I don’t know how I can apply this concept of comparison to my site but I’m going to keep thinking about it and see if there’s a way.
Wednesday: I’m worried about how I’m going to write such a long paper on natural processes because I’m more interested in the social development of this neighborhood and the wind and rain doesn’t appeal to me as much. I also write extremely slowly, and I feel like this weekend is not enough time to (1) visit my site again, (2) analyze the natural processes—which will take longer because I feel like they’re less obvious, (3) find old maps on the internet—*note to self* need to find reliable resources to find said maps--, (4) brainstorm and outline my paper and then of course (5) write and edit my paper. But who knows, maybe I’ll find something of interest. I think the glacial activity in the Boston area is interesting, and something that I had no idea about before Wednesday’s class. I also really like the street names—there are streets in my area by the names of School, Winter, and Summer, so maybe there are stories behind those? I think I might include part of the Boston Commons in my site, and expand it a little bit because, ever since the first class, I have been interested in the pops of green throughout Boston. The cemetery is a little bit of green, but the park seems like it’d add another aspect to my study.