Misfit Garage

From Dave Brigham:

Beautiful, isn't it?

Known as the Winthrop Square Garage, this squat little parking facility, which is owned by the City of Boston, has been vacant for quite some time. For years I've been reading stories in the Boston Globe about how developers are salivating over the prospect of blowing this eyesore up and replacing it with a gleaming office/condo/hotel/retail palace.

The latest Globe article points out that, while still likely to get done, a deal to buy or lease the land from the city has hit a few snags. Make no mistake, though, this place will fall under the wrecking ball, and yet another awesome monument to the upper middle class will rise in its place.

Don't get me wrong: I agree that this building is ugly and beyond its usefulness. But, although I've only lived in the Boston area for half of my 50 years, I have memories of how things were when I arrived here, fresh-faced and empty-pocketed, in 1990.

My first job in Boston was through a temp agency located just down the street from the Winthrop Square Garage. In subsequent employment I worked in mailrooms, and as part of those jobs, I delivered and picked up packages around the Financial District and Downtown Crossing, passing this site quite often.

I have no sentimentality around this building, but it's nice, on my occasional visits to my old work grounds, to notice things that haven't changed, because so many things around the city have been altered. It would be nice if the developer enlisted an architect who doesn't simply want to put up another glass box that looks like all the other glass boxes going up these days in the Hub of the Universe.

I'll keep y'all up to date as a project gets selected and gets under way.