From Dave Brigham:
I've lived in the Boston area for nearly 30 years and have seen a lot of changes in the cityscape, especially in the past decade. There's the Hub's Seaport district, which went from an artist district with loads of muddy parking lots, to a glitzy neighborhood filled with high-tech companies, museums, law firms and high-end condos and restaurants (see February 1, 2017, "Bon Voyage, Lady"). And Kendall Square in Cambridge, which went from a bit of a sleepy tech outpost to being lousy with bio-tech firms, funky eateries and high-end condos and restaurants. And Kenmore Square, former home of punk hangout The Rat, dance club Narcissus and mom and pop restaurants, and now increasingly a place for the well-to-do, with the Hotel Commonwealth, Eastern Standard restaurant and, soon, a major office development underneath and abutting the building where the famed Citgo sign shines.
"Developer Related Beal has filed detailed plans with the Boston Planning & Development Agency that would add two new buildings to Kenmore Square - one of which Boston’s most famous sign would bestride," according to a Curbed Boston article. "The plans include incorporating 660 Beacon Street, which has been holding up the famed 60-foot-by-60-foot Citgo sign since 1965, into one of the new buildings.
"The prolific Related Beal bought 660 Beacon and several other buildings in the area in 2016, touching off speculation that the sign was doomed. Organized opposition to its demolition arose even before the sale, when former owner Boston University announced it was putting the buildings on the block. Related Beal and the oil concern behind the sign struck a deal in March 2017 intended to keep the clarion beaming for decades. And it will likely do so from atop a major office development, as the recently filed details make plain," according to Curbed Boston.
So I strolled by these buildings recently to see what will be torn down and/or changed drastically.
The building at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Deerfield Street -- known as West Gate -- was most recently home to City Convenience and, presumably, several apartments. Just look at those gorgeous projecting window bays on this building, which dates to the late 19th century. There are lots of buildings that look like this in Boston, so in some sense it's a dime-a-dozen situation. But with each one that gets torn down, which this one eventually will, Boston loses a bit of its history.
West Gate was evidently in declining health for some time. A Boston Globe article from November 2015 about the death of a homeless guy named Melvin who was a fixture in Kenmore Square, refers to the West Gate as "derelict." To see great old photos and learn the history of Kenmore Square, check this out.
The Citgo sign -- erected in 1965, replacing a similar sign from 1940 -- is a landmark unlike any other in Boston. You see it looming in the distance during Red Sox broadcasts, and people use it to orient themselves toward Kenmore Square. There's no way the good people of Boston would have allowed the sign to be torn down. In the above photo it looks down on the former site of a Bertucci's restaurant, which is also where the infamous Narcissus club was located.
(The side of the former Bertucci's/Narcissus building, which is slated to be torn down.)
While the building that houses Kenmore institution Cornwall's will be torn down, the restaurant owners maintain that they will reopen in the new building after construction is completed, according to this article. Other buildings in this block will also be torn down; it's unclear whether Bruegger's Bagels, the Barnes & Noble book store and other businesses will return to the new development.
Amid the changes in Kenmore Square, there is at least one holdout, albeit a mysterious one (see February 8, 2018, "Casual Abandonment").
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