Boston City Hall Plaza

History

The siting of the plaza, the City Hall, and other structures in Government Center was the responsibility of I. M. Pei,{{Citation |author-link=Thomas H. O'Connor |author-link = Laurel Ulrich |url-access = registration

The 1962 design was reportedly modeled after Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy.

Others dislike City Hall Plaza for its anti-social aesthetic and failure to address unpleasant weather effects (such as wintertime cold, wet, and wind, and summertime heat, dust, sun, and wind).{{Citation |url-access = registration

A fountain was built at the northwest corner of the plaza as part of the original design. But it was shut down in 1977 because water was leaking into the Blue Line subway tunnel below. The fountain was covered over with a concrete slab in 2006. A nonprofit group built a "Cancer Garden of Hope" at the northeast corner of the plaza in 2010.

Redesign

Since the plaza opened in 1968, ideas for improvements to the public space have been put forth by citizens, students, architects, politicians, and others. In the early 2000s, cellist Yo-Yo Ma proposed the construction of a music garden based on his Inspired by Bach series of recordings. The plan did not move forward in Boston, but was realized as the Toronto Music Garden.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had several ideas for improvement. In 2007, Emerson College students used the virtual world Second Life to re-imagine a better design. The project was sponsored by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, among others. A 2011 study commissioned by the United States Environmental Protection Agency made recommendations for the "greening" of the plaza. A 2014 study by three landscape architecture students at West Virginia University proposed a complete redesign of the plaza.

In 2015, the city launched a crowdsourcing project entitled "Re-invent City Hall Plaza," asking the public for suggestions to improve the plaza. Later in the year, the city made a number of changes to the plaza, including installing artificial grass, picnic tables, and lawn chairs, to make the space more inviting. However, the Project for Public Spaces argued that "these efforts to put what the New York Times has called a 'kelly green band-aid' on this gaping wound in the heart of the city, are insufficient," and that a more comprehensive redesign is needed. A 2016 plan for a ferris wheel and other improvements to the plaza did not move forward.

Work had begun in 2011 on plans to redesign the plaza and the Government Center MBTA station. The new MBTA station opened in March 2016 after two years of construction. Extensive landscaping and accessibility improvements to the adjacent areas of the plaza were completed in 2017.

A year-long study entitled "Rethink City Hall" was completed in 2017 by the firms Utile and Reed Hilderbrand. The final report called for major changes in City Hall and the plaza.

"The Patios," a seasonal beer garden, opened in 2018 on a terrace overlooking Congress Street, and was expanded for 2019.

In June 2019, the city announced the start of construction of a $70 million project to transform the plaza into a "People's Plaza" that will include "a civic space for all residents, with universal accessibility, new civic spaces for all to use, increased environmental sustainability, and critical infrastructure improvements that will ensure the Plaza is safe and accessible for all for generations to come." The plans, developed by Sasaki Associates, include schematic designs for the project. In January 2020, the Boston Landmarks Commission approved the first phase of the project. Construction began in 2020. Construction reached the half-way point in August 2021. The work includes adding "3,000 seating spaces, 12,000-square-feet of playscapes for children, and 11,000-square-feet of terraces for interactive public art. The renovated plaza opened in November 2022. The Boston Preservation Alliance awarded the project its 2025 Preservation Award.

Public events

Nearby Boston Common has long been used for public events, including a 1969 peace rally that drew an estimated crowd of 100,000 and the 1979 mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. But damage to the park from such large events led city officials to limit future events on the Common, relocating many to the paved City Hall Plaza.

Annual events held on City Hall Plaza include Boston Calling Music Festival (2013–2016), Big Apple Circus, The Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl, the Boston Pride Festival, the African Festival of Boston, Boston GreenFest, Boston Techjam, the Puerto Rican Festival of Massachusetts, the finish line of Hub on Wheels, and the Boston Cycling Celebration.

Occasional events on the plaza have included Boston's 350th birthday celebration, art exhibits such as Strandbeest; large rallies in honor of the New England Patriots, the Boston Red Sox, and the Boston Bruins; political demonstrations; an exhibit of "street pianos"; beer festivals; HUBweek, a pizza festival, the Boston Night Market, a "Roller Disco Tribute Party", and the display of a 25-foot-tall statue of King Tut.

The Plaza has also been the site for many free concerts including being the original site (before moving to the Hatch Memorial Shell) for WODS (Oldies 103.3) summer concert series such as Chubby Checker and Paul Revere & the Raiders.

From December 2016 until February 2017, the Plaza opened an outdoor Skating Path and Holiday Market, as part of an installation called "Boston Winter". The skating path provided skating lessons for different age groups and planned themed skating events. Boston Winter continued the following year, but did not return in December 2018 as the city prepared for a major renovation of the plaza.

The newly renovated playground on the plaza went viral online in 2023 as part of the "cop slide" internet meme after a police officer was recorded tumbling down the slide at speed and sustaining a minor head injury. Its virality caused an increase in adult visitors to the playground and age restrictions were enforced at the slide.

Image gallery

Image:CityHallPlaza Boston 2009 897.JPG|2009 File:Strandbeest by Theo Jansen on Boston City Hall Plaza.jpg|Strandbeest by Theo Jansen, 2015 File:Big Apple Circus and Boston City Hall, P1000084.JPG|Big Apple Circus, 2016 File:Government Center MBTA station landscaping P1010274.jpg|Trees planted in 2016 during reconstruction of the MBTA station File:Boston City Hall Plaza skating track IMG 20161231 173631907.jpg|Skating track installed as part of Boston Winter, 2016 File:Boston GreenFest lights at Boston City Hall Plaza.jpg|Boston City Hall Plaza lit up in Blue and Green for 10th Annual Boston GreenFest File:HubWeek Boston P1010948.jpg|HubWeek, 2017 File:Hub on Wheels P1010918.jpg|Hub on Wheels bicycle tour finish line, 2017 File:Boston Pride Festival 2019 142625.jpg|Boston Pride Festival, 2019 File:Boston City Hall lawn seating P1030266.jpg|Chairs and tables on the plaza, 2019 File:Government Center MBTA P1030247.jpg|MBTA station and Center Plaza, 2019

References

References

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74. Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine. (2023-08-16). "No one can stop grown ass adults in Boston from hurling themselves down that big slide".