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#onthisday in 1969, Boston's City Hall was dedicated. City Hall's brutalist design was chosen in a design competition that took place in 1962. Today, we're taking a look at the other competition entries to imagine what might have been...... @universalhub @HUBhistory
Full disclosure, we're archivists not architects. We invite our followers with architectural knowledge to jump in on the thread!
First up, this boxy design by Yau Chun Wong, T. C. Chang, Otto G. Stark, Sam Sit, and Gertrude Kerbis of Chicago firm C. F. Murphy Associates. https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_6246b61b-ed42-460f-978e-3213da128780/
If architects Hsiung, Johnson, Ruffing and Waterman"of Cambridge, Mass had won the competition, you could be walking up this building on City Hall Plaza! https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_e8fb8767-ab30-4abc-ab4f-ab72f8eb024b/
We think this model by Mitchell & Giurgola Associates, of Philadelphia looks like it came out of Star Trek, and we're into it. https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_e5b53d94-1f06-4f89-8a5f-ae1fc5f2e7a2/
We like the circular plaza design on this model from s Zeack, Rueter and Gadau" of Appleton, Wisconsin. https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_da9d02be-a087-4a7c-a066-f4792a4289ec/
Here we've got another fun plaza from F Frederick Bruck and Ervin Y Galanty of Cambridge. What do we think of the circular feature on the top of City Hall? https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_6b6cbad3-a84d-4d39-a907-5ac5c092005e/
This futuristic design from Progressive Design Associates of Cambridge is a favorite! https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_6bfe0875-86f5-450e-8399-8d1bfae5016b/
And finally, ta da, the winning model! This design came from Michael Kallmann, Noel Michael McKinnell, and Edward F. Knowles of Columbia University, New York City. https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_9d4d05be-ee4a-4c1d-a7a5-c84faa740500/
About 7 years after the design was chosen, City Hall was completed. This photo was taken by photographer Peter Dreyer in 1973.
Want to take a closer look at the 1962 design competition for City Hall? Take a look at these digitized records from the Mayor John Collins records! https://cityofboston.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_0227e946-94b2-41ca-a9af-49564fc97e96/