Boston’s Most Controversial Buildings Prove That Concrete Can Be Beautiful

Boston , metropolis of wizard Colonial - era brick rowhouses line narrow cobblestone streets . Not precisely the place you ’d expect to brood a mod design revolution . And yet , when Brutalism first came to the US , the hard - boundary architectural movement took its firmest hold here .

The raw bookHeroic : Concrete Architecture and the New Bostonby Mark Pasnik , Chris Grimley and Michael Kubo explores how Boston became an unlikely menage for many of the world ’s great concrete construction .

As Boston attempted to modernize after World War II , the metropolis stood at a crossway : Many of its historical structure did n’t outfit into the city ’s ambitious urban renewal plans . The “ New Boston , ” as it was termed , was authored by a stellar roll of talent who remade many of the city ’s most democratic civil and public space . computer architecture greats Marcel Breuer , Henry N. Cobb , I. M. Pei , Paul Rudolph , and even theprogenitor of Brutalist style , Le Corbusier , came to build in Boston .

Starship Test 9

7 Endangered Examples of the Most scorned Architectural Style Ever

Although the controversial style has not won over all Boston residents — the polarizing excogitation of Boston ’s City Hall remains a combative dinner party political party topic — there ’s no question that Brutalism help to regenerate the aging metropolis and orient it firmly towards the future . Here are some swell - hits from the Word .

Boston University skyline

Photo : Phokion Karas

Church Park Apartments and circular garage

contrive by The Architects Collaborative . picture : Wayne Soverns Jr.

Peabody Terrace

project by Sert , Jackson & Associates , 1962–64 . Photo : Phokion Karas

Madison Park High School

plan by Marcel Breuer & Associates , 1967–77 . Photo : Nick Wheeler , Courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library , Harvard University Graduate School of Design