BOSTON PU1>LIC LIBKARY . ./ij ' I ^^ Boston Downtown /^ Waterfront Project P'^OP£Rn'OfBRAUeRA«y Boston Educational Marine Exchange Felicia Reed Clark, Project Director Lane/Frenchman, Inc., Urban Design Consultant .<? xC^ .<^ <<:> .#^ X. %>^; '/fry n^ F R'.irf.RiT OF eR,'\ iimmx <^ Project Team boston educational marine exchange Restoring Boston's lost orientation to the sea has been a goal of the Exchange since its formation in 1976. The Exchange has been developing ideas for water related facilities and public access to bring the inner harbor back into focus as one of Boston's greatest potential assets. Early in 1979, the Exchange drew up and published "A Plan for Boston Harbor" and a suggested perspective of a revitalized waterfront. This plan obtained the enthusiastic cooperation of Mayor White which led to the funding of the current project by the consortium of interests previously listed. The Exchange is in overall charge of this project, is the recipient of the funds, and provides administra- tive support and technical expertise. Carl Koch is President of the Exchange and Patricia Wells is an administrative assistant for the project. FELICIA REED CLARK Project director, providing administration, manage- ment of the participatory process and development planning, liaison with public and private interests, and continuing contributions to all phases of the project. Additional responsibilities include current development inventory and proposals for access, recreation, transportation, public-private actions and water-related uses. Andrew Cook , project assistant, has made a significant contribu- tion to current inventory and technical data. LANE/FRENCHMAN, INC. Urban design consultants responsible for historical analysis, other aspects of the project inventory and development of the concept plan — including proposals for preservation, interpretation, access and recreation, and public and private development. Lane/Frenchman, Inc. is also responsible for the design and production of this report. Technical Frenchman staff includes: Jonathan S. Lane , Dennis , Vincent Marsh , who Brian Sullivan , Julie Wilson and contributed significantly to the historical inven- tory analysis. Ill Project BOSTON EDUCATIONAL MARINE EXCHANGE — Carl Roch - Advisory President Board BOSTON DOWNTOWN WATERFRONT PROJECT ADVISORY BOARD o Bay State-Spray S Provincetovm Steamship Co. — Richard Nakashian, President o Boston Landmarks Commission — Marcia Myers, Director o Boston Redevelopment Authority — Phillip Zeigler, Deputy Director of Planning o Boston Shipping Association — Arthur Lane, President o Boston Waterfront Neighborhood Association — Normand Smith, President o Citizens Housing and Planning Association — Robert McKay, Director o Eastern Point Fisheries — Robert Gill, President o First National Bank of Boston — Harold Emerson, Vice President o Harvard University Graduate School of Design — Edward Secklar, Professor o Massachusetts Bay Boat Owners Association — Edward Mazzuchelli, Director o Massachusetts Department of Environmental Manage- ment — Meg Ackerman, Planner o Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Harold Edgerton, Professor Emeritus o Massachusetts Port Authority — Norman Faramelli, Director of Planning o Metropolitan District Commission — Jack Elwood, Supervising Sanitary Engineer o Museum of Transportation — Duncan Smith, Director o New England Aquariiim — John Prescott, Director o The Boston Harbor Associates — John Ames, Director . THE WATERFRONT TODAY Today's waterfront is the result of a 75 year period of decline in traditional maritime and industrial uses, and a growing interest in the amenities the waterfront can provide for an expanding city — a place to live, a home for educational and cultural institutions, and an unequalled recreational resource. Decline of the waterfront parallels the story of Boston in the first half of the 20th-century. Many of the City's wharves were inadequate to accommodate improved technologies involving larger ships and mechanized loading, causing the focus of maritime trade to move to new facilities in South and East Boston. As the railroads declined and industries moved to the suburbs, large sections of the waterfront became underutilized and deteriorated. Aged wharf buildings came to symbolize the City's general economic decline and rotting wharves posed serious health and safety problems A shift in attitude about the role of the waterfront in the life of the City can be traced to the early 20th- century. As the City's working waterfront was beginning its slow period of decline, planners, captivated by the "City Beautiful" movement were studying the Back Bay as a potential setting for recreation and gracious park- land. Completion of the Esplanade along Beacon Street and the Charles River embankment and MIT in Cambridge, represents the first time in the life of the City that the value of the waterfront as a permanent urban amenity was recognized. Previously the water's edge was viewed as an economic commodity which could be manipulated to meet changing economic needs. The next phase of waterfront renewal focused on the Great Cove, the physical and symbolic heart of Boston. Beginning in the 1950 's the Federal Urban Renewal Program provided both the funds and the planning concept to convert this section of the waterfront into an urban amenity. Early plans called for the removal of all wharves and historic maritime facilities and the develop- ment of new open space, housing, and other uses. Also part of this strategy was completion of a new overhead expressway which was routed through many older waterfront districts and viewed, in part, as a convenient rationale to demolish them. Today the Central Artery, Harbor Towers, the Aquarium and the new waterfront hotel reflect an attitude emanating from the period. Fortunately, as Urban Renewal progressed, a number of important wharves were saved and converted to housing and commercial uses. Changing values are reflected in the fact that areas of the Great Cove outside of the original Urban Renewal boundary — the Broad Street and Fulton Street Districts — have since been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and significant renovations of existing structures are planned or have been completed. The recent plan for Long Wharf represents a final effort to complete 1-27 redevelopment efforts in the Great Cove area. Since the turn of the century, renewal has related largely to districts originally created when sections of the waterfront were filled in — the Back Bay and Great Cove. This pattern of renewal continues with the recent proposal to redevelop the North Station district — formerly the Bulfinch Triangle created by the filling of North Cove. The vision for this area calls for an extension of the Esplanade and the creation of a new residential district separated from the mainland by a canal. This will expand the amount of waterfront available for urban amenities and reverse the historical filling process by moving a portion of the water's edge back into the fabric of the city. In remaining waterfront districts — such as the North End, and the Fort Point Channel area — pressures for redevelopment are growing, but no vision has been proposed. To date, public and private efforts have proceeded on an ad-hoc basis with no overall con- cept to guide preservation and development decisions. Key contemporary features of the waterfront are des- cribed below: 23. The Highway System — The maritime industry expanded during the first part of the twentieth century but after 1930 Boston's imports became greater than its' exports as it became economically more feasible to transport goods by rail and road than by boat to intercoastal destinations. A plan to create a road which would connect the Northern portions of New England with the South Shore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island was designed during the late 1940 's and hundreds of buildings were razed to construct the Southeast Expressway through the central portion of the City. The waterfront and inland portions of the City were severed and the Central Artery became a barrier around the North End which further isolated the ethnic population from the rest of the City. The Fort Point Channel, only minutes from downtown, be- came a remote district. Some industry was still centered in the Fort Point Channel area and in the Leather District but by the late 1930 's the manu- facturers of wool and textiles and the processors of fish and leather gradually shifted from New England to other parts of the country or abroad. During the 1960 's the Massachusetts Turnpike was constructed as an East-West link across the state. The highway severed the Chinatown neighborhood. Also, the highway lessened Boston's dependence on rail to carry freight from the port inland as trucking proved to be more economical and efficient. 1-28 . wool industry 24. New Industry — By the 1940 's, the economic which was an extremely important part of the severely activity of the Fort Point Channel area was threatened by the invention of synthetics. It area became apparent to the manufacturers in this of that either they had to change their methods operation and technology within the existing ware- companies houses or build modern plants. Many of of the in this area did relocate to other parts two state or country, and the warehouses in these districts begin to provide services to downtown the businesses. Some of the warehouses owned by parking Russia Wharf Company were torn down for buildings lots and many of the piers and monumental