What is it, exactly, that has changed the intersection of Westland and Massachusetts avenues from well-shaped urban space into a mishmash? Symphony Hall, on the left in both photographs, hasn't changed much since the late 1920s, although the recent photograph shows a less elegant canopy. But look at the rest of the old comer Westland and Massachusetts meet at an acute angle, and the Boston Storage Warehouse, the building on the right corner in the old photo, responds by angling along with the streets, filling the comer, and holding the edge and shape of both street spaces. At the same time, the Warehouse punctuates the comer with an octagonal tower. It isn't an elegant building, but it's a very elegant piece of urban design. In the old photograph, the building poking up over the end of Symphony Hall has a tower, too, and this one also marks a comer, that of Westland with St. Stephen Street - also an acute angle. Together, the two towers with their wizard hats frame the opening into Westland, suggesting a gateway at the entrance to this short, wide street, which is, in fact, a kind of boulevard leading to the Fenway beyond. These architectural forms really work to shape and mark urban space. Looking farther along Westland, next to the Boston Storage Warehouse, we see a remarkable building, part of the warehouse and obviously intended to look like a fortification. Its boldly shadowed rank of bays above and arches below make it a strong, probably too strong, element in the street wall. Now look at the comer of today. Replacing the warehouse is Church Park Apartments, designed by the Architects Collaborative and finished in 1973. The rigidly right -angled orthodoxy of modernism does not allow this building to bend as it should at the angled comer. The building can align with one .street or the other but not both. Choosing to align with Massachusetts, it leaves silly little triangles of useless, residual space along Westland, chipping away at the shape of the street and the comer. The aggressive, jutting upper floors dominate Symphony Hall, which is a more important building, while failing to punctuate or tum the comer in any way. The round shape of the parking garage in the rear completes the chaos. Even the cars and the trolley in the old picture have a humane appearance, looking like boxy rooms on wheels, unlike the low, sleek capsules of today. Cobblestones carpet the old street, domesticating it, where the bold, painted arrows of today are visual static. In the old photo, the cars parked in front of Symphony Hall make a kind of hedge that softens the street edge. They'd be illegal today. There is nothing at all in the recent picture that is an improvement, visually - though you can't help admiring the brave bicyclist in the foreground.

 Peter Vanderwarker   Peter Vanderwarker, Peter Vanderwarker 

THEN & NOW IMAGES

THEN & NOW