date published:
December 19, 2005
Making
New Year's resolutions? The City of Boston is making changes as well-from
museum expansions to a growing green scene
by Josh B. Wardrop
BOSTON'S
EXPANDING ART SCENE
Boston boasts some great art museums,
but it would be fair to say most aren't
exactly cutting edge. In fact, there hasn't
been a major art museum building constructed
in Boston in a century. Beginning in 2006,
though, an unprecedented round of
construction and renovation to Boston's
existing art museums will take the city by
storm.
First out of the gate is
the September '06 opening of the brand-new
Institute of Contemporary Art ,
which sees the ICA relocating from a small
facility in a converted firehouse (so small
that the museum has never been able to house
a permanent collection) to a $62 million,
650,000 square foot, state-of-the-art glass
and metal structure on Fan Pier in South
Boston, overlooking Boston Harbor. Designed
by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the
new ICA will be a true 21st century
institution, complete with multiple
galleries, two-story art lab and a 325-seat
performing arts theater.
Meanwhile, the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has
retained Italian architect Renzo Piano to
design their first addition since the
Gardner opened in 1903-a multistory gallery
that will triple the Gardner's special
exhibitions space by the time it's completed
in 2010.
Just down the road, the
Museum of Fine Arts (the city's
last newly built art museum, in 1909) is
also looking toward the future, breaking
ground November 14 on the newest phase of
its $425 million expansion campaign-a plan
that calls for a new multi-level gallery to
house the MFA's extensive American art
collections, a glass courtyard for public
gatherings, and the reopening of an entrance
facing the grassy Fenway area.
And Boston's new trend of
museum expansion isn't limited to simply art
galleries. The Boston Children's
Museum and Museum of
Science have recently announced
plans to expand, as have museums at several
colleges and universities.
BOSTON GOES
GREEN
The new year is set to be verdant for
the Hub, as the city completes the
long-awaited Rose Kennedy Greenway
- a 30-acre string of public parks
stretching from Causeway Street near the
North End to Kneeland Street in the heart of
Chinatown.
The project, named for the
late matriarch of America's legendary
political family, replaces the Central
Artery roadway, done away with by Boston's
infamous "Big Dig." By the end of next year,
it's expected the series of public green
spaces will be "substantially complete,"
providing space for new parks, ponds,
performance spaces and more, including a
proposed four-acre "Garden Under Glass" to
be built by the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society.
NEW NAMES
IN RETAIL
In late 2005, Swedish home
furnishing giant IKEA
opened its first Massachusetts store in
Stoughton, about 40 minutes south of Boston.
Next up, Barney's New York
will open a flagship store at the Copley
Place mall in the spring, while popular clothiers H&M
are allegedly expanding from their Downtown Crossing location into a major new
spot on Newbury Street sometime in '06.
The sad news for devoted shopaholics and diehard traditionalists
is the impending loss of one Boston retail giant: Filene's at
Downtown Crossing, which departs sometime after February 1, to be replaced by
an as-yet-unnamed retailer.
A
WHOLE NEW BALLGAME
The Boston Bruins returned from a year's layoff
following the NHL strike, and got off to such a rough start that they did what
many considered unthinkable: trading the franchise's golden boy captain, Joe
Thornton, to San Jose. Time will tell if the bold move creates a spark for the
B's, or is the beginning of a total revamp for the black and gold.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox head toward 2006 in as
much of a state of flux as any time in their history. They've already lost
homegrown GM, Theo Epstein, amid rumblings of front office strife (see
sidebar). Team personnel is changing too, with the Sox trading starting
shortstop Edgar Renteria, acquiring ace pitcher Josh Beckett and dealing with
enigmatic slugger Manny Ramirez's trade request and the free agency of team
heartthrob Johnny Damon. When the dust settles, Sox fans can expect a very
different team than the World Series champs of just two years ago.
In addition, Fenway Park itself continues to
undergo physical changes geared at expanding capacity and enhancing the Sox
experience. The 2006 season will see the glass removed from the 406 Club
seating behind home plate, with the existing seats being split into two levels
and new standing room only and box seats added to bump capacity of the park to
38,805.
HISTORY GETS A FACELIFT
Let's face it-age takes it toll on all of us, eventually. That's why
some prominent area sights are spending 2006 undergoing cosmetic reconstruction
intended to make them things of beauty for future generations to enjoy.
In Cambridge, the Mount Auburn Cemetery -final
resting place of luminaries from the worlds of arts and science such as Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, B.F. Skinner, Mary Baker Eddy and many more-is
celebrating its 175th anniversary with new landscaping. Additionally, its
historic Bigelow Chapel will undergo a major restoration, including a new
exhibit detailing the cemetery's history.
For more than four years, the site of the old Boston Tea Party
Museum has been derelict after a fire caused when the structure
was struck by lightning. Next year, however, plans will move forward to erect a
new, larger museum with interactive exhibits and memorabilia, which will be
flanked by three replica clipper ships currently being restored up in
Gloucester. The new museum, expected to be complete by early 2007, promises to
be a key attraction in the ongoing development of the Fort Point Channel
neighborhood in South Boston.
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