AIA Guide to Boston, 2nd [Paperback]

Susan Southworth (Author), Michael Southworth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1992

A architectural tour guide to Boston.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The best of its kind in this continent - TIME Magazine. 'Anecdotes expand on purely architectural considerations to lend a lively air to the sights' - ALA Booklist

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Globe Pequot; 2nd edition (April 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871061880
• ISBN-13: 978-0871061881
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,134,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boston as seen by sixties architecture buffs, January 29, 2000

By 

Thomas J Perkins (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AIA Guide to Boston, 2nd (Paperback)

As a handbook with information about Boston buildings, the AIA guide is useful. And its treatment of older buildings is reasonable. But this book is most interesting as a historical memoir, a reminder that architectural critics were once smitten by poured concrete and vast, empty plazas.

Ever wonder how disasters like St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe managed to win AIA awards? Read Susan & Michael Southworth's guide to Boston, and you'll understand.

The Southworths heap praise on the most unlikely monstrosities in the city. The execrable State HEW building is "a tour de force demonstrating the structural possibilities of concrete." The horrific Boston Architectural Center is "an admirable piece of contemporary architecture."

The Southworths absolutely fawn over modernist heroes, irrespective of their work. They have nothing but kind words for I.M. Pei - making them perhaps the only persons in Boston capable of defending Harbor Towers or the MIT buildings. They are positively giddy about Le Corbusier's Carpenter Center, a monstrous bunker. In their eyes, 'the spatial drama is stunning, as are the bold concrete forms ... it is the work of a master."

Now that architects have moved beyond blocky and dingy concrete boxes, the Southworths have very little favorable to say about them. They sniff at the varied facades, rooflines, and materials conceived for buildings like 75 State, 222 Berkeley, 500 Boylston and 99 Summer - if dingy concrete was good enough for Le Corbusier, why isn't it good for contemporary architects? Why can't we have more anonymous boxes like the "elegant" and "sleek" 28 State Street?

The Southworths bemoan the fact that downtown buildings of the '80s frequently destroyed little alleyways. Of course, when I.M. Pei wiped out entire streets and blocks of lovely townhouses in the '60s, as at Government Center and the Christian Science complex, that was perfectly OK, producing "dramatic forms."

Thankfully, the Southworths' era has long past. Their views would be more irritating if they weren't so absurd, and if anyone still had the audacity to build the concrete mausoleums they so passionately love.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Guide Book, May 18, 2001

By 

Muzaffer Muctehitzade "hacibey" (Boston, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: AIA Guide to Boston, 2nd (Paperback)

This is a good guide book for walking around Boston and trying to understand some history behind the buildings. Too many buildings are covered, old and new buildings together. The general information about the construction date, architectural style is provided but not in detail. It is so grouped that it makes it easy to walk around the town and see good number of buildings in the neighbourhood. Information is not very detailed, State Haouse is described in two pages or so, other buildings in one short paragraph, just to give general idea about the architecture and history of the city. I found it more handy than other available books for it covers a lot and it has walker friendly sequencing.