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All gone

No more Filene's corner

Roving UHub photographer Jed Hresko noticed this morning that the remnants of the Filene's building on the Franklin Street side are now completely gone.

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Comments

This was reported to be in the new and "improved" plans about a month or two ago on archBoston. I was hoping they were mistaken in reading the project change notice. But alas, they were correct. :(

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they should have at least saved the carved clock on the corner

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that's still there. this is the opposite corner of the building.

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No, there was a carved clock on this corner too. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=summer+street+bosto...

I wish it had been saved. =(

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n/t

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They were probably "saved" like those huge statues that used to grace the Chinatown entrance. Remember, they were "lost" and cheap knock off replacements were put in their place. As luck would have it, the originals were found in some connected pols friends yard.

Ya, "saved".

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They may have saved the clock. They construction crew spent most of last week using a jackhammer to carefully remove some pieces of that corner, right around where the clock was.

Every day I walked by wondering why they didn't just tear that corner down quickly like the rest of the building, so maybe they were trying to save some of the detail work. I have no idea though, this is just what I saw in passing.

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Glad to see they are finally filling in the hole. Downtown Crossing has started to become much nicer the past few years so hopefully this can bring some more life to the area.

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they should have at least saved the carved clock on the corner

They did. It and much of the carved granite work was removed before and during demolition of the facade.

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because its a grand old building.

But its good that they are working like dogs to have something put there. Really in the few months they have started on it, a lot of work has been done on the building. By next year, they should have the footings and some of the highrise ibeams in.

Urb -> what does ArchBoston say about this?

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archBoston's general attitude seemed to be disappointment, but everyone just wants them to hurry up and build the tower. I think everyone is satisfied enough with the Burnham Building portion being renovated.

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The original, historic building should be preserved. That little corner that was left after Vornado The Tornado tore it down was an odd duck. But tearing it down will allow for something better to be built in its place (and it won't look ODD)

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But tearing it down will allow for something better to be built in its place (and it won't look ODD)

Hope springs eternal! At this point in time why don't we just say that it will allow for something to be built in its place. It feels like "better" and "not ODD looking" is sometimes asking a lot of modern design and construction.

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I'm not generally a sentimental person, especially about things like stores, but this has made me pause for a moment. When I was a little kid, my mom would sometimes take me shopping with her downtown, and she would always buy me a hotdog in Filene's basement. Then I'd tag along with her to Filenes upstairs. I remember being fascinated by the old building, you could even still see where gas lamps were prior to electricity.

Later in life, me and co-workers used to hang out and eat lunch at that corner all the time.

Oh well.

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