[MassHistPres] vandalism at the MFA

[Tristram Metcalfe 3]

Kudos for the complaints,,,,

Its not surprising at all to see callous comprehension of the best  
values in historic aesthetics. Superlative Preservation is still a  
steep learning curve in our profession. Too often those with talent  
in rhetoric but not in aesthetics,, or those who've made big names  
and can overwhelm committees to cave them into their ignorant whims  
of low grade preservation.

What may be needed is a better nation wide clearing house data base  
of past preservation discussions on a list of so called "bad design".  
It would be available to the next committees to choose their  
designer. It would be word of mouth logic. To avoid liability and not  
defame those in the data base it would be only existing public record  
lists and & blogs discussions such as this forum.
To be fair and also allow the best knowledge to prevail over possibly  
shallow complaints, it is important for the designers to also be able  
to add rebuttals to the data base with explanations for why things  
such as that horrendous solid railing error occurred. Id like to know.

Potentially all that would have been required was a see thru glass or  
very thin neutral color steel railing likely with less cost,, then  
money saved could improve the other accessible features.

Tris Metcalfe
Northampton

On Jul 22, 2011, at 11:05 AM, Karen Gray wrote:

> It is ironic that the chief complaint so far is seems to be what  
> was done to make the building handicapped accessible.   I recently  
> escorted a visitor through who was in a wheel chair, and we found  
> the interior accessibility quite poor, even disgraceful!
>
> Karen Gray
>
> On 7/22/2011 10:29 AM, Dennis De Witt wrote:
>>
>> Agreed!
>>
>> Those completely gratuitous diagonal stone walls cutting off the  
>> bases of that magnificent colonnade reflect an unimaginable lack  
>> of understanding and appreciation of a magnificent work of  
>> architecture.
>>
>> It is difficult to image who is more at fault, the architect, who  
>> should not conceivably have been that illiterate, or the client  
>> whose sole raison d'être should be the preservation of our  
>> cultural heritage.
>>
>> Those ramps are the equivalent putting duct tape across the Boit  
>> Brats' feet.
>>
>> IMHO Dennis De Witt
>>
>>
>> On Jul 22, 2011, at 10:11 AM, rthenr at comcast.net wrote:
>>
>>> I am disappointed to learn that The Boston Preservation Alliance  
>>> has given a Preservation Achievement Award for "New Construction  
>>> in Harmony with Boston's Built Environment" to The Boston Museum  
>>> of Fine Arts. The alterations made to the Fenway entrance by  
>>> British architect Sir Norman Foster disrespect Boston architect  
>>> Guy Lowell's original and splendid Ionic colonnade by adding two  
>>> handicapped access ramps with solid parapets which cut diagonally  
>>> across the facade and hide the bases and lower parts of many of  
>>> the columns. This unsettles the entire Fenway elevation and  
>>> reduces it to a mere backdrop for the celebrity architect's   
>>> intervention.
>>>
>>> Samuel R. Blair, AIA
>>
>>
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