Throwback Boston Thursday: City Hall Plaza Fountain

I saw on Twitter a few weeks ago that the fountain at Government Center had been uncovered. So of course, I grabbed my mask and hightailed it over there. And sure enough, there it was, a bit uncovered. I went over today, and it’s now fully open to the air once again.

My off-the-top-of-my-head Boston history knowledge knew this fountain to have been built in the 1960s, along with the rest of the Brutalist (and brutal) City Hall Plaza, and since the fountain leaked into the T station, they capped it sometime in the late 1970s because they didn’t want to deal with it.

Or so I thought. Let’s learn about the long-buried Boston City Hall Plaza Fountain.

History

One of the biggest 20th century shifts in our city’s landscape came about during the urban renewal initiatives in the 1950s and 1960s. The New York Streets in the South End were the first to fall (Albany Street is the only remainder), with the West End razed next. Scollay Square was getting seedy, and it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of it and put in a new, wondrous, plaza that would make Boston a truly modern city.

The design for the entire Government Center landscape, including City Hall Plaza, was drawn up by I.M. Pei’s firm, with a contest held to choose a winning design for the City Hall building specifically. So between 1960 and 1963, the buildings of Scollay Square were demolished, and the original streets of Cornhill and Brattle were buried. (Absolutely amazing photos of that here.) Construction began in 1963, with the area opening to the public in 1968. Since then, City Hall Plaza, which is said to be based on Piazza del Campo in Italy, has received some praise but mostly criticism for its barrenness and inflexibility, called “one of the most disappointing places in America.”

And part of the origin plan for the complex was a fountain.

City Hall Plaza Fountain

The City Hall Plaza Fountain’s water began flowing at a signal from Mayor Kevin White on September 19, 1969. Not only was it a fountain, but its amphitheater structure showcased a terraced waterfall that ran down to a pool where kids could swim. Some of the photos of people gathering, hanging out, and enjoying City Hall Plaza in the 1970s are such an interesting contrast to how deserted the place has been in recent times.

https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2013/09/19/a-look-back-bostons-city-hall-plaza

Halberstadt, Ernst | The U.S. National Archives

But enjoyment of the fountain wouldn’t last for long. Shortly after it opened, there were issues with the filtration system, which resulted in brown and green foam shooting from the nozzles. Once fixed, there were more issues with the low horsepower motors and the nozzles getting blocked by debris. But a greater issue surfaced: It was leaking into the Green Line. The water was shut off in 1977 for good.

But the fountain wasn’t capped then (as I mistakenly though). It would still be another 29 years before they would cap it, in June 2006. About the capping, Mayor Menino was quoted as saying, "I think it's great. That thing was a boondoggle from day one.” A concrete slab was placed on top, and folks hoped something like a merry-go-round, outdoor seating, or something would go there, but outside of the occasional Scooper Bowl and disco, nothing came to being.
Until now…

Renovating City Hall Plaza

The urban renewal of the 1950s and 1960s was hot stuff then, but in looking back we see that we lost such history and architecture because of it, from the elimination of the West End (imagine if the North End had also been razed) and Scollay Square, to the mistake of the elevated Central Artery. City Hall Plaza, long the butt of jokes and pronunciations of “worst public space in the world,” is getting a much-needed makeover. According to the city’s website, “the plaza will be a prime venue to host a variety of civic and social events. It will also serve as a welcoming, everyday destination.” The new Plaza will contain many more trees than it has right now, seating areas, a civid pavilion, a “speaker’s corner,” a play space, public art features, and…

What is this? “An iconic water feature”!?

No, they’re not resurrecting the fountain, but nodding to it with what looks like a terraced waterfall on the JFK Federal Building side. The site of the old fountain will be turned into a gathering area. But in order to reconstruct the Plaza, they needed to uncap the fountain…and we get to see it again.

Why This Is Fascinating to Me

I’ve always been a Boston history nerd — it’s why I live here — and I’m fascinated by the historic sites in our city that exist alongside our modern structures, but I’m also fascinated with the stuff that used to be there but isn’t anymore. Like, there are whole buildings and whole streets that we built over, and then we built over that “new” stuff too. There used to be streets and city life in Scollay Square that was demolished for Government Center — but Scollay Square was originally Pemberton Square, and an extension of the old Hanover Street, one of the oldest streets in the city, and the City Hall Plaza fountain only existed a few hundred feet from where Dr. Joseph Warren lived in Colonial Boston. I live in an apartment building that was here when the Molasses Flood happened just one street over. And while Long Wharf might be a great selfie spot, it was the place where the British retreated Boston, and where immigrants landed in the 19th century. And I love stuff like that. So of course, I’m going to circle a construction site and peek into yesteryear.