Photo © Sam Sweezy

The Government Center Urban Renewal Plan also called for a dramatic public space. In response to the sloping hillside site, architects crafted a huge undulating terrace of brick. High at Cambridge Street and at both sides, it cascades down 20 feet around the building to Congress Street, stopping partway down for an amphitheater and stage on the north. The plaza rolls right into and through City Hall, where it wraps down one level and up another, as a transposed, symbolic hill for the city. From Dock Square below, one sees the new City Hall astride this three-tiered mound. The south side of this space was raised to accommodate both underground parking and serve as part of an older plan to create a “walk to the sea” from Beacon Hill to Boston Harbor. Plans at the time also included a large platform to be built over Congress Street as an extension of City Hall Plaza to Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, and the Harbor. This unfinished aspect of the plan left the Plaza cut off from its surroundings.

Boston City Hall and City Hall Plaza epitomize the effort of city government in the mid-20th century to revitalize one of America’s oldest cities.

The City Hall and Plaza continue to be highly significant representations of Boston’s great aspirations for economic rebirth and a reflection of a dramatic shift in the city’s approach to architecture and landscape architecture. The plan, and its subsequent execution, brought a new identity and spirit, and, with it, the promise and exhilaration of Modernism to the heart of Boston.

Since its completion in the late 1960s, City Hall Plaza has played a significant role in Boston politics, civic life, and society. The plaza has been used as a place for the citizens of Boston to gather, protest, and celebrate. Among the major political and social gatherings of import were pro- and anti-war rallies during the Vietnam War, protests and debates over Boston’s school busing crisis, and historic public celebrations for Boston Celtics, Bruins, New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox championships, drawing fans to the site in the hundreds of thousands. Boston City Hall Plaza, located in the heart of the city, continues to be common ground for visitors and citizens alike.

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