Framingham, MA, 1985 by Robert AM Stern
This year at MetroWest Modern we are broadening the scope of our project to take a look at Modern architecture’s successor, Postmodernism. While we’ll still focus primarily on Modernism, it’s hard to ignore the rich history of Postmodern architecture that runs through the region.
No building represents this history better than Point West Place on Speen Street in Framingham. The pink granite clad office building was the first commercial project by Robert AM Stern. Stern had made a name for himself designing homes in wealthy enclaves like Martha’s Vineyard when he was tapped by noted developer Gerald Hines to design the first building for a new development along the Massachusetts Turnpike, Point West Place.
The resultant structure exemplified many of the hallmarks which would come to define Postmodernism with its oblique references to Egyptian and Greek temples and ostentatious cladding. The pink granite, local to New England, immediately rooted it in the landscape. In their 1986 front page article on the building titled “Turnpike Palazzo”, Architectural Record described it as “a sort of postmodern apotheosis of the glass box”.
Which makes it all the more tragic to see its current form. After years of neglect, the cladding system holding up the heavy granite siding was failing and in 2024 new owners chose to re-clad in sterile grey metal panels. Some elements of the original design do remain such as the ornate granite base and temple-like balcony facing the Highway.
Sources:
Depopolo, Margaret, “Point West Place” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987.
Johnson, Julie, “Point West Place” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987.
“Turnpike palazzo”, Architectural Record, February 1986.
Yudis, Anthony, “‘Post-Modern’ design arrives in Natick”, Boston Globe, 15 June 1984.
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