{"id":561,"date":"2025-01-05T13:40:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T13:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/?p=561"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:43:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:43:33","slug":"point-west-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/2025\/01\/05\/point-west-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Point West Place"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Framingham, MA, 1985 by Robert AM Stern<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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This year at MetroWest Modern we are broadening the scope of our project to take a look at Modern architecture\u2019s successor, Postmodernism. While we\u2019ll still focus primarily on Modernism, it\u2019s hard to ignore the rich history of Postmodern architecture that runs through the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cTurnpike Palazzo\u201d, Architectural Record described it as \u201ca sort of postmodern apotheosis of the glass box\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Depopolo, Margaret, \u201cPoint West Place\u201d Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson, Julie, \u201cPoint West Place\u201d Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurnpike palazzo\u201d, Architectural Record, February 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yudis, Anthony, \u201c\u2018Post-Modern\u2019 design arrives in Natick\u201d, Boston Globe, 15 June 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s successor, Postmodernism. While we\u2019ll still focus primarily on Modernism, it\u2019s hard to ignore the rich history of Postmodern architecture that runs through the region. No building represents this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,107],"tags":[3,5,8,9,11,22,36,109,108],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-framingham","category-robert-a-m-stern","tag-architecture","tag-framingham","tag-massachusetts","tag-metrowest","tag-modernism","tag-natick","tag-office","tag-pomo","tag-postmodern"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnbranagan.com\/Metrowestmodern\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}