February 2018
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Focus: Restoration and Renovation BPA Awards McMullen Museum Restoration modifying it to accommodate its new function. One of the biggest challenges was creating taller gallery space on the second
by Caroline Lippincott Since 1988, the Boston Preservation Alliance (BPA) has hosted their annual Preservation Achievement Awards, a program dedicated to honoring outstanding accomplishments in historic preservation and compatible new construction in Boston. This past year, the McMullen Museum of Art and Conference Center was awarded a BPA Preservation Achievement Award. Additionally, with over 2,000 votes, they also received the highly coveted Fan Favorite Award. In dire need of repairs and a new purpose, the 1927 Renaissance Revival palazzo was bought by Boston College from the Archdiocese in 2007. Not sure of the college’s intentions, preservationists were concerned for the building’s future, particularly given its prominence
Entry elevation Art After Dark: The New McMullen Museum of Art in Boston
in the neighborhood. “Finding successful new uses for large, monumental, institutional buildings isn’t easy, and the cost to rehabilitate them and the value of the land on which they sit often leads to unfortunate outcomes for historic fabric,” said Boston Preservation Alliance executive director Greg Galer. With its new acquisition, the college could have easily taken the unfortunate path toward demolition and new construction, ignoring the building’s beauty. Wisely, the college’s project team, led by DiMella Shaffer, instead decided to restore and
transform the 23,000sf structure into the new McMullen Museum of Art and Conference Center. Formerly the home of Cardinal William H. O’Connell and other successive cardinals, the mansion was built as a statement — a physical manifestation of Boston Catholicism. Once referred to as “Little Rome,” Pope John Paul II even granted it a visit. Compromised by time, weather, and previous renovations, the primary goal was to return the building’s façade to its original 1927 grandeur while sensitively
First floor
floor. To heighten the ceiling, the team removed the roof behind the balustrade, reinforced the existing walls, and built a new roof that aligned with the top of continued to page 44
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