The Boston Government Service Center (BGSC) is a state government complex in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts. The center was designed in the Brutalist style, led by architect Paul Rudolph. It is one of the major components of the Government Center complex in Downtown Boston. The complex is made up of two connected Brutalist buildings: the Charles F. Hurley Building and the Erich Lindemann Building, as well as a courtyard; sometimes included is the newer, 1998-built, Edward W. Brooke Courthouse.
The Hurley and Lindemann buildings are designated Category Two buildings in Boston, holding major significance for the city. The site is eligible for the state and national registers of historic places, and as a Boston Landmark. Its association with Rudolph and its extreme architectural style make it a possible National Historic Landmark.
Description
Names
The complex is officially known as the Joseph A. Langone, Jr. Memorial Center; it was named for the Massachusetts state senator in 1962. Older references have used the names "Government Service Center" (this name is easily confused with Government Center as a whole), the "State Services Center", or the "State Health, Education and Welfare Services Center". Newer references erroneously use the Lindemann or Hurley names to refer to the entire complex.
Site
The Boston Government Service Center occupies an site, a superblock at the base of Beacon Hill in Boston. The block sits at the eastern border of the West End neighborhood, adjacent to the Financial District. On the site is two large connected buildings, structurally separate, which snake around a plaza, aligned with the street except with three corners squared off, creating three small streetside plazas around the building. One of these, Merrimac Plaza, today holds a surface parking lot. The southern plaza was partially created to provide a view of the Old West Church to viewers east of the building.
The Brutalist complex comprises two connected parts, the Charles F. Hurley Building (at 19 Staniford St.) and the Erich Lindemann Building (at 25 Staniford St.) The Hurley section houses the Division of Unemployment Assistance, MassHire, and other labor- and workforce-related offices of state government. The Lindemann building houses the Central Office of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Also on the site of the service center complex is the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, completed in 1998. The buildings are all owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Plaza
The building surrounds a large pedestrian plaza, which sits atop a two-level parking garage, largely hidden from public view. The plaza has an irregular and complex design, due to the irregular street pattern in the city. The plaza was originally designed with swirling terraced levels, never constructed.
Original plans called for a three-level plaza, sloping 2.5 feet, which would converge on curved stairs. The concrete plaza would be striated, in three different textures from rough to smooth. The plaza, together with the planned tower, was to resemble in shape, size, and feeling, the piazzas del Campo and San Marco in Italy. The plaza was to be decorated in a similar festive way, with benches, sculptures, and plantings, together with the flags of the 50 US states around the perimeter. The buildings surrounding the plaza were to all be stepped-back, allowing in more light and becoming suggestive of an amphitheater with rows of seats. The plaza itself would be a concave shape, complementing the convex shape of nearby Beacon Hill. Its design as an enclosed, well-defined area was made in reaction to Boston City Hall Plaza and other designs by Modernist architects.
Design
Paul Rudolph was the coordinating architect on the project, and also designed the plaza, garage, and landscaping. Rudolph was a practicing architect at the time, as well as chair of the Yale School of Architecture. Desmond & Lord designed the Lindemann Building with Rudolph, and Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott designed the Hurley Building. Although Rudolph is primarily listed as the coordinator for the project, the design's strength and consistency across the site, as well as its matching Rudolph's design aesthetic, are all suggestive of Rudolph being the most prominent architect for the entire project.