RE “NO need to rename Logan’’ (Editorial, Sept. 4): Instead of causing confusion with another Kennedy airport (confusion is not a good thing in the airport business), I suggest renaming the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston after the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
The building is Kennedyesque in that its very conception was an act of defiance against hardship. It was planned in the early 1970s, a low point in downtown Boston’s fortunes. Cambridge-based architect Hugh Stubbins designed a soaring tower whose two main supports rise beautifully from a landscaped ground plane. They contain virtually all of the mechanical equipment, including elevators, leaving the floors suspended between them like bridges. From a distance, the building exudes a palpable sense of strength and optimism; more than a few people have compared it to a huge football goalpost. It was environmentally prescient for its day - the triangular-shaped visors that span the facade reduce solar heat gain in summer, thereby aiding energy efficiency, and strengthen the building against the high winds of the harbor-front location.
Wind, water, Boston - what’s more Kennedy than that?
Finally, the Fed is located on Dewey Square, the gateway to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which Senator Kennedy helped bring to reality.
James McCown
Somerville
The writer is architecture editor at Art New England Magazine.
