Common Boston is a BSA committee dedicated to increasing public interest in and engagement with the built environment. Its annual citywide architecture festival explores different neighborhoods (Chinatown, Fort Point Channel, Forest Hills and Peabody Square in June 2009) through open buildings, tours and roundtable discussions. To learn more about Common Boston, visit www.commonboston.org.

To RSVP, please write/call the BSA Office Manager (617-951-1433 x221) before 9:00 am the day of the meeting.

At this Historic Resources Committee meeting, Historic Boston Incorporated (HBI) introduces a new program that channels investment to pivotal historic buildings in selected, economically depressed town centers in Boston. This Boston nonprofit preservation fund is known nationally for bringing historic resources together with financial mechanisms and thus pouring life back into ailing streets. The new program, Historic Neighborhood Centers, is a complement to their trail-blazing Steeples Project. The process involves partnerships with local Main Streets organizations, businesses and city agencies to address code compliance, building-envelope improvement, real-estate repositioning and property management that keep significant portions of historic buildings empty or underutilized. Kathy Kottardis, HBI executive director and Jeffrey Gonyeau, Historic Neighborhood Centers program director, will explain how the program operates and discuss how the technical and code issues that immobilize many of these properties can be successfully resolved. Additionally, we will discuss reactions to last month's presentations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and by Bruner/Cott & Associates on strategies for improving building-envelope performance with historic wood window assemblies and mid-century modern curtain-walls. We will compare technical data on the thermal performance of window and glazing alternatives within the framework of historic preservation constraints. The BSA Historic Resources committee focuses on a wide range of preservation, restoration and related issues. This is a large, dynamic group that runs design awards programs, annual workshops and seminars, preservation-oriented tours, and much more. For more information, contact Henry Moss AIA(617-492-8400), Matthew Bronski, Assoc. AIA(781-907-9000), or Sara Wermiel (617-524-9483).

Common Boston is a BSA committee dedicated to increasing public interest in and engagement with the built environment. Its annual citywide architecture festival explores different neighborhoods (Chinatown, Fort Point Channel, Forest Hills and Peabody Square in June 2009) through open buildings, tours and roundtable discussions. To learn more about Common Boston, visit www.commonboston.org.

To RSVP, please write/call the BSA Office Manager (617-951-1433 x221) before 9:00 am the day of the meeting.

“Beautiful, Timeless and Still Available”- a presentation and driving tour. A warm virtual tour of Mount Auburn will begin in Story Chapel and then proceed by van to explore the winter beauty of this historic landscape.  Experience how contemporary landscape design and architecture are shaping the burial spaces for the 21st-century.  The driving tour will end at Bigelow Chapel for a brief tour of the Cemetery’s oldest chapel.  Space is limited, preregistration is required. FREE

The Next Gardner Museum with Anne Hawley

The director of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum describes this revered museum’s current physical reinvention being led by world-class architects and landscape architects.

Additions and changes to the lecture series may be found on the BSA website: www.architects.org/lectureseries

"Discover Mount Auburn"--a walking tour.   Mount Auburn, designated a National Historic Landmark, is one of the country's most significant designed landscapes.  Here the arts of horticulture, architecture and sculpture combine with the beauty of art and nature to create a place of comfort and inspiration.  This 1.5-mile walking tour will focus on the stories of history, monuments, and the lives of those buried here.