One Exchange Place in Boston is a GREAT Building!

Today is my ONE YEAR anniversary of taking that first flight out of Boston into the 9-month journey that would ultimately span Japan, Southeast Asia, Ghana, Iberia… and a whole heck of a lot of learning and fun!

How to celebrate? By sharing with you my absolute FAVORITE building in Boston, since technically this is a Boston blog now. I am panting a little as I write this, I love this structure so much. Please honor my love and read attentively.

The famous building I’m most in love with in Boston is called: Exchange Place (also called “53 State St.”). It is smack-dab in the middle of the financial district of Boston, by Downtown Crossing and Government Center and South Station. It’s deep in the heart of my city… and deep in the heart of me.

Haven’t heard of Exchange Place? Few people have, even though it’s big and stunning. To the distracted eye, it just sort of blends in with the other towers. But gaze at it with me for a moment. Is your breath quickening with lust, now, too? Indeed: this is one luscious building, when you give it more than a quick glance.

First, there are the ripples. This building is as if a thousand-foot mirror became a draped dress: undulating like a skirt along a woman’s legs as she walks. Swish… swish… silvery swish…

Second: there is the tight embrace with the old, revered edifices at the base. I am ignorant of the history of this building and in fact likely won’t research it in depth, because sometimes we prefer the imagined, idealized versions of our crushes to reality.

But I imagine the discussion about building Exchange Place went like this…

Genius Architect: “I want to build a shockingly gorgeous glass building.”

Conservative Man: “Honor the heritage of Boston, darn it! Down with modern monstrosities!”

Genius Architect: “Fine… I’ll slap the whole thing on top of that old, famous building so we don’t have to knock down your precious Stock Exchange Building from 1896.”

Conservative Man: “Sounds good to me. So… um… Do I get to lovingly stroke your new building? It looks so preeeetty!”

Genius Architect: “What kind of freak has crushes on buildings? You’re weird.”

Lillie: “Sush! People like us aren’t weird! We just really become weak in the knees in the presence of a good-looking building!”

Aaaand now it’s two in the morning and time to go to sleep so I can administer my ESL final exams to students in the morning. But I feel good having spent the early hours of my year anniversary of taking off to travel around the world by sharing with you one of my biggest (inanimate) loves!

For more great Architecture, click here.