(rshsdepot) Kiosk restorations highlight MBTA's history

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Photo available with original story:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/034/metro/Kiosk_restorations_highlight_MBT
A_s_history+.shtml

Kiosk restorations highlight MBTA's history

By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, 2/3/2002
Boston Globe

And now a short pause from the mayhem of mass transit and local roads for a
little transit history.
We live in and around a town so full of the past that we tend to overlook
it. So late last month, after four of Boston's historic but overlooked
transit gems got quiet facelifts, we thought it was worth a little history
lesson.
When Boston opened the nation's first subway on Sept. 1, 1897, the Park
Street and Boylston Street ''kiosks'' or ''headhouses'' were its
above-ground symbols, portals to this wonderful new underground world that
changed the way city residents got around.
One hundred and four years later, the MBTA has just completed a yearlong
restoration effort to the four kiosks - subtle repairs and new copper-clad
skylights to channel more natural light down below. Gone is the bird-pooped
wire glass, the graffiti and wooden eyesores, such as the plywood covering
broken windows and doors. The project cost $1.92 million, 80 percent funded
by a federal grant.
Paint was removed from the interior's Deer Isle granite. Wooden
window-frames were replaced or added.
These were never grand structures. The original eight kiosks, four of which
were razed over the years, were designed to blend into the natural
background of Boston Common. Some had no doors. But after residents in the
1960s complained that two of Park Street station's boxy headhouses were
boring, they were removed. According to a narrative history from the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, ''The austere, neo-classical
structures were criticized by the public for their mausoleum-like
appearance.''
They were designed by the famous Boston architectural firm of Wheelwright &
Haven and built by the Norcross Brothers, who were also responsible for
erecting the New York Public Library, the Rhode Island State House, South
Station, and the Custom House Tower. The kiosks have since been designated
as National Historic landmarks, City of Boston landmarks, and National Civil
Engineering landmarks.
Down below, the present is catching up with the past as construction
continues at Park Street to raise the east and westbound platforms eight
inches to accommodate new low-floor Green Line trains. The project also will
add upgraded warning strips along the edge of the platform while ensuring
that fare lines are accessible to all. Work began on Jan. 7 and is expected
to continue until November.

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