architecture - engineering - construction

Restoration of A Historic Boston Landmark

Oct 18, 2023

The Christian Science Plaza is located at the intersection of several Boston neighborhoods, including the South End, Back Bay, and Fenway. The occupies the southeast corner of Huntington and Massachusetts Avenues, its Plaza functions large privately-owned space accessible to the public. Aside from the First Church of Christ, Scientist, the site houses the administrative headquarters of the Church and the Christian Science Publishing Society.

The Church embarked on a major restoration of the entire plaza with some key goals of adding public space to the plaza with new custom precast benches, upgrading the plaza and the reflecting pool, but needing to maintain the original precast look.

Recognizing the challenges of not only matching 50-year-old concrete to new precast, but also implementing new precast concrete at a *historic landmark site, were the deciding factors that steered the Design team of CRJA-IBI Group/ Consigli to invite Wausau Tile and our proven history with remarkable precast concrete projects to assist with the Restoration of the Christian Science Plaza and Reflecting Pool.

Christian Science Plaza | Key Project Areas

Curva Linear Design Benches: Unique design, fitting name, these custom precast benches reveal stunning results. The Curva Linear benches bring together people in a modern artistic seating arrangement.

Planter Seat Wall: Not all the Planter Seat Walls were in need of replacement but were in need of custom restoration repair. To preserve the majority of the planter seat walls, we created a custom blending technology that seamlessly matches the new precast concrete to the aged concrete.

Tree Grates: For a perfect blend of form and function, a 2 color – 2 pour mold was created for the tree grates. If you look closely, you'll notice the inner squares are actually solid color; this provides an aesthetically pleasing walkway, protects tree roots, and manages drainage.

Reflection Pool

The Reflecting Pool measures approximately 690 feet long by 100 feet wide and is bordered by an infinity-edge of curved, polished red granite. The infinity-edge allows water to continually spill over all sides of the pool, rendering visible a continuous plane of water and is a magnificent sight to see. Successfully replacing the entire pool curb with the matching precast was key to this project’s success.

*Designated by the Boston Landmark Commission