Church Park Apartments and Garage

Church Park Apartments and Garage

Church Park Apartments and Garage Keith Morgan

Church Park Apartments and Garage

1973, The Architects Collaborative. 199, 221, 255 Massachusetts Ave.

I. M. Pei's plan for the Christian Science Church Center (BB87) must be viewed in conjunction with the Church Park Apartments and Garage, subsidized housing that forms a facade backdrop on the west side of Massachusetts Avenue. A 508-unit building divided into three sections, this long ten-story concrete apartment slab humbly confronts the monumental building opposite. Despite all the conveniences—easy access to cultural institutions, for example, and all kinds of shops within its arcaded passageway—the structure is exceedingly monotonous and enclosed; its few balconies may add to the surface texture but are uninhabitable in view of one of the city's main thoroughfares.

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