Better Late Than Never!

February 1st was National Wear Red Day, a part of Go Red For Women - raising awareness for heart disease among women. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America - a fact I think is often over looked because of the attention given to other diseases (which are no less horrible!).

I found this display of support on the side of The Federal Reserve Bank and loved how it echoed the red from the South Station T entrance. Check out some other cities that went red here, and check back here tomorrow to see the Go Red projection that Maria found around town!

Stepping back a bit...

This is the current site of the Langham Hotel - the former (and third) site of the Fed. Apparently it's Fed week...I swear I'll stop soon! ;) Here's more on the building's history from the Fed site:

The Reserve Bank purchased the premises at 95 Milk Street and the adjacent Pearl Street property for $1,400,000, gaining a frontage on Pearl, Franklin and Oliver Streets. The Board appointed a building committee, divided into two subcommittees: esthetic features and interior and layout, with E.R. Morss as Chairman. R. Clipston Sturgis was chosen as the architect for the Federal Reserve Bank's new building. Construction for the Reserve's Renaissance revival bank was begun in 1920 and finished in 1922. The bank featured a masonry exterior of rusticated granite at ground level with limestone above. The interior boasted a painted dome ceiling in the entrance foyer; a gilded coffered ceiling and large N.C. Wyeth murals in the main lobby; marble door frames and mantles; and floor-to-ceiling arched windows on the lower level. Life-size equestrian statues once guarded the small entrance door, and a court with a fountain lighted by daylight also graced the Reserve.

The Langham is a pretty posh place, and you can expect to spend a minimum of $275 (for a 250-300 sq ft room w/ a queen bed and an "interior view") per night.

Another Angle

This is what the Fed looks like on a rainy, foggy, blah day - and from the side!

Let's pretend....

...it's not rainy and gray out today! This is the Federal Reserve Bank. This is where my daddy worked for 20 someodd years (hi dad!). This is one of the first buildings that I notice when I look at the Boston skyline, and it will be smack in the middle when you're driving North on the expressway into the city. The Fed is at the corner of Atlantic and Summer Streets, right across from South Station. This is actually the Boston Fed's fourth location, and here's more about the building itself:

The 604-foot 33-story office tower linked to a four-story wing was erected between December 1972 and November 1974. The architects, Hugh Stubbins & Associates, designed the tower office floors that rise from a 140-foot bridge "suspended" in the air between two end cores. A 600 ton major steel structure called a "truss" marks the beginning of the tower's "office in the air." The exterior is natural anodized aluminum, which acts as a curtain wall and weatherproof facing. The aluminum spandrels or "eye-brows" shade the building interior from the sun in the summertime and allow more sunlight in the winter months.

I remember going through the revolving doors when Mom would take us to visit Dad, and going through the security gate on the Summer St side of the building sometimes. One of my favorite memories was going Christmas shopping with Mom while Dad slaved away on a Saturday morning - we went into the city with Dad, dropped him off at work, and walked up to Downtown Crossing to shop. It was when the Enchanted Village was still in the Jordan Marsh building (and when Jordan Marsh still existed!!), and I remember loving a scene with little bears decorating for Christmas!