You are here

Metropolitan Boston » Core Boston » Waterfront » Rowes Wharf

Rowes Wharf

-A A +A
1987, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Atlantic Ave.
  • Rowes Wharf (Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith)

On a site harking back to the early maritime city, Rowes and Fosters wharves harbored a ferry terminal to East Boston from 1879 to c. 1920. Today the 5½-acre site provides access to sea, land, and, above all, air transport. An extraordinary multiuse complex, Rowes Wharf acts as the gateway to Boston when approached by water-taxi from Logan Airport. Few developments successfully combine as many functions—hotel, condominiums, offices, health club, public pedestrian promenade, marine and ferry services, restaurants, and cafes. Provisions are abundant; so, too, are the architectural details. Here there is a surfeit of everything, especially visible in the textual density—from precast concrete, masonry, and granite to the copper-clad dome of the waiting pavilion for embarkation of the shuttle. Although the monumental arch may be overbearing, the Atlantic Avenue facade still holds the promise of a viable urban space.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
×

Data

What's Nearby

Harbor Towers
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway
New England Aquarium
Chadwick Lead Works
International Place

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Rowes Wharf", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-WF24.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 86-86.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,