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Boston Globe

Hey Red Sox, don't ruin the Green Monster

Three out of three local architecture professors I interviewed say no. Advertisement 'The building in question is too tall,' says Jonathan Knowles, who teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. With a giant faux-warehouse office building hovering behind it, he says the wall would feel 'diminutive.' Dubbed 55 Lansdowne, the building is planned to house street-level retail, along with the headquarters of both the Red Sox and FSG. Construction is tentatively planned to begin next year, according to FSG spokesperson Zineb Curran. Renderings show people outside on terraces on the top floors, relaxing in plush chairs or milling about while looking down on the field. Atop the building is a very big lightboard. Advertisement From field-level at Fenway, nothing is currently visible above the wall, save the Citgo sign. Pleasant as this new tableau may be, the building would literally block out the heavens. 'The wall has always felt monumental not just because of its size, but because it stood against an open sky,' says Carlo Ratti, a professor of urban technologies and the planning director of the MIT Senseable City Lab. 'When the backdrop becomes a building, the view compresses, and the Monster might lose some of its presence.' In fact, it's that blue sky that makes the green wall stand out so much in the first place, says Paul Hajian, who directs the graduate program in architecture at MassArt. 'If you put a solid color behind the Green Monster, it's going to pop — that's what the blue sky does to it,' he says. How will it look with a brick building? That's harder to say. 'It will be a big change,' Hajian says. Hajian, who grew up a Red Sox fan in Rhode Island, remembers feeling transported when he stepped into the cloistered world of Fenway Park and the Monster. 'As a kid you think it's huge, like 100 feet, it seems insurmountable, and that's part of its mystique,' he says. This is exactly the aura that Knowles — a Rehoboth native and lifelong Sox fan — worries 55 Lansdowne would rob from Fenway. He noted that when FSG presented plans to a city board in June, all Advertisement There is also the matter of home runs. Pick your favorite Monster job — mine is Well, forget that. 'You could follow that ball over the Green Monster and now you're not going to be able to because it's going to be lost against that building,' Knowles says. The office building is part of a much larger, $1.6 billion FSG development project, called Fenway Corners, with seven other mixed-use buildings planned to go up in the neighborhood. To be fair, the project went through a robust public process — and a public comment period — and was approved by the city in 2023. It is admittedly rude of me to butt in with my opinion now. But better late than never. For his part, Knowles wonders why the top floors of 55 Lansdowne couldn't be transferred to those other buildings. Curran, the FSG spokesperson, said in an email that 'significant height' had already been shifted to other buildings 'as part of a deliberate effort to ensure the scale behind the Monster felt appropriate.' She did not answer directly, though, whether FSG had studied the impact on sightlines within the ballpark. (FSG principal owner John Henry also owns the Globe. ) Advertisement 'We understand the deep emotional connection fans have to the Green Monster and the view beyond it,' Curran said. 'Any change to the visual backdrop of Fenway Park is approached with great care, and the building at 55 Lansdowne is no exception. 'Every element of the building — its scale, materials, color palette, and massing — was thoughtfully considered to complement Fenway Park, not compete with it.' Hajian was the most conflicted of the architects I spoke to. He loves Fenway Park, but hates the idea of resisting change. 'I'm not someone who wants to mummify history,' he says. 'If you keep [something] precisely the way it is, then I think it dies.' He thinks 55 Lansdowne could create a more enclosed, intimate feeling in the park and notes that, at least, the top floors are tiered back, so they don't hover quite so dramatically. Plus, he says, Fenway has proven resilient over its 113 years: 'It has a presence that I think can take change.' But still. 'This one is hard,' Hajian says. 'It's a big building back there.' There's still time, John Henry. You saved Fenway Park once. Please do it again. Jason Schwartz is a writer and editor from Newton. Send comments to magazine@