Jim M. Ventures into North Main St.

Jim M. sent me his thoughts about the AT&T Building at 175 Main St. downtown:

The AT&T Building at 175 Main St. (Image from Google Street View)

There have been a lot of developments and positive activity in the

North Main Street

area these past few years, but despite the continuing successes there is still a lot of discussion of what to do with the herd of white elephants at

Lincoln Square

, and we may see some interesting ideas on the table soon. The State is slated to auction off the old courthouse on January 19, and the City Council approved the transfer of the Auditorium in November. Both of these buildings feature prominently in the City’s North Main Economic Development Strategy which was completed in 2008 and envisions office/retail space in the former and museum, theater and war memorial space in the latter. I believe both the buildings deserve regal treatment worthy of their austere architecture. While I question the effort to develop more commercial and retail space when downtown is already underutilized, I think any effort to bring residential units into the courthouse would be a strategic and economic blunder. The courthouse—even more so than the Auditorium—begs to become a museum. I will try and address some of the reasons why I think this is the case in a later post, but I will give the idea of turning a good portion of North Main into a cultural district a hearty vote in the affirmative. Now I’d like to turn attention to one of the other elephants; not the police station, which is undeniably a hopeless atrocity, but to the other hulking, bunker-esque structure, the AT&T building. The 2008 North Main Economic Development Strategy recommends retail space on this parcel, and the public sessions reflected a general bewilderment—and amazement—that something so impersonal and ugly was ever allowed to be built on

Main Street

in the first place, and there were many comments informing that strong desire to knock it down. I think there’s an alternative, and one that extends the spirit of adaptive reuse to a distinctly modern architecture and could add some significant green space to boot.

Okay, so here it is: an aerospace museum! Well, maybe leave the “aero” out and just have a museum of space. Worcester--as everyone who lives here is well aware—has some very important connections to space exploration (Robert Goddard, anyone?). I’m sure WPI, Clark University, the David Clark Company and others could do an admirable job in helping at a modest beginning. Some solicitations from NASA might also go a long way (Norton Company’s (now St. Gobain’s) advanced ceramic group, Wyman-Gordon, Honematic and David Clark all have--or had--some pretty decent connections there, not to mention WPI, and Clark). Not to seem ridiculous, but put a couple rockets, capsules and satellites outside, create some green space around and on the building and you might even give brutalist architecture a half-decent name. And who--tell me--who does not like rockets and space gizmos? Who is not fascinated by or does not harbor some primal curiosity about the cosmos? People travel far and wide to come see this kind of stuff! When I was kid you would have lost all self-respect if you travelled to Washington D.C. and did not visit the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. Such a museum could function as an educational institution, perhaps in conjunction with WPI’s aerospace engineering program and the Goddard School of Science and Technology. Besides, it fits in perfectly with North Main as a cultural destination spot and could be the springboard for the adaptive reuse of the other vacant buildings in the Square.

The building itself is a blank canvas; you could do practically anything you wanted to it without obscuring views or ruining its integrity. You could put an interactive weather station on the main roof if you wanted, and gardens on the lower ones. Banners and other large images would work remarkably well. Imagine three images painted on the surfaces of the front “grill” that came in and out of view depending on your approach or point of view. People would actually want to look at the building! Can you imagine? If I remember correctly (and I may be getting things mixed up with the old Bell Telephone Building on

Elm Street

, or just be completely wrong) the building houses an actual exchange tower, which would be perfect for a segmented rocket exhibit that you could walk through on various levels. This museum would certainly be easy to advertise; it would practically advertise itself. The biggest hitch here is I don’t know of anyone in my circle of friends who are looking to found (or fund) an aerospace museum. The second biggest hitch is the interior layout; I have no real idea what it’s like or if it can accommodate such a use.

But however pie-in-the-sky the idea seems, I think it has real merit and is worthy of exploration. New Mexico (where Goddard moved in order to pursue his research in private after he was deemed a nutcase for his ideas) has a similar museum (http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/). And, of course, the cosmos is infinitely fascinating and there would never be a shortage of exhibit ideas or new material and information. The possibilities run the gamut from mankind’s earliest musings on the heavens through the study of the sky and space exploration to fascinating theories that drive scientists of all disciplines to newer and greater discoveries to this day.

Is this at odds with the Ecotarium? I don’t think so. They have already made the change from a general science museum and redefined themselves within the context of the biosphere. In fact I think they would be the necessary starting point for an endeavor like this as they have the expertise. I envision a shuttle between this museum and the Ecotarium, perhaps as a separate leg off the “airline” at Plantation Steet. A close relationship with the Boston Museum of Science would also be a must as well.

If the idea of a museum dedicated solely to space and space exploration is too hard to swallow, then how about a more general museum of science and industry, like the one in South Chicago or Portland, Oregon? Or how about a museum dedicated to biotechnology and the life sciences? My only fear here is this would be perceived as too similar to the Boston Museum of Science and you wouldn’t get enough draw. No matter what the approach, it’s also expensive, but you don’t have to start big, you need a good plan to grow steadily and wisely. This would also be a terrific opportunity to involve students with a variety of science, business and architectural projects.

And what about this: no flights out of the airport? Get a decommissioned space shuttle parked up there and who needs Jet Blue?! People would be booking flights from all over the country just to come and take a tour! Alright, maybe that’s a bit too far out (nonetheless, I think we should aim for the Atlantis orbiter, seeing as it was named after a two-masted research schooner that sailed out the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on the Cape).

A link about the State’s STEM program and NASA’s summer of innovation grant recipients (WPI being one of them): http://www.wpi.edu/news/20090/summernasa.html

Some past WPI/NASA projects: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=9405, http://works.bepress.com/wdurgin/1/, http://www.wpi.edu/alumni/robotics-competition.html,

Recent Clark and NASA news: http://news.clarku.edu/news/2010/04/15/clark-scientist-to-lead-nasa-research-on-sea-ice-in-arctic/

Goddard at Clark: http://www.archive.org/details/GPN-2002-000130

Worcester companies and NASA: http://www.honematic.com/news.html, http://www.worcesterhistory.org/wo-space.html,