Monday, April 23, 2007

Pictures from the Walking Tour of BC's Brighton Campus: I. Athletic Facilities

The community-led walking tour of Boston College's Brighton Campus (former Archdiocese land) took place on Saturday, April 21. The tour was led by Charlie Vasiliades and Wilma Wetterstrom and focused on viewing the open space, inspecting the topological features, and discussing the history of the site. Questions arose about particular proposals in BC's master plan, which were fielded by Tom Keady and Jeanne Levesque of BC's Office of Governmental and Community Affairs. A total of 40-50 people attended at some point during the tour, including from the BC Task Force and elected officials.

Most attendees appeared struck by the great beauty of a few particular locations in the tour, especially the hill with the former Cardinal's tomb (slated for demolition), the view from the Cardinal's former residence and the adjacent meadow/orchard, and the forested sections bordering Lake Street. Immense quantities of broken glass all over the Foster Rock were disappointing, however.

Here are some images taken during the tour of the athletic fields site. Below each one is a satellite picture and BC's March 2007 master plan, both with the approximate vantage point of the image identified.

Baseball Stadium [front] and Support Building [rear]



Baseball stadium: 2000-seats, press box, lights (80-foot?), artificial turf, etc.
Support building: see below.

BC's artist's conception from similar orientation (but much more elevated), although note that the support building design, as well as the softball stadium location, have changed since this drawing was made:




Support Building




Coaches offices, workout rooms, batting cages, lockers, restrooms, concessions.
A little bit difficult to see due to the enclosed parking lots in the foreground.

Brighton Fields Parking Garage and Racquetball Courts [roof]



Note that the new building would be on the RHS and off-image to the right of my picture (and will be much bigger and taller than the existing building in the picture).

160-200 parking spaces on two levels. Enclosed racquetball (i.e., tennis) on top.

Multipurpose Field



Intramurals, etc.


BC Magazine ran a slideshow in 2004 which has photos of the Brighton Campus from various perspectives.

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