Boston City Hall Plaza

The architectural firm Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles designed the plaza in 1962 to accompany Boston's new City Hall building.

The siting of the plaza, the City Hall, and other structures in Government Center was the responsibility of I. M. Pei,[1][2] commissioned by Edward J. Logue, then development administrator of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The plaza and City Hall were constructed between 1963 and 1968, on the former site of Scollay Square, which despite its vibrancy and historical interest, was considered a seedy area by some.

Some praise City Hall Plaza for being cleaner and more appealing than Scollay Square, and for the simple fact that it was built at all—with the cooperation and compromises necessary of any complex, multi-agency government construction project.

[8][9] The Project for Public Spaces ranked it at the top of the organization's list of "Squares Most Dramatically in Need of Improvement in the United States" in 2005,[10] and has placed the plaza on its "Hall of Shame.

In the early 2000s, cellist Yo-Yo Ma proposed the construction of a music garden based on his Inspired by Bach series of recordings.

[22] Later in the year, the city made a number of changes to the plaza, including installing artificial grass, picnic tables, and lawn chairs, to make the space more inviting.

[23] However, the Project for Public Spaces argued that "these efforts to put what the New York Times has called a 'kelly green band-aid' on this gaping wound in the heart of the city, are insufficient," and that a more comprehensive redesign is needed.

[46] Nearby Boston Common has long been used for public events, including a 1969 peace rally that drew an estimated crowd of 100,000[47] and the 1979 mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II.

From December 2016 until February 2017, the Plaza opened an outdoor Skating Path and Holiday Market, as part of an installation called "Boston Winter".

Boston Winter continued the following year,[74] but did not return in December 2018 as the city prepared for a major renovation of the plaza.