[17] The structure was designed in contrast to the City Hall a few blocks away, and was inspired by the idea of an amphitheater that would allow citizens to experience civic dramas unfolding.

[11] Architectural writers have attributed the buildings to the concept of big government, showing that the state has made a large investment in its residents.

He chose this form in opposition to the era's typical glass-walled International style office buildings, which he considered dull and monotonous.

Other representative elements include its several-story-high columns, placed regularly, which contain elevators, staircases, and bathrooms; and the buildings' stepped terraces and concrete sunshades surrounding the central plaza.

The building's proposed Health, Welfare and Education tower was to have 23 stories and house its namesake three state government departments.

Dyer, though it was later redesigned, with its floor area doubled to 870,000 sq ft (81,000 m2) and a new height of 33 stories,[16] by Shepley Bullfinch Richardson and Abbot.

[15] Another work, Upward Bound, is suspended from the ceiling of the Hurley Building's east portico, facing New Chardon St. and the central courtyard.

Occupational therapy spaces included shops for electrical, plumbing, and woodwork, as well as a cafe, theater, and model apartment, to let patients develop skills for society in training.

A large gymnasium and 625 sq ft (58.1 m2) swimming pool were built on the first floor, and at one time were open to the public and used by up to 41 community groups.

[27] The site of the Boston Government Service Center was by Bowdoin Square, an area that changed from residential to commercial, as the city grew and as land was reclaimed.

By 1917, the city's planning board proposed a civic center there due to its good location,poor state of buildings, and low property values.

The site had 91 percent of structures substandard, and with a majority "vermin-infested", and with exposed wiring, obsolete and insufficient plumbing, and other issues.

An economic recession, as well as the Vietnam war and political assassinations had affected desires to complete such large-scale government projects.

[30] In 1999 the remaining space (long fenced-in and overgrown with weeds[31]) was filled with the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood,[32] in a completely different architectural style.

At around the same time the courtyard was landscaped with an elliptical planting, and features such as stairways, an elevator, and a wheelchair access ramp were added.

The exterior plaza on the north side, shown in Rudolph's original drawings as full of benches, trees, and people, is now a parking lot with a chain link fence around it.

The buildings offer many benches and sheltered and concealed spots, which are used by the local homeless population to take refuge from the weather and rest or sleep.

In 2013, many of the exterior staircases, terraces, and niches were fenced off because the side walls were not tall enough to meet modern safety codes.

[6] Around 2019, the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) began to address the Hurley Building's urban design challenges.

These include: elements at a monumental scale to be complemented with elements at human scale, activating and enhancing public spaces (the Merrimac Street plaza, the central courtyard, sidewalks, and the ground floor of the building), reworking areas with concealed entrances and dark passages, and improving or removing the site's loading docks.

[8] Noted deteriorating elements included stained concrete, trash buildups, pigeon roosts, among other signs of neglect.

[15] In 2019, the DCAMM began to seek a developer to remodel the Hurley Building, including the likely addition of retail and restaurant spaces on the ground floor.

[39] The Government Service Center is listed in G. E. Kidder Smith's Source Book of American Architecture: 500 Notable Buildings from the 10th Century to the Present.

[43] During its construction and at its opening, the building received substantial recognition by at least ten architectural magazines or journals around the world, and appeared in numerous books.

Rohan describes the complex as a concrete brutalist castle, strange and forbidding, and representative of the alienating 1960s urban design.

[44] Historians characterize the buildings in innumerous, and often contradictory ways, including: graceful, imaginative, sensuous, exaggerated, rugged, restless, and heroic.

[1] Journalists reviewed the Lindemann center's architecture positively at its 1971 opening, though several noted that the design might not be appropriate to a state building, hospital, or mental health facility.

[24] In 1972, Ada Louise Huxtable suggested that the cancellation of the tower on-site was part of toning down the dramatic elements of the project.

Koh cited Vincent Scully, who stated that not every individual may be able to meet the building's psychological demands, and psychiatrist Matthew Dumont, who had feared sending a schizophrenic patient to the Lindemann Center.

[6] The 2020 preservation study estimated that the complex will be proposed as a National Historic Landmark for its association with an important architect, and for its extreme departure from prior architectural styles.