City Council chambers get a makeover
$2.2 million project adds accessibility, preserves historical art
A $2.2 million upgrade to the City Council chambers will add new furniture, handicap accessibility, screens and sound equipment — and move council meetings to Faneuil Hall for the summer while the project is underway.
Finegold Alexander Architects is heading the redesign, which will raise the council floor from the pit it’s currently in to level with the surrounding main floor, eliminating the need to walk down steps.
Council President Michelle Wu said it became apparent change was needed when a woman fell out of her wheelchair last year when navigating a subpar access ramp to give testimony about affordable housing.
“It woke us all up, as in we need to fix this now,” Wu said.
Christopher Lane of Finegold Alexander said circulation in the chamber will be “as direct as it is now, but with no intermediate steps, and will promote a more casual atmosphere to the chamber as well.”
In a press release, the firm promised “no change to the building’s Brutalist concrete motif.”
The project also calls for new carpets, new desks for councilors, and replacement of some movable furniture, acoustic and lighting and upgrades, and new video screens facing the audience and press gallery.
Wu said a longstanding tapestry hanging behind the council president’s podium will also be removed. The tapestry is a needlework copy of a famous painting depicting General Joseph Warren’s death at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
“We’ve consulted a bunch of art folks and historians, and the consensus was that it needs to be preserved, it shouldn’t be hung and exposed to light as it has been,” Wu said.
The project, paid for out of the city’s capital budget, is part of a broader renovation of City Hall and City Hall Plaza, including a new coffee kiosk that opened this week and separate entrances for visitors and employees.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s budget for next year sets aside $60.3 million for the City Hall and plaza improvements.