Independence Wharf at 470 Atlantic Avenue

Renovations to one of Boston Harbor’s historic wharfs

Independence Wharf at 470 Atlantic Avenue stands as a prominent link between Boston’s booming Financial District and Seaport neighborhoods. Bergmeyer was enlisted to create a new design that would both honor its historical significance and reposition it for the 21st century. The Wharf received an entirely new palette of exterior forms and materials. A glass curtainwall in modulated shades of green now covers the original cast-in-place concrete structure on its two seaward elevations. A gentle curve at the corner follows the bend of the Northern Avenue Bridge and echoes the grand civic gesture of the federal courthouse, effectively book-ending the entry to the Fort Point Channel. The roof’s wave-like profile makes further reference to the harbor, while the brick on the landward elevation’s veneer relates the building to its familiar industrial-era neighbors. The renovation of Independence Wharf has transformed a formerly nondescript building into one that enhances Boston’s waterfront by incorporating the past and present—and addressing the future—of both the site and the city.