The magazine ArchitectureBoston is now being posted online, and its Winter issue is all about infrastructure — “the one crucial point at which politics and architecture merge,” according to roundtable participant Sarah Williams Goldhagen.

In one of the magazine’s more provocative pieces, Boston Globe editor Stephen Heuser gives props — without getting too sentimental — to the Hub’s Central Artery, the last bit of which was torn down three years ago:

The Artery was a rusting eyesore, but it was something else as well: the grandest and most unapologetic piece of infrastructure in the city. With the Artery above and the subways thrumming below, downtown Boston evoked the busy optimism of another time — crowds of men with hats; tubes and ribbons of people at every level flowing through the city.

I can see how the elevated highway must have helped morale when it was built in the 1950s and Boston was a fusty old city with a molehill skyline. But as Heuser admits, it had to come down eventually. 

What I really miss is another bit of infrastructure that Heuser mentions, the elevated section of the Green Line near North Station. I especially loved looking into upper-floor windows along Canal Street, including one that offered a glimpse of a karate studio and others offering images worthy of Edward Hopper. I’m happy with the Greenway replacing the Central Artery, but the North Station area looks pretty sad without anything to challenge the dominance of the ugly Boston Garden.