Government Service Center
- Architect
- Paul Rudolph
- Style
- Brutalism
- City
- Boston, MA
- Collection
- concrete boston
The Boston Government Service Center is a brutalist state government complex in the West End, led by architect Paul Rudolph and built as two connected buildings - the Charles F. Hurley Building and the Erich Lindemann Building - joined by a shared courtyard. It forms one of the major components of the larger Government Center complex downtown, and its association with Rudolph and its distinctive style make it eligible for National Historic Landmark designation, though as of 2026 it holds no landmark status at all.
the building
Two buildings, one architect. Rudolph's complex pairs the Charles F. Hurley Building and the Erich Lindemann Building around a shared courtyard. The newer, 1998-built Edward W. Brooke Courthouse is sometimes counted as part of the same complex, though it postdates Rudolph's design by decades.
the style
The complex is executed in the rough poured-concrete Brutalist style associated with Paul Rudolph, whose authorship and the buildings' distinctive massing are cited as grounds for potential National Historic Landmark status.
More on Brutalismsignificance
Despite being eligible for listing on the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places, the National Register of Historic Places, and as a Boston Landmark, the Government Service Center holds no landmark designation as of 2026. Its official name, little used, is the Joseph A. Langone, Jr. Memorial Center, after the state senator it was named for in 1962.
nearby
- Old West Church
- First Harrison Gray Otis House
- Peter Bent Brigham Building
- John F. Kennedy Federal Building
- African Meeting House
- Charles Sumner House