Below is the same view from May of 2013.

There was a very interesting article in the NY Times about the trend of mansard roofs.

But at least Trinity Church is still there.

One of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. Seriously. I think it's an eyesore.

Down at "Statuary R Us" - I count 47 between the first, second and top floors, and that's just the ones that can be seen in this view! May be this was the building that inspired Howard Roark in "The Fountainhead."

Fashions change after five years, automobiles after ten, buildings and signage after twenty.

Yet the humble fire hydrant remains always in style.

Still, this does demonstrate that, at least once-upon-a-time, there existed some city fathers who actually stuck to their guns on city height ordinances. These days, far too many turn a blind eye to developers who ignore zoning laws and, needless to say, height restrictions simply don't exist, it seems.

I hope someone is able to locate a photo of what it looked like before the top was sheared off.

It is difficult to imagine the building being LESS hideous.

This hotel sat at the southeast corner of Copley Square, where I.M. Pei's John Hancock Tower (the one that was bedeviled by falling window panes) now stands. That's a corner of the porch of Trinity Church (H. H. Richardson, 1872-1877) at the left.

This hotel was famously subjected to some trimming after it was found to exceed the maximum height for buildings in the Back Bay (this was in Copley Square, you can see part of Trinity Church on the left). Which is too bad -- the decoration at the top was beautiful. Ironically, after the hotel was demolished, the John Hancock tower was built on that site -- it's 60 stories high.

How would you like to have been the draughtsman who had to delineate those elevations? Geeeesh, so much junk to draw. Take a month of Sundays.