Kenmore Square's Citgo Sign: Should It Be A Landmark?

FENWAY, MA — Once again the fate of the iconic Citgo sign in Kenmore Square is up in the air. The Boston Landmarks Commission is set to hold a public hearing on the 60 ft by 60 ft sign, Tuesday evening at Boston City Hall. The question once again? Should the sign have protected status?

Why is this coming up now? Well you may have noticed that several buildings in the area are ready to undergo a bit of a makeover. In 2016 developer Related Beal bought several buildings from Boston University, including 660 Beacon Street, where the Citgo sign has perched since 1965.

As part of the deal, Related Beal said it plans to keep the sign and is negotiating a lease on that with the oil company behind it as part of a larger development plan. It's not clear exactly where the sign would go, only that it would stick around in some fashion.

The developer and some business owners aren't keen on the idea of making the sign an official landmark, according to the Boston Globe. Why? They worry a protection zone created alongside it might make it difficult for future development to build anything that might block the view of the sign.

Back in 1940, the Cities Service Company opened a divisional office at 660 Beacon Street and installed a huge neon sign on the roof of the building. That sign featured the large, white Cities Service logo in the

shape of a shamrock, with lettering and a border in dark green. When the company evolved from a provider of municipal utility services into an oil refiner and retailer in the early 1960s, Cities Service hired New York-based Lippincott & Margulies to design something new. Enter the sign we mostly know today. The Citgo sign was constructed and raised over Kenmore Square in 1965. The sign was 60 feet by 60 feet and supported 40 feet above the roof of 660 Beacon by a steel truss structure.

In the 70s it went dark for a bit and then the state ordered the sign go dark during the early 80s. About the mid 1980s the company was set to tear it down but Bostonians protested. There was a hearing on whether it should take historical protected status, but ultimately the city decided not to give it that so that anyone who inherited the building wouldn't have to be responsible for the expensive upkeep of the sign. In 2016 hundreds of people signed another petition to make the sign a landmark as the developer bought the buildings.

The Landmarks Commission isn't set to vote at the meeting Tuesday, that comes later. But in the end, the commission doesn't have the final say. That belongs to Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston City Council.

Related:

• Kenmore Square, Citgo Sign, Proposed Makeover (May 2018)
• Citgo Sign Staying in Boston (March 2017)
• The Citgo Sign's Future is Uncertain, But You Can Help Save It (March 2017)
• Citgo Sign Takes Step Toward Landmark Status (July 2016)
• Over 1000 Petition to Make Citgo Sign Boston Landmark (June 2016)

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff