Fenway's Citgo Sign Scores Landmark Status

KENMORE SQUARE, MA —The Citgo sign might become an official city landmark.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the city Landmark Commission approved landmark status for the sign that has come to symbolize Boston and Kenmore Square. The designation would give the sign some protection should a developer want to change things up. For the past two years, preservationists have worked to keep the sign in Kenmore Square while the property is being redeveloped.

But the Landmarks Commission doesn't have the final say. That belongs to Mayor Marty Walsh and the Boston City Council, where the issue heads now.

City Councilor Josh Zakim who represents the Fenway area said he doesn't know anyone in the area who has a problem with the sign.

"It's part of the landscape," he told Patch in a phone interview. "What I do hear from the community and from neighbors is really that they like the sign, they like having it there, but they're thinking more about transportation issues, housing issues; that's really on the forethought of people's minds."

Zakim said regardless of whether the City Council and mayor decided to vote for a landmark designation, something that will come to their attention in the next 45 days, the landlord seemed committed to keeping the sign in some form.

As for how he'll be viewing the decision?

"I want to make sure we're cognizant of unintended consequences. And making sure we look at all sides of the conversation," he said.

The City Council's next meeting is Nov. 28, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. This could come to them there, or slide into December.

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 would keep the sign as part of a larger development plan. It's not clear 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. They worry a protection zone created alongside it might make it difficult for future development that might block the view of the sign.

But talk about what to do with the sign goes back a bit.

Back in 1940, the Cities Service Company opened a divisional office at 660 Beacon Street and installed a huge neon sign on the roof. 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 a new logo. Thus the sign we know today.

The Citgo sign was raised over Kenmore Square in 1965. The sign was 60 feet by 60 feet and supported 40 feet above the roof by a steel truss structure.

The state ordered the sign go dark during the early '80s. In the mid-80s the company was set to tear it down but Bostonians protested. Ultimately the city decided not to give protected status so that anyone who inherited the building would not be responsible for the expensive upkeep. In 2016 hundreds of people signed another petition to make the sign a landmark after the developer bought the buildings.

We've been following this for a while:

• Kenmore Square's Citgo Sign: Should It Be A Landmark (October 2018)
• 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