Don’t you love when new construction fits right in with the neighborhood?

In Boston’s Back Bay one of the best parts is to look at all the architecture in the area. From the old brownstones to the newer buildings there’s a lending of styles that is incredibly specific and intentional. But a store opened today that sticks out like a sore thumb on Boylston Street.

Before I show you the problem child, let me show you a pair of buildings that fit in pretty well with the neighborhood.

Crate & Barrel have been in Boston for years and their store on Boylston Street fits in beaitifully with the Back Bay. The glass front and the arches lend right in, and even with the bold company name on the black band you don’t have any problem with it being among the historical buildings in the area.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is actually still under construction right next to the Prudential Center, but it still fits in pretty well in the Back Bay so far. We’ll have to wait to see what happens when they take the posters off the windows and let us see inside, but it looks like the area took great pains to make sure it looked like the hotel belonged in the Back Bay.

But a building opened this morning that when I first saw it (once they tore down all the scaffolding and drapes that covered it while it was being built) and I my first thought was how in the hell did the neighborhood association and the city planning office even let the damned thing get built like that?

Look at that thing. I have nothing against glass front buildings, but did they have to do it right smack dab in the middle of a block on Boylston Street? Even with as little of the buildings on either side of the store that I have in this picture you can get an idea for how much it sticks out architecturally. And this isn’t about my dislike for things Apple, because I won’t tell my Apple loving friends to go way the hell out to the Cambridgeside Galleria to visit an Apple Store if they work in downtown Boston, especially since the nation’s largest Apple Store is right in Back Bay. But come on, that glass facade sucks when taken along with the rest of the buildings in even a four block radius, even if you just stick to Boylston Street.

Of course today was the grand opening after yesterday’s preview day for the press and there was a line at 6:30 this morning of people who just had to get inside the new Apple Store as soon as it opened. You’d almost think they were selling tickets to the Celtics playoff game, but the line would be much longer for that.

I did take one other picture this morning, and it’s another worldwide conglomerate that some people love to hate.

Say what you will about Starbucks, but when they built their Boston flagship store on Boylston Street they paid attention to the area they were moving into. Of course there’s the basic black, which looks as tasteful here as it does down the street at Crate & Barrel, but with the bricks around it and those green umbrellas out front it makes you want a nice sunny (but not too warm) day so you can sit out front and people watch.

The inside’s pretty nice, too, especially with some of the friendliest people ever to hand you a cup of coffee.

What I love most (other than the nice bold coffee) is the fact that they have somewhere that you can actually sit to enjoy your coffee. And I don’t mean just vinyl covered stool at a cramped counter, either.

Yes, those are some mighty comfy chairs. Especially for someone like me who has a bad back and a pair of bum knees. If that’s not what you need, they have some small tables that two or even four people can sit at, and I’m often seeing some people from offices in the area having small meetings in the Starbucks. And if you need to meet with a few people there’s something for them, too.

(I’ve been meaning to post these pics all day, but the batteries in my camera were a little too low and we finally got some new batteries for the camera.)