A construction worker working with a wood frame of a building several stories up.

Boston’s 10 tallest buildings by 2025, mapped

Coronavirus-related construction slowdown or not, these towers—including newcomers One Dalton and Winthrop Center—will dominate the city’s skyline come mid-decade

By Tom Acitelli@tomacitelli Updated Mar 31, 2020, 6:38am EDT

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By Tom Acitelli@tomacitelli Updated Mar 31, 2020, 6:38am EDT

Boston Globe via Getty Images

The 742-foot One Dalton started opening in May 2019, a signature milestone for the tallest new building in Boston since 1976. Along with Downtown Crossing’s Millennium Tower, in fact, the Back Bay spire is the only building completed within the 21st century to rank among Boston’s 10 tallest.

And there very likely won’t be another member of the rarefied club until the scheduled completion of the 691-foot Winthrop Center in 2022. Work on it as of March 2020 is pictured at top—and Boston’s construction moratorium due to the novel coronavirus won’t ultimately slow that construction pace either, Winthrop Center’s developer has said.

One note: The heights herein of the 10 tallest buildings by the start of 2022 are to the last architectural detail, including spires. They do not include antennae or other technical apparatus.

200 Clarendon Street

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The modern tower formerly known as the John Hancock is New England’s tallest building at 790 feet, never mind just Boston’s, a distinction it has held since the Henry Cobb-designed spire was finished in 1976.

The 62-story office-and-retail building is often the first thing you see from a distance when approaching Boston on the ground, and nothing on the drawing boards right now is going to change that.

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200 Clarendon St, Boston, MA 02116

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A glassy skyscraper at an up-close angle against a clear sky.

Prudential Tower

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The 52-story, 749-foot skyscraper locally known as the Pru was completed in 1964.

Boxy and nondescript, the Charles Luckman-designed office and retail tower done in the international style has its critics, but it’s unmistakable against the skyline.

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Prudential Tower, 800 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

Looking up a skyscraper until its height recedes.

Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences One Dalton Street

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This 61-story, 742-foot tower—destined to be New England’s tallest primarily residential building—debuted its 215-room, Four Seasons-operated hotel portion in May 2019 (a restaurant on the second floor also opened).

Developed by Carpenter & Company, the tower is 699 feet at its highest habitable spot.

One Dalton, the design of which is a collaboration between Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Cambridge Seven Associates, also includes 160 ultra-luxury condos on floors 26 through 61.

Closings for those have been happening throughout 2019.

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1 Dalton St, Boston, MA 02199

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Looking up at a very tall, glassy skyscraper.

Winthrop Center

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The 691-foot mixed-use tower with hundreds of condos on the site of the former Winthrop Square Garage has been under construction since 2018, and is expected to open in 2022.

An affiliate of Millennium Partners is the developer, and Handel Architects is behind the design. The developer announced in March 2020 that the construction slowdown in the Boston region due to the novel coronavirus would not delay that 2022 opening.

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115 Winthrop Square, Boston, MA 02110

(617) 451-0300

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Construction on a large tower called Winthrop Center in downtown Boston.

Millennium Tower

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The 685-foot condo tower opened in 2016, and has kind of redefined what luxury residential real estate means in Boston.

The most expensive trade yet among the Handel Architects-designed spire’s 442 units was a $33 million deal for the floor-through penthouse (though deals in One Dalton will likely make that look like chump change).

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1 Franklin St, Boston, MA 02110

(617) 542-1555

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In the foreground are trees. In the distance is a tall glass skyscraper.

Federal Reserve Bank Building

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The Fed tower stretches to 32 stories and 614 feet, and opened in 1977.

Hugh Stubbins Jr. designed it. He is perhaps best-known for the Reagan library and the Citigroup Center in Manhattan.

The 140-foot gap at the bottom is there to allow sea breezes to blow through.

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Federal Reserve Bank Building, Boston, MA 02210

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The federal reserve bank building in Boston.

One Boston Place

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The 41-story, 601-foot office tower opened in early 1970.

Pietro Belluschi, a pioneer of modern architecture in the United States, designed the building.

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One Boston Place, Boston, MA 02201

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A group of tall city buildings in Boston. In the center of the group of buildings is One Boston Place which has a dark grey facade with many windows.

One International Place

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One International Place dates from 1987 and stands 600 feet even with 46 floors. It’s not to be confused with the adjacent—and shorter—Two International Place.

Postmodernists Johnson/Burgee Architects designed the office and retail building.