Christian Science Plaza

At Christian Science Plaza in Boston, this guide follows the giant reflecting pool built by I. M. Pei's office in the early 1970s, and the church that later moved to shrink the very monument it had built. It traces a 2010 proposal to cut the million-gallon pool by nearly a third to save water, and the preservationists led by architect Mark Pasnik who fought it before the Boston Landmarks Commission. Stand at the water's edge and look for the reflection the plan would have broken.