Boston History

Old Boston Public Library // 1855-1898

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Courtesy of BPL collections.

Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library was the first large, free municipal library in the United States. The Boston Public Library’s first building of its own was a converted former schoolhouse located on Mason Street that opened to the public in 1854. As soon as the library occupied the building, it was apparent that the amount of visitors and collections could not effectively be held in the cramped quarters. Planning began almost immediately for it’s first purpose-built library. Less than a year later, in December 1854, library commissioners were authorized to purchase a lot and fund the construction of the new library. A desirable building lot on Boylston Street, opposite the Boston Common, was purchased and a public invitation for proposals from architects was held. The requirements for the building included: a library hall with alcoves capable of containing on fixed shelves at least 200,000 volumes, a general reading room with ample accommodations at tables for at least 150 readers, a ladies reading room, an adjacent library room for the arrangement of 20,000 books “most constantly demanded for circulation,” and quarters for the Trustees and Librarian. The facade was to be of brick, with stone dressing”. The selected design by architect, Charles Kirk Kirby, was for this handsome Italianate style building which took nearly three years to build, opening in September 1858. Twenty years later, as the library outgrew that space, the Trustees asked the state legislature for a plot in the newly filled Back Bay, and planning began on the McKim Building, built in 1895 down Boylston Street. This building, the first purpose-built Boston Public Library building, was demolished in 1898, and replaced by the ten-story Colonial Theater Building. It stood just 40 years.

Edgar Allan Poe Birthplace // c.1805-1965

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Courtesy of BPL archives

Famed author Edgar Allan Poe was born in this house on Carver Street in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second child of American actor David Poe Jr. and English-born actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810 and his mother died a year later from pulmonary tuberculosis. He would be adopted by John Allan, a merchant and slaver in Richmond, Virginia, his adopted family gave him the name “Edgar Allan Poe”. He would live a somewhat nomadic life, moving around often to cities all over the East Coast until his death in 1849 in Baltimore. Although it was his birthplace, Poe’s troubled early childhood likely contributed to his disdain for Boston, where he often referred to Bostonians as “Frogpondians,” after the frog pond on Boston Common, though as an insult. The poet’s seminal work The Raven was published in January 1845 to widespread success. Several months later, Poe was invited to read at the Boston Lyceum with the support of James Russell Lowell, a Harvard professor and editor of The Atlantic Monthly. It did not go well. His childhood home on Carver Street would be razed by 1962 and is presently a surface parking lot for an electrical substation. The city would honor its macabre author by renaming an alley off Boylston Street, Edgar Allan Poe Way, and in 2014, the City commissioned a public statue titled, “Poe Returning to Boston“. Designed by Stefanie Rocknak, the statue depicts Poe walking, facing away from the Boston Common. His figure is accompanied by an oversized flying raven; his suitcase lid has fallen open, leaving a “paper trail” of literary works embedded in the sidewalk behind him.

Walker Building // 1891

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On Boylston Street overlooking the Boston Common, this historic building with two distinct parts is not photographed as much as some of its neighbors, but it is an important visual reminder of the period of growth and development in the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is the Walker Building, an early office building that was constructed beginning in 1891 in two phases by owner Joseph W. Walker. Mr. Walker hired the architectural firm of Winslow & Wetherell to design the building, which was finished in the Romanesque Revival style with a notable cornice with nine-bay arcade of arched windows and ornate wreath and swag motifs. A major tenant in the building was the Boston office of the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, the largest dental manufacturing company in the world. Less than a decade after the six-story Walker Building opened, Joseph Walker purchased and razed the parcels nextdoor and again hired the same firm (at this time renamed Winslow & Bigelow), to expand the Walker Building, building a ten-story addition in a similar style. The second Walker building housed piano company showrooms and offices along with professional offices of numerous architects and professionals. The Walker Building is now owned by Emerson College, and is used as classrooms, computer labs, and study spots for students with the dining center and bookstore in the former retail spaces.

Steinert Building // 1894

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The Steinert Building on Boylston Street in Boston is one of the city’s most iconic and mysterious buildings. The Beaux Arts style building was constructed in 1894 from plans by architects Winslow & Wetherell and contained three floors of display rooms, three floors of teaching studios and practice rooms. The building is arguably best-known for the 650-seat Steinert Hall, a basement concert hall constructed 35′ under ground and considered by some to be one of the most perfect concert halls, acoustically, in the U.S. The building was constructed as the national headquarters for the prestigious firm of M. Steinert & Sons, one of the largest and finest music stores in New England. Established in 1860 by Morris Steinert, a Bavarian musician, musical instrument collector and founder of the New Haven Symphony (originally Steinert’s Family Orchestra). The company was expanded under his second son, Alexander Steinert, who had the Steinert Building in Boston built, requiring a music hall to showcase musicians and their products. The subterranean concert hall closed in the 1940s, following the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire, the third-deadliest building fire in American history, which resulted in deaths of 492 people. This tragedy inspired an entirely new set of building and fire codes throughout the city; which ultimately would close Steinert Hall, as it had only one means of egress, making it too cost-prohibitive to bring the theatre into compliance. The building was long-operated as a piano showroom, but closed in 2017 and has been vacant ever-since. The basement music hall remains frozen in time, awaiting a new life.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston // 1972

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Established by Congress in 1913, the Federal Reserve System is the nation’s quasi-public central bank. Its primary functions are to set monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain a stable financial system, and provide financial services to the U.S. government, the public, and domestic and international financial institutions. Organized in 1914, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is one of 12 district banks across the country and serves the six New England states. Construction for the Boston Reserve’s Renaissance revival bank was begun in 1920 and finished in 1922, but was outgrown in the second half of the 20th century. The original building would be landmarked and is now known as the Langham, a luxury hotel. Planning began on a newer office and a site was acquired on waterfront land cleared from Urban Renewal in the late 1960s. The current building was constructed between 1972 and
1974, and occupied by the bank in 1977. Designed by the firm Hugh Stubbins & Associates, the complex occupies a full city block, with the 32-story tower and a 4-story section serving as the bulk of the mass. A 600-ton major steel structure called a “truss” marks the beginning of the tower’s offices above the breezeway. The exterior is natural anodized aluminum, which acts as a curtain wall and weatherproof facing. The aluminum spandrels or “eye-brows” shade the building interior from the sun in the summertime and allow more sunlight in the winter months. Love it or hate it, this building is extremely significant architecturally for its Modern design and materiality, and for its engineering. It has become a visual landmark and anchor into Boston’s dense Downtown.

Albany Building // 1899

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One of the last major 19th century buildings erected in Boston’s Leather District is also one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the city. This is the Albany Building, built in 1899, and fills an entire city block. The Albany Building was designed by Peabody and Stearns and built by Norcross Brothers as the offices for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Its two-story base is adorned with swags and cartouches and its fifth floor is topped with a complex cornice. The use of beveled corners and ornate detailing break up the massing of the building which otherwise, would read like a box. The building today serves as an important visual gateway into the Leather District and its context of late 19th century commercial blocks centered around the leather and shoe manufacturing businesses.

Lincoln Building // 1894

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Designed by a prominent architect, Willard T. Sears, the Lincoln Building at Lincoln and Essex streets, is a handsome example of a late 19th century mercantile structure consisting of stores, office & loft space, serving as an important visual anchor the almost uninterrupted neighborhood of the Leather District of Boston. The building is the second of its name, with the first Lincoln Building succumbing to the Lincoln Street Fire of 1893, which started as a small fire in a restroom of a toy wholesaler, eventually spreading to a storage room full of fireworks, which exploded, eventually killing at least five, and forced many others to jump from buildings to seek safety. The replacement building is Renaissance Revival in style with a stone base and classically decorated facades. The recessed entrances set within arches and the series of columned bays at the ground floor are truly special. The building was long-occupied by leather dealers and companies, but was converted to residential use in 2006 with condos on the upper floors and retail spaces on the street.

South Station // 1899

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When the railroads serving Boston were first laid out and built, each line stopped at its own terminal which created a dysfunctional and cumbersome travel experience for those entering or leaving the city. The Boston Terminal Company, established in 1897, was charged with the task of consolidating service from the four terminals at a single terminal, a union station (similar to North Station), for routes south of the city. South Station was designed by architects were Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston and quickly became New England’s busiest transportation center. The five-story Classical Revival style station built of stone is an architectural landmark with three-story Ionic colonnade crowned by a clock surmounted by an eagle, stands above the triple-arched brick masonry lower level corner entrance. While the station handled 125,000 passengers each day during World War II, post-war passenger rail traffic declined in the US. South Station was sold to the Boston Redevelopment Authority in 1965 and (surprise!) they demolished portions of the building and later developed plans to demolish the rest of the station and replace it with a multi-use development including a new train and bus station with large parking garage. Luckily for everyone, the BRA failed in this endeavor and the building remained to the point where public transportation is again invested in and beloved and the building has since been restored. Recently, a glass “crown”, known as South Station Tower, a 51-story designed by Pelli, Clarke & Partners, with new office space, luxury residences, and a redesigned, arched interior concourse (which in my opinion, is the best part). The redevelopment is a push towards transit-oriented development and blends new and old in an innovative way.

What do you think of it?

Beebe Building // 1886

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Located at 127-133 South Street in the under-appreciated Leather District of Boston, the 1886 Beebe Building is an excellent vestige of the leathergoods trade and commercial architecture of the late 19th century. This building was constructed by J. Franklin Faxon (1832-1912), a business owner who engaged in real estate development and built a number of commercial blocks in this part of Boston. Rand & Taylor, architects, designed the building in an effective blending of Classical and Romanesque styles with rock faced brownstone ashlar above the storefronts, oculus windows, and segmental arched openings on the top floor. The Classical detailing of the two-story brick pilasters and modillion cornice add to its complexity. The building was originally occupied by the Thomas E. Proctor Leather Company and was later purchased by leather goods company Lucius Beebe & Sons and the storefront was renovated by Hutchins & French in 1930. The building has since been known as the Beebe Building and has been well-maintained by subsequent owners.  

United States Leather Company Warehouse // 1901

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As far back as Colonial days, the boot and shoe industry was one of the State’s leading industries. Buyers came suburban towns to purchase supplies, and in the early 1800s, the larger manufacturers began to open offices and stores in Boston. Soon, most of the leading merchants had established places of business in Boston, by the late 19th century, many were located in the South Cove area, which became known as the Leather District. The Leather District is characterized today by large, brick structures with flat roofs and feature continuous floor levels, band courses, and cornice lines. This handsome brick building on Atlantic Avenue was built in 1901 for Charles G. Rice and the Heirs of Nehemiah W. Rice as a warehouse for the U.S. Leather Company. The building was designed by William Gibbons Rantoul, who studied architecture at Harvard, and apprenticed with Henry Hobson Richardson as a draftsman in the 1880’s before opening his own practice. In 1946, the subject property was purchased by Frank Einis, and the new tenants, Fur Merchants Cold Storage, Inc., used the building for the storage of skins and furs for manufacturing into soft goods. Architecturally, the building showcases the lasting influence of Richardson on architects and industrial buildings in Boston from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The building can be classified as Romanesque Revival in style with its use of arches in the façade both structural and decorative, the Venetian arches at the 7th floor, as well as its arcaded corbelling over the 3rd level and at the cornice. I especially love the tall, engaged brick columns at the storefront, they are very unique!

George Robert White Health Unit No. 2 // 1923

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Originally known as the George Robert White Health Unit Number 2, this Colonial Revival style building is located on North Margin Street in the North End of Boston, and is significant as an early health center providing health and education services for some of Boston’s most underserved residents. The building was constructed in 1923 as one of the neighborhood-based health centers built in Boston in the 1920s and early 1930s from funding by the George Robert White charitable trust. George Robert White (1847-1922), a longtime resident of Boston, worked in the office of the Potter Drug and Chemical Company as a boy, eventually becoming president and an owner of the corporation. He was an investor in real estate and reportedly was known for many years as the largest individual taxpayer in Boston. Upon his death, his will specified that his bequest to the city, about $5 million in 1922 (approximately $93 Million valued today), would be held in a permanent charitable fund “to be used for creating public utility and beauty and for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of Boston.” The North End Health Unit was the second built (the first was in the West End), and designed in the Colonial Revival style from plans by Coolidge and Shattuck, later known as Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott. Since the 1970s, the building was occupied by the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization, until 2020, when the building was renovated and converted into housing with 23 units for elderly residents.

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground // 1659

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Happy Halloween! Welcome to Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, a historic cemetery nestled in Boston’s historic North End. Established in 1659, it served as a burial site for some of Boston’s earliest settlers and notable figures, including craftsmen, merchants, and members of the influential Mather family. Also burie here is abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston, Prince Hall. Originally called North Burying Ground, Copp’s Hill was the second place of interment on the Boston peninsula and was laid out in 1659. The area acquired its present name through its association with William Copp (1589-1670), a shoemaker and early settler who lived near today’s Prince Street; ironically, his stone is no longer standing.

The cemetery is particularly known for its distinct slate gravestones, many adorned with intricate carvings that reflect the artistry of the era. Over the centuries, it has witnessed significant events, including the American Revolution, when it was used as a lookout point for British troops. During the Revolution, the burying ground’s prominent location overlooking the harbor gave it strategic military importance. At its southwest side the British established their North Battery and an earthworks from which they directed the shelling of Bunker Hill and ultimately the torching of Charlestown. Legend has it that British troops used gravestones for target practice. Many have interpreted the round scars on the gravestone of Captain Daniel Malcolm, an ardent son of liberty who spoke against Britain, as the result of musketballs shot at close range. The cemetery was used continually until the 1850s and is today, an evocative reminder of Boston’s early days, drawing visitors who seek to connect with the city’s storied history amidst its tranquil surroundings while the city stretches upwards around it. The cemetery is open and free to visit most of the year and is a great place to stroll and learn about Boston’s early history and see amazing stone carving!

Former Schrafft’s Candy Factory – Converse HQ // 1907

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Possibly my favorite building in the Bulfinch Triangle/North Station area of Boston is this brick behemoth. Known as the Schrafft’s Candy Factory, Hoffman Building, Lovejoy Wharf, Submarine Signal Building, etc., the building was constructed in 1907 from plans by Codman & Despradelle and first-occupied by the Schrafft’s Candy Company. It held the candy makers until 1928, when Schrafft’s moved to Charlestown, building their massive factory in Sullivan Square. A landmark in the Panel Brick style of architecture, prevalent in industrial and multi-family structures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the old factory saw many later uses from cold storage, to a Submarine Signal Co. before it was largely vacant by the end of the 20th century. Through Preservation Tax Credits and grants, developer Related Beal was able to reimagine the building, restoring it to its former glory. The Architectural Team (TAT) oversaw the renovations and expansion of the building with a glass crown with the project accommodating the corporate headquarters for world-renowned sneaker manufacturer, Converse.

Boston Flatiron – The Boxer Hotel // 1900

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The interesting street-layout of the Bulfinch Triangle area of Boston created some oddly shaped triangular building lots which for decades, saw only small, modest wood-frame structures built upon them. By 1900, Boston’s own Flatiron Building (built two years before New York’s more iconic example) was constructed on this site and it has been an icon ever since. The structure was built by ownerCharles Pelham Curtis III (1860-1948), who was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard Law School and became a police commissioner and attorney in the city before moving into real estate development. He hired architect Stephen Codman to design this commercial block, which was rented out to local businesses and professional offices. The building has been home to a hotel for a number of decades, with a major renovation undertaken beginning in 2000, 100 years after the building was constructed. Three floors were added to the top of the original six-story, which are Modernistic in design with large expanses of windows within three center bays that align with the bays of the original building and which are defined by brick piers. The hotel today, The Boxer Hotel, perfectly blends the history of the building with modernity and style. What a gem of a building!

Dr. Jenks Apothecary Shop // c.1860

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Who doesn’t love a good flatiron building?! This charming three-story with Mansard roof building is located in the Bulfinch Triangle district of Boston. The triangular-shaped building was built around 1860 as an apothecary shop for Dr. Thomas Leighton Jenks (1829-1899), a doctor who was born in Conway, New Hampshire, but left for Boston while still a teenager. When the Mexican-American War broke out in 1846 he enlisted in the Navy, where he served for three years in the hospital ward of the frigate U.S.S. United States. Upon returning from the war, Jenks attended Harvard Medical School, and wrote his thesis on Syphilis. Dr. Jenks apprenticed in a building on this site under Dr. Samuel Trull. He likely redeveloped or modernized the 1850s building, adding the mansard roof by the 1860s. During the Civil War, Dr. Jenks served as a front line surgeon. After returning home, he grew tired of the medical profession, and got involved with local politics. He was elected as an alderman, Massachusetts state representative, and in later years he earned appointments as Chairman of the Boston Board of Police, and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Public Institutions. He tragically collapsed and died in 1899 at a Boston courthouse. As a tribute to his birthplace, Dr. Jenks made a provision in his will for the funds necessary to build a public library in Conway, New Hampshire, which is still in use today. Somehow, the old Dr. Jenks Apothecary Shop has survived all this time as the city grows and changes all around it. The building saw life later as a restaurant and offices.