Commercial Block

Peerless-Capitol Theater // 1894

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Located across from the North Abington Depot, this structure was constructed in 1894 as a leather harness and saddle shop by local businessman, Henry Crossley. The expensive building of cut granite and brick seemed to have overextended Mr. Crossley’s means, as he would soon-after file for bankruptcy. The building would remain as commercial use until 1915, when the property was purchased by the Peerless Amusement Company for use as a 300-seat theater. By the 1930s, the building became known as the Capitol Theater, and was listed to seat 230 customers on the main floor and 70 in the balcony. Due to the more rural nature of the cinema, it closed in the mid-20th century, and suffered from neglect for decades until it was restored and is currently housing apartments. 

Liberty Tree Block // 1850

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The Liberty Tree Block is located at one of Boston’s oldest and most important intersections, Boylston and Essex streets. It is said that near this site, the Liberty Tree stood, and where in 1765, Patriots in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government under its branches, The Stamp Act protests. The tree became a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of Britain over the American colonies. The Liberty Tree was cut down by British Loyalists in 1775, but the tree’s symbolism lives on in the building constructed on the site 75 years later. Nineteenth-century real estate developer David Sears had this commercial block built in 1850, which housed stores at the street with ballrooms on the upper floors. The Liberty Tree Block is best-known and named so due to the wooden relief plaque of the Liberty Tree on the Washington Street elevation. The motif stands 8′ high and 5′ wide and was carved by ship carvers. The bas relief is inscribed with “Liberty–1765” across the top, “Law and Order” at its roots, and at the bottom, “Sons of Liberty, 1765. Independence of their Country, 1776.” The building (and its carving) are protected Landmarks in Boston.

South Street Building // 1899

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One of the larger mercantile buildings in the Leather District of Boston is this turn-of-the-century block, historically known as the South Street Building. Bounded by three streets, this eight-story building was constructed in 1899 from plans by Winslow, Wetherill & Bigelow and is a great example of a Classical Revival style commercial block with Beaux Arts motifs to further decorate the facades. In 1901, as expected, the city directories list many leather and soft goods-related occupants in the building, including: The American Calfskin Leather Company, John F. Moore Co., leather dealer, and Charles D. French, leather remnants dealer. The building was renovated in 1990 and rebranded as Lincoln Plaza, becoming a major space for non-profit offices.

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.

Faxon Block // 1886

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This impressive commercial block is prominently sited at the corner of Beach and South streets in Boston’s Leather District, a wonderful enclave of late 19th and early 20th century mercantile buildings, historically centered around the leather and shoe-making industries. Like many in this block, the building was developed by the Faxon Brothers, some of the major developers of this district and areas of Quincy. Also like many other buildings in the Leather District, the block was designed by 1886 in the Romanesque Revival style, constructed of brick and brownstone with a clipped corner and Syrian arches and an oculus window at the fifth floor. The building was designed by relatively unknown architect, John H. Besarick and today houses professional offices.

Custom House Block // 1853

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This stately commercial block is found on Main Street in Rockland, Maine. The block originally housed the local custom house (before a larger, purpose-built custom house was erected nearby in 1873) with other retail and commercial spaces at the ground floor with offices and meeting space above. The block is a great example of the Italianate style with an intricate brick corbeled cornice and cast iron and marble storefronts. The commercial space occupied by the First National Bank also exhibits a stone medallion with deer set within a wreath over the entrance. The detail that stood out to me most was the cast iron lintels over the windows, with the second floor lintels including a man’s face! The building is well preserved and is today occupied by local businesses.

Rankin Block // 1853

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The Rankin Block is a significant early commercial building in Rockland, Maine. The brick block was built in 1853 by Samuel Rankin, a descendant of one of the area’s first European settlers. Its location was near the center of the city’s shipbuilding industries, and replaced an earlier commercial building destroyed by fire. Its early tenants included a ship chandlery, shipping offices, and a sail loft. The vernacular Greek Revival style building is constructed of brick and granite, showcasing the no-frill architecture that working Maine sailors preferred. The building is now occupied by a senior living facility. Talk about a great adaptive reuse!

Bray’s Hall // 1893

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As Newton Centre’s new railroad station and following development boom transformed the once sleepy village into the main commercial center for the city, landowners capitalized on the opportunity by developing commercial blocks to serve the community and line their own pockets. Mellen Newton Bray (1856-1946) became a major landholder in Newton Centre and would develop the areas directly surrounding the new train station there. On a curving site, he built Bray’s Hall, this three-story commercial block renting out spaces to local banks and stores with a large assembly hall and bowling alley in the building as well. Initially, Bray planned for an eight-story structure, having contracted a solid foundation that could support such a structure, pending the success of the initial construction. That is mixed use before it was “cool”. The building was designed by the firm of Kendall & Stevens, likely led by Henry H. Kendall, who resided in Newton Centre. Kendall would also design the apartment block across the street for Mr. Bray. The building is constructed of light Tuscan bricks and is notable for the bracketed cornice and dormers all in copper. The building was restored in the 1970s by owner David Zussman, and rebranded as Piccadilly Square, following his recent trip to London being impressed with by the atmosphere of Piccadilly Circus.

Peter Bent Brigham Building // 1888

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Located at the corner of Causeway and Portland streets in the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District of Boston, you will find the Peter Bent Brigham Building, one of the best examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque architecture style in the city. The building was built by the estate of Peter Bent Brigham (1807-1877), an interesting character in Boston’s history. Peter B. Brigham was born in Vermont and eventually moved to Boston and began his career selling fish and oysters in Boston. A self-made, hardworking man, Peter would eventually own a restaurant in the city and began making connections with the movers and shakers of town. With his success, he began investing in real estate and would become a founding director of the Fitchburg Railroad. Peter died in 1877, he never married nor had children. His estate valued in the millions and was to be spent 25 years after his death, for a hospital “for the care of sick persons in indigent circumstances”. The money appreciated to $2,000,000 by 1902 and was used to establish the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, now Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His family, who also received a substantial amount of money in the will, built this building, hiring the firm of Hartwell & Richardson to design the 1888 corner and the later, larger 1891 addition. The commercial building was rented to stores and professionals and even retains Peter B. Brigham’s name in the facade carved in terra cotta.

Van Buskirk Block // 1895

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Built at the corner of Main and Partition streets in Saugerties, New York, this handsome 19th century commercial building is located next door to the Whitaker Block – featured previously. The Van Buskirk Block was built in 1895 for the Van Buskirk Brothers, who were pharmacists in town. The building has a unique rounded corner, inset brick paneling, and a bold metal cornice at the roof.

Whitaker Block // c.1870

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One of the finest commercial buildings in downtown Saugerties, New York, is the Whitaker Block, a landmark Second Empire style structure from the years following the American Civil War. The structure dates to around 1870 and was first owned by an E. Whitaker and was mixed use with retail at the street and offices above. Additionally, the building was home to the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) a fraternal social organization. The three-story with mansard roof building stands out for its architectural details and integrity which largely remain intact to this day.

Sylvia Store // 1879

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This charming commercial store was built in 1879 as one of five similar commercial buildings constructed on Nantucket as investment properties by Robert McCleave (1809-1878), a retired whaling captain. Located on Orange Street, this store was long occupied as a neighborhood grocery store, before the days of supermarkets with seas of parking. Antoine Sylvia Jr. (1835-1906), an Azorian-born merchant on the island purchased the property 1879 from McCleave and operated a grocery store at this location until his death in 1906. His wife, Elizabeth C. “Lizzie” Sylvia (1850-1929), retained the property and operated a shop where she sold wallpaper. In 2015-16, the façade was restored with the installation of a salvaged façade of nearly identical detail and dimensions built at 106 Main Street in 1869 also by McCleave. This façade was salvaged for re-installation here when that building was demolished in 2001. The Sylvia Store was given a preservation easement after the restoration, preserving it for another 150+ years to come!

Broad Street Association Building // 1805

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One of the few remaining Federal period buildings in Downtown Boston is this survivor located on Broad Street, one of the best streets in the city! The building was constructed for the Broad Street Association, which was made up of members: Uriah Cotting, Harrison Gray Otis, Francis Cabot Lowell and other prominent Boston entrepreneurs with the goal to upgrade Boston’s waterfront south of Long Wharf which comprised of an outdated system of individual wharves. The organization hired the esteemed Boston architect, Charles Bulfinch to furnish plans for the building, of which they paid him $100. While this modest example of the Federal style is not Bulfinch’s best work, is is notable as he was largely responsible for changing the architectural face of Boston, not only through own designs, but also through influence on other architects and builders of the time. This building was long owned by Francis Cabot Lowell and was rented out to commercial ventures, including some of the later decades of the 1800s when it was occupied by C. D. Brooks, a maker of pickles and preserves. The building was restored by CBT Architects in 2005 as part of a larger redevelopment of the block which includes a mid-rise apartment building, Folio.

Jennings Block // c.1787 & c.1860

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Old buildings always have so many stories to tell, and many of those stories are much more than what you can see at first glimpse. This commercial block on the main corner in Southport Village, Fairfield, Connecticut was originally built as a two-story Georgian house with gambrel roof. You heard that right! This corner was the site of a c.1787 Georgian house built for Miah Perry (1766-1814). By the 1860s, the building was owned by Nehemiah Jennings, who took advantage of the prominent site and lack of commercial buildings elsewhere and lifted the old Miah Perry House up, adding a ground commercial floor, extended the building to fill the site, and changed the roof to be a more fashionable Mansard style. Today, the building looks indistinguishable from the late 18th century beginnings, but according to researchers, some of the old beams are still in there!

Roswell B. Fitch Store // 1851

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Roswell Burrows Fitch (1833-1908) was born in the seaside village of Noank to parents Elisha and Mary P. Fitch. At twelve years of age he commenced to be self-supporting, and from then until he was fourteen, occupied a clerkship in a general store in town. In his teens, summers were spent aboard ships fishing for a livelihood, and his winters attending school. Upon completing his education, he became clerk in a store, and was afterwards engaged to assume the management of a union store which was erected for the special purpose of being placed under his charge. This building was constructed as the union store in 1851 with eighteen-year-old Roswell becoming an active partner in the business. In his twenties, he slowly bought out, one-by-one, the twelve other owners, until he possessed absolute control. The eclectic Greek Revival and Italianate style building features classical detailing, but with a bracketed cornice and gambrel roof which is capped by a parapet. Mr. Fitch retired from business in 1890 and got to work “Victorianizing” his nearby home. Stay tuned for the next post which features his home in Noank.