Downtown Boston Architecture

Liberty Tree Block // 1850

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

Boston Young Men’s Christian Union Building // 1875

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The Boston Young Men’s Christian Union was founded in 1851 by a group of Harvard students as a biblical and christian literature discussion group, which incorporated the following year. First located on School Street, the organization’s activities were to provide a focal point for the intellectual, religious, and social life of primarily middle-class, well-educated Christians. The organization grew to the point that a new building was needed, and in 1873, a site on Boylston Street was acquired as a perfect central location for the group. Architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee of Bradlee and Winslow was hired to design the structure, principally because Mr. Bradlee by then a prominent architect and public figure, was also a life member of the Union and the brother of one of its founders. The building was completed in 1875 and included ground floor retail with an auditorium, gymnasium, library, social and game rooms, and offices for the Union above and behind. Designed in the High Victorian/Ruskinian Gothic style, derived from a mixture of English, Italian, French, and some German Gothic precedents, the style emphasized complicated, asymmetrical massing, polychromy, ornate details, and lancet or Gothic arched openings, in this building a sandstone facade was used. The building became a City of Boston Landmark in 1977. In 2016, the building was converted to an affordable housing development by The Architectural Team Inc., and called “The Union”. The development provides 46 units of affordable housing, including 25 targeted to those who have experienced homelessness. What a great rebirth of the building. Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing can work together and create great projects.

Hilt-Rayner Houses // 1844

Buildings of New England2 Comments

This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. At the end of the street, the Hilt-Rayner Double House remains in great condition and a reminder as to the residential character of the area in the first half of the 19th century. The houses were built by Henry Hilt, a housewright who owned one unit after completion. The other unit was owned by Thomas L. Rayner, who appears to have rented the unit out. The late example of the Greek Revival style in the rowhouse form is well preserved through nearly 200 years of use. Beginning in the 1920s, the two homes were acquired by the Tavern Club, a private social club established in 1884 in the house next door. It remains owned by the Tavern Club today.

Tavern Club // c.1819

Buildings of New England1 Comment

This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. This Federal period house was built in the 1810s for Beza Tucker (1771-1820), who rented the home to boarders until his death in 1820. Tucker bequeathed the house to the American Society for Educating Pious Youth for Gospel Ministry, a nationwide association formed in 1815 with the goal of providing financial support to men seeking a theological education. The Society sold the house in 1834 to Reverend Nehemiah Adams, when he became pastor of the Essex Street Church in Boston. Since 1887, the building has been the home to the Tavern Club, a venerable Boston social and dining club that was invite-only. Presidents in the early years included William Dean Howells, Charles Elliot Norton, Henry Lee Higginson. Inside, the eclectic English pub/Colonial interior with its cozy atmosphere included dining rooms, sleeping accommodations for guests, and a small theatre for annual club productions. The Tavern Club is still in operation and maintains the building today. I can only imagine how great the interior is!

Hotel Pelham // 1857-1916

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Built in 1857 at the prominent intersection of Boylston and Tremont streets in Boston, the Hotel Pelham is said to have been the first apartment building of its type in America. Seen as a high-end apartment building, not like the slum-like tenements in New York and elsewhere in Boston, the units were like French-flats for medium-term renters, rather than short-term stays. The Hotel Pelham was developed by Dr. John Homer Dix, a doctor who took a keen interest in providing healthy accomodations for city-folk. The Hotel Pelham was designed by architect Alfred Stone, as an early example of the Second Empire style, with a French Mansard roof and stone facades. Just about a decade after the building was completed, Tremont Street (which runs along the side of the building) was set to be widened. This work would require the partial (and likely full) demolition of the Pelham Hotel. Rather than see his building face the wrecking ball, Dr. Dix, in 1869, had the Hotel Pelham slid off its foundation, and moved westward thirty feet to accommodate the expanded Tremont Street. This incredible feat of engineering was undertaken by John S. Blair, with architect Nathaniel Bradlee overseeing updates to the facades and interiors. The building would survive a gas main explosion in 1897, but succumbed to redevelopment during WWI, when the building was demolished for the present building on the site, the Little Building.

Little Building // 1917

Buildings of New England2 Comments

The Little Building sits prominently at the busy corner of Boylston and Tremont streets overlooking the Boston Common. Like the Colonial Theater next door, the Little Building was designed by architect Clarence Blackall and named after its developer and owner, John Mason Little. Blackall designed the Little Building in the Neo-Gothic style with a steel frame and a two-story Tudor-arched entrance on Boylston Street. The original facade was granite and cast stone, and the floors were made from reinforced concrete. The building replaced the Hotel Pelham which occupied the site since the 1850s. After being completed in 1917, the Little Building was considered significant enough that it was featured in American Architect and Building News, highlighting many architectural details inside and out. The Little Building was advertised as a “City Under One Roof” with 600 offices, dozens of shops, a post office, restaurants, and connections to the nearby subway and theaters. Emerson College purchased the Little Building in March 1994 for $5 million and converted the building to dormitories. After years of deteriorating masonry, Emerson College hired Elkus Manfredi Architects to oversee a full renovation of the building, including a sweeping facade restoration and the insertion of three glazed elevations between street-facing light wells. The “new” Little Building is a splendid re-imagining of a historic building, showing how old buildings can be renovated to meet contemporary uses through well intentioned design and care.

Colonial Theater Building // 1899

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

One of my favorite buildings on Boylston Street in Boston is the ten-story Colonial Theater Building, a landmark Classical Revival style structure of stone. Built in 1899, the Colonial Theater replaced the original Boston Public Library building (1855) which was demolished by 1898, and relocated to Copley Square. The Colonial Theater was designed by famed theater architect, Clarence Blackall and is said to be the oldest, intact theater in Boston. The theatre first opened its doors for a performance of Ben-Hur on December 20, 1900 with a sold out show. Ben-Hur operated with a cast and crew of 350 people and featured eight live horses on stage in full gallop during the chariot race scene, with the play being so mechanically and technically extraordinary it was featured on the cover of Scientific American. While cheekily named the Colonial Theater, the interior theater spaces were anything but. The spaces originally contained murals and Baroque style finishes, many of which remain today. Beyond the 1,700-seat theater, the building contained between 250-300 professional offices. The building is owned by Emerson College, who underwent a massive restoration project of the building with Elkus Manfredi architects. Allowing the oldest Boston theater to shine again!

Walker Building // 1891

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston // 1972

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.

South Street Building // 1899

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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.