Historic Building

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?

West Cornwall Covered Bridge // 1864

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The West Cornwall Covered Bridge spans the the Housatonic River in the town of Cornwall, Connecticut and is one of three historic covered bridges in the state. Records indicate that a bridge was in this location as early as 1762, but many were destroyed by floods and storms over the years, and even in the past century, flooding as a result of the 1938 New England hurricane and the flood of 1955, threatened to wash the bridge away, but she survived. The 172-foot bridge has been depicted in paintings, photographs, and movies, including Valley of the Dolls a 1967 film. The charm of a historic New England covered bridge is so enchanting and has been a draw for tourists to stop by this amazing town for decades.

Old Goshen Town Hall – Goshen Players // 1895

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The first purpose-built official town building of Goshen, Connecticut, was this wood-frame structure at the main junction in the central village as the town’s first town hall. Built in 1895, the structure originally housed offices for the selectmen and town clerk, a fireproof vault for records, and a large audience-room with stage for town meetings and ceremonies. The building employs a more traditional form similar to the old Greek Revival meetinghouses built in New England in the first half of the 19th century, but with a shingled, Victorian entry tower with bell roof. When the Town of Goshen moved into its present town hall building, this structure became the home to the Goshen Players, a community theatre established in 1949, and is the second oldest continuously performing theatre group in the state.

Rockland Security Trust Building // 1912

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The Rockland Security Trust Building is a significant Colonial Revival style bank structure located on Main Street in Downtown Rockland, Maine. Built in 1912 from plans by Boston architect Richard Clipston Sturgis, the brick building is trimmed in marble, to provide a visual representation to the financial wealth and stability the bank could provide its clients. The bank closed and the building is presently occupied by an art gallery. Sadly, the rooftop deck railing takes away so much from the building’s presence.

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.

Colby Hall – Andover Newton Theological School // 1866

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Colby Hall sits perched atop a hill overlooking Newton Centre, Newton, and is located in the Andover Newton Theological School campus. The building was constructed in 1886 for the Newton Theological Institution, which was founded on this site in 1825, and used for the a Baptist seminary, educating young students in theology. By the 1860s, the school had outgrown its space and following a donation from benefactor,  Gardner Colby (1810–1879), who was treasurer of the school (and was also the benefactor and namesake of Colby College in Maine) plans were drawn up for the new lecture spaces and chapel building. The unique building was designed by Alexander Rice Esty, a prominent architect at the time, and it blends Second Empire and Romanesque Revival styles under one roof. The three-story structure is of a light buff, rough cut stone with sandstone trim and features an imposing four-story tower at the eastern end. In November 2015, the school announced that it would sell its campus and become part of Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. The Newton campus was purchased by the Windsor Park School with Colby Hall now occupied by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.

Maine State Building // 1893

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The Maine State Building is a one-of-a-kind landmark located in the Poland Springs Historic District of Poland, Maine, though it was not originally built in this location! The Victorian structure was built in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (aka the Chicago World’s Fair) as one of the State Buildings constructed by each U.S. state to highlight their history. Designed by Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost, a Lewiston, Maine native and MIT graduate, the building was constructed of granite with a slate roof. After the close of the fair, the Ricker family of Poland Spring, purchased the building from the state. They had it dismantled, moved to Maine, and rebuilt on their resort, which brought even more visitors to their property. In Maine, it reopened in 1895 as a library and art gallery for their hotel guests. Along with the Norway Building in Norway, The Dutch House in Brookline (a personal favorite), the Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry) and World Congress Auxiliary Building (now the Art Institute of Chicago) in Chicago, the Maine State Building is one of the few remaining buildings from the 1893 World’s Fair, and the only State Building remaining. It has been lovingly preserved and operated by the Poland Spring Historical Society, who operate the building as a museum.

Ashby Public Library // 1902

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The Ashby Public Library in Ashby, Massachusetts, was built in 1902, completely funded by a donation from Edwin Chapman (1841-1915) who lived across the street from the new library. Mr. Chapman was raised in Ashby and became a wealthy Boston-area merchant in the meat trade by the late 19th century. Before this library was built, the town’s library collection was housed in the Wyman Tavern. The building was designed by architect Henry M. Francis in the Neoclassical style with Romanesque detail in brick and brownstone to make the building fireproof. The library was added onto in the rear in 2006 by The Galante Architecture Studio, which is recessed and mostly visible from the rear parking area. The addition is Modern in style to distinguish itself from the main library building.

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!

Tarbell Building // 1896

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Similar to the Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Co. Building on Portland Street in the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District, the equally stunning building here was also designed by the same architect in a matching style. The building was constructed in 1896 by owner Catherine E. Tarbell , and the Boston branch of the National Casket Company moved in as tenants soon after its completion as part of its national expansion. The company would become the largest manufacturer and supplier of caskets in New England by 1906. The Tarbell building was designed by Stephen Codman in the Beaux-Arts style and is notable for its use of oxeye windows, rounded corners, and engaged pilastered facades. The company held its regional headquarters and sales offices from this building, which benefited from rail access for shipping caskets all over the region. The building is one of the finest examples of the Beaux Arts and Classical Revival styles in Boston.

The Last Tenement // c.1870s

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Originally built in the 1870s, and largely remodeled in the early 1900s, this charming building has been known locally as “The Last Tenement” of the old West End of Boston. Once part of an unbroken a row of 30 brick tenements along the east side of Lowell Street, this building typified much of the West End of Boston, a vibrant and dynamic immigrant neighborhood. Dwarfed by larger, modern apartment towers and highway off-ramps, this stand-alone building is a survivor, and should really be preserved! Here is a little history on The Last Tenement that I found. The building was originally built as a three-story residence just after the Civil War by furniture dealer, George M. Rogers. The building was rented to four families in the 1880 census, showing the diversity of the region with 20 people residing in the building of Irish, English, and German-Jewish backgrounds. At the turn of the century, an elevated rail line was laid out down Lowell Street. After WWII, the neighborhood would see a terrible demise, that has been widely told. City leaders effectively considered the vibrant immigrant neighborhood a slum, and in an effort to redevelop it to bring back middle-class families (and their tax dollars) handed much of the neighborhood to developers to start over, with little more than lip service for the displaced. This building, now with an address of 42 Lomasney Way, was occupied for some time by “Skinny” Kazonis, a low-level Mafia associate of the Angiulo Brothers, which was a leading gang in the North End until the Winter Hill Gang decided to run rackets in the area. The property sold, and residential units have been rented and the building maintained, with the assistance of a billboard for additional income for the owner. The Last Tenement showcases the strength and resilience of the old West End and will hopefully remain as a reminder of the vibrant neighborhood that was razed and replaced with mediocrity.

Old Pierce School // 1855

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Located in the heart of Brookline Village, the old Pierce School sits tucked away behind the Brookline Town Hall and other municipal and institutional buildings. The school was built in 1855 at a cost of $15,000 and later expanded in 1904 from plans by Julius Adolphe Schweinfurth, a prominent local architect. Julius had two brothers who also were architects:  A. C. Schweinfurth, who worked out of California and Charles F. Schweinfurth, out of Ohio. The Pierce School was named after Reverend John Pierce, noted pastor of the Walnut Street church during the mid 19th century. He and his wife, Lucy Tappan Pierce, were active leaders in the abolition movement in Brookline. The school was expanded a number of times until the 1970s, when the present Pierce Elementary School was built, in an unsympathetic Modern design that does little to enhance the busy street. As expected, the 1970s school will soon be demolished and replaced by a new, $212 million school. The old Pierce School will be incorporated into the new development.

Norwood Theatre // 1927

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The Norwood Theatre was built in 1927 as a high-style showpiece for the re-invigorated downtown of Norwood, Massachusetts. Built at the same time as the Norwood Town Hall building, the building was constructed at a time of great development in the town, as local entrepreneur and philanthropist, George Willet and landscape architect Arthur A. Shurcliff, created a plan to evolve Norwood from a sleepy rural town to a commercial center. Architect William G. Upham is credited with designing the theatre and he enjoyed a prolific career which encompassed the design of masonic temples, commercial blocks, theatres, homes, and of course, the Norwood Town Hall. The Norwood Theatre was designed in a high-style Spanish Renaissance Revival style and was designed for motion pictures but also included a stage for possible vaudeville and theatrical productions. By the mid-20th century, a Modern sign covered much of the original facade, and lasted until the building came under its current ownership in 2010. A careful two-year restoration brought the theatre back to its former glory.

Norwood Town Hall // 1928

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Norwood Town Hall represents the achievement of landscape architect Arthur A. Shurtleff and local financier, George Willet, to transform the village center of Norwood, Massachusetts from a sleepy rural village to a thriving commercial and cultural center of town. Plans for the municipal building began as early as 1919, with this building serving as both a town hall and memorial to the Norwood men who died in all previous wars. The building would not be completed until 1928. Designed by Norwood architect, William Upham, the building is a landmark example of the Neo-Gothic Revival style and its main feature, the 110-foot bell-tower which houses a 50-bell carillon, towers over the town common.

Point Allerton Life Saving Station // 1889

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The United States Life-Saving Service was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian efforts to save the lives of shipwrecked mariners and ship passengers. It began in 1848 when the congress appropriated $10,000 to establish unmanned lifesaving stations along the New Jersey coast south of New York Harbor. That same year the Massachusetts Humane Society also received funds from Congress for lifesaving stations on the Massachusetts coastline. It was decided to establish a life saving service station at Point Allerton after 61-year-old Joshua James and his crew rescued 29 people from four vessels wrecked in the Boston Harbor during the great storm of November, 1888. The United States Corps of Engineers had this Queen Anne style life saving station built at the northern shores of town, overlooking the Boston harbor. Joshua James became the Keeper of the station at 62, seventeen years past the mandatory retirement age of 45 for a federal appointment with the new U.S. Life–Saving Service. The station is the best-preserved of 32 stations that once lined the Massachusetts coast (most have since been demolished or adapted to other uses). It is now operated as the Hull Lifesaving Museum.