CultureNOW - State Street, Old State House: Peter Vanderwarker

State Street, Old State House

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Description

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Almost since there has been a Boston, there has been a State Street (or a Great Street or a King Street, to give it the two names it carried before the Revolution). Running from the Old State House down to the water and then, as Long Wharf, out into the harbor, State Street has never ceased to be the backbone of the city's business life. These views show it as it looked in about 1892 and as it looks today. The two most recognizable survivors are the Old State House and the Exchange Building. There have been a few improvements at the Old State House since 1892: Its tower has been painted a light color, and its cupola has been gilded. The Exchange (in the rear middle of both photos) is the first in a row of four turn-of-the century buildings that, taken together, give this part of State Street much of its character.

The Exchange, designed in 1891 by Peabody and Stearns, unfortunately was shorn of its rear portion in 1981 to make room for the new mirror glass tower called Exchange Place, a glossy packaging job that is completely inappropriate to Boston. The second building in the row of four is the Worthington Building of 1894, a thin sliver of a building which, at 11 stories, is one of Boston's earliest steel-framed "skyscrapers." Then comes the marvelous Brazer Building rising right behind the Old State House cupola in the new photo. It was designed in 1896 by Cass Gilbert, who later designed the Woolworth Building in New York, for many years the world's tallest. The Brazer tells much about the pride and craftsmanship with which Boston's office buildings were once built. Its top two floors are treated as a loggia in the Italian Renaissance manner, with round, glass medallion windows punctuating a kind of wickerwork of stone detail that contains reed and floral motifs. At the skyline is a copper cornice with alternating spikes and shells. Down at street level, the Brazer lines the sidewalk with a dignified series of arches. Where the building curves at the comer, the glass in the windows curves, too.

The fourth building in the row is the Easton Building of 1902, by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, which now contains the Boston National Historic Park Visitor Center. A handsome structure, it is similar to the Brazer but lacks the Brazer's flair. Though none of these four buildings alone is an architectural stunner, together they are an important part of State Street. All have been included by the Boston Landmarks Commission in its Exchange District, an area of "significant" office buildings. They demonstrate that the character of a city isn't created so much by a few very special buildings as it is by plain but good groups like this.

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - All in a Row", Boston Globe, 29 September 1985

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Location

State St & Congress St
Boston, MA 02109
United States

Nearby Items

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