CultureNOW - Ditson Co. Building: C. Howard Walker and Peter Vanderwarker

Ditson Co. Building

Architect
C. Howard Walker

Dates

1917

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Description

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
The handsome structure in the center of both photos is the white marble Oliver Ditson Building, facing Boston Common on Tremont near the corner of Boylston. In the older photo, it is brand new (the builder's sign is still in a window) and stands proudly as the tallest thing in sight. In the new view, it's rather diminished by the larger structures that crowd around it.

The Ditson Co. was part of Boston's legendary Piano Row of music stores, all clustered near this corner. When it was founded in 1835, it was the nation's first music publishing company. Here at 178 Tremont, the company opened a one-stop shop in its new building in 1917. It offered sheet music, phonographs, and records, and it both sold and repaired musical instruments. The architecture is simple, elegant Classical Revival, with the 10-story building conceived as a column with a two-story base, a shaft, and a two-story capital. The architect was C. Howard Walker, who also designed buildings for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and later became director of design at the Museum of Fine Arts.

In the older view, the Ditson is flanked by other music venues. The small arched building at left is emblazoned with the words "TALKING MACHINES." It offers Victor records and Victrola players. The legendary RCA Victor logo, a white dog listening curiously to music coming out of a Victrola phonograph horn, is visible just beneath the top of the arch. The buildings at right contain to boldly advertised piano stores, along with Fred Bellows Tailor and a Waldorf Lunch cafeteria.

In the new photo, the Ditson still looks good, although the simple top-floor windows have been replaced with trendy bays. It now houses Action for Boston Community Development, a private human-services group. To the right of the Ditson is a 14-story office tower, the Ansin Building, once one of Boston's tallest. It was built in 1931 in the art deco style as the home of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company (later Boston Edison). Like other buildings nearby, it's now part of Emerson College, which uses it for media classes. To the left of the Ditson is a hip Italian restaurant, Teatro.

Lurking behind and to the left of the Ditson are chunks of the Ritz-Carlton Towers, a new development by Millennium Partners. Ritz condos peek over the Ditson's top, and to the left, just outside the photo frame, stands Millennium's popular Loews movie complex. Both Millennium and Emerson are bringing new life to the old Piano Row, and both are continuing, in fresh ways, its tradition of artistic performance.

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - Ageless Style", Boston Globe, 13 June 2004

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Location

179 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02108
United States

Nearby Items

Tremont Street at Boylston Street		308 feet
Boylston Street near the Common		386 feet
Text Walk		527 feet
Boston Massacre & Crispus Attucks Monument		702 feet
Colors on the Line		759 feet
LaGrange Street		766 feet
Washington Street at Adams House		829 feet