Boylston Building
- Architect
- Carl Fehmer
- Year
- 1887
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- City
- Boston, MA
The Boylston Building is a six-story sandstone commercial block at 2-22 Boylston Street, built in 1887 by Woodbury & Leighton to a design by Carl Fehmer. It replaced the Boylston Market, a wholesale trading exchange that had occupied the corner since 1810 in a building designed by Charles Bulfinch. Fehmer's building was one of Boston's early experiments in skeleton-frame commercial construction rather than load-bearing masonry walls, a structural approach that would soon define the skyscraper.
the building
Skeleton frame construction. Instead of load-bearing masonry walls carrying the building's weight, the Boylston Building used an internal skeleton frame to hold up its six stories - an early instance of the technique in Boston that anticipated the structural logic of the Chicago School.
Site of the Boylston Market. Before Fehmer's building rose here, this corner held the Boylston Market, a wholesale trading exchange in continuous operation since 1810 in an earlier building designed by Charles Bulfinch.
the style
The building combines Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival detailing in sandstone with an early Chicago School structural approach - a skeletal frame in place of load-bearing walls - reflecting the moment when Boston architects began adopting the structural techniques that would define the modern commercial tower.
More on Renaissance Revivalsignificance
The Boylston Building was designated a Boston Landmark in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, recognizing it as an early and rare surviving example of skeleton-frame commercial construction in the city.
nearby
- Gordon's Olympia Theatre
- Boston Young Men's Christian Union Building
- Hayden Building
- Charles Playhouse
- Wilbur Theatre
- Wang Theatre