The B B Chemical Company is an historic office and industrial building at 784 Memorial Drive in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. It was built in 1937 for the Boston Blacking Company, an adhesive manufacturer whose most famous brand name was ''Bostik'', to a design by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott, and is a prominent local example of

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

architecture. From 1979 to 1996, it served as the headquarters of the

Polaroid Corporation Polaroid is an American company best known for its instant film and cameras. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of its Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,00 ...

. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982 under the incorrect name "B and B Chemical Company". It is now owned by

The Bulfinch Companies The Bulfinch Companies, Inc. is an American real estate firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. History Bulfinch was founded in 1936 by Samuel W. Poorvu, a Lithuanian immigrant who began his career as a bricklayer, and soon started a small ...

Needham, Massachusetts Needham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A suburb of Boston, its population was 32,091 at the 2020 U.S. Census. It is home of Olin College. History Early settlement Needham was first settled in 1680 with the purchase of a ...

Description and history

The former B B Chemical Company building is located in the

Cambridgeport Cambridgeport is one of the neighborhoods of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, the Charles River, the Grand Junction Railroad, and River Street. The neighborhood contains predominantly residential homes, many of the ...

neighborhood of Cambridge, on the east side of Memorial Drive between River Street and Pleasant Street Extension. It is a basically rectangular structure, with a four-story central section flanked by three-story wings. It has a frame of steel and concrete, and is mainly faced in buff brick. The central section is recessed from the wings, but a projecting cornice on the wings extends over the recess area to provide a curved canopy over the entrance. The central part of the center section is even taller, with a projecting rounded window bay topped by a clock face. The wings are symmetrical, with the ground floor composed mainly of glass blocks interspersed with regularly spaced horizontal windows. The upper floors are defined by long bands of horizontal windows. The building was designed by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott and built in 1937 for the B B Chemical Company, a subsidiary of the

United Shoe Machinery Corporation United Shoe Machinery Corporation (USMC) was a U.S.-based manufacturer of various industrial machinery, particularly for the shoe manufacturing industry and monopolized the American shoe machinery business. It was an important federal govern ...

since 1929. In 1946, it described itself as supplying "adhesives and related compounds for the shoe leather, aircraft, rubber clothing and shipbuilding industries". The facility, which include a more simply designed second building behind this one, produced adhesives used in the shoe manufacturing process at other plants. It served as the headquarters for the

starting in 1979. It is now owned by

, and is occupied b
Harvard University's Information Technology
group (HUIT).

External links

A 1946 photo showing the building labelled B B CHEMICAL
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:B B Chemical Company Industrial buildings completed in 1937 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Streamline Moderne architecture in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Description and history

External links

See also

References