The Berger Factory is a historic factory building at 37 Williams Street in
Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1902, it was home to one of the nation's first manufacturers of precision engineering and surveying instruments, and a surviving example of Roxbury's late 19th-century industrial development. It was listed on 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 1980, and now houses residences.
Description
The former Berger Factory is located just north of Roxbury's central
Nubian Square
Nubian Square (formerly Dudley Square) is the primary commercial center of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located at the intersection of Dudley Street and Washington Street. It has long been the center of African American cul ...
(formerly Dudley Square), on the north side of Williams Street between Shawmut Avenue and Washington Street. It is a relatively architecturally undistinguished brick industrial building, three stories in height, and covered by a flat roof. A single-story ell, also with a flat roof gives the building an L shape. The street facing facade is basically ten bays wide, with windows on the first two floors topped by brick segmental arches, and those on the third with stone lintels. Left of the window bays is an eleventh bay, with a bricked-over smaller window on the ground floor, and decorative brickwork on the levels above, capped by a round-arch projection with a round window. The interior of the building has been converted into residential use.
The Berger Company was founded in 1871 by Christian Berger, a German immigrant who had learned the manufacture of precision surveying instruments in England. At first known as Buff and Berger, it was originally located in downtown Boston, moving to this newly constructed facility in 1902. The main block was designed by Boston architect George Moffette, and the ell, added in 1907, was the work of Henry J. Preston. The company occupied these premises until 1976, when it moved to a new facility in
Mattapan
Mattapan () is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Historically a section of neighboring Dorchester, Mattapan became a part of Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mattapan is the original Native American name for the Dorchester ar ...
. After being vacant for some years, it was converted into residences.
[
The Berger Company was the first American manufacturer of precision engineering equipment. Its gear was used in surveys for the ]Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...
, in the construction of New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
skyscrapers, and in American polar expeditions of Admiral Richard E. Byrd
Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...
and Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...
.[
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Industrial buildings completed in 1902
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Industrial buildings and structures in Boston
National Register of Historic Places in Boston