The Landmark Center or 401 Park Building in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

is a commercial center situated in a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and brick

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building built in 1928 for

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

. It features a tower and, as Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, it is 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 ...

and designated as a

Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...

in 1989. The building is located at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Avenue; also the meeting point of the Riverway and the

Back Bay Fens The Back Bay Fens, often called The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fe ...

, two links of the

Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appear ...

park system designed in the 19th century by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co ...

. It is one of the tallest buildings in its vicinity, and viewers on top of the tower can see the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, and the

Great Blue Hill Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet (194 m) located within the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Randolph and Canton, Massachusetts, about south of downtown Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County and the Greater Boston area. The ...

in Milton.

History

Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store

Development and vacancy

The Landmark Center building was the last of a series of Sears distribution centers designed by

George C. Nimmons George Croll Nimmons (June 8, 1865 - June 17, 1947) was an American architect. Nimmons was best known for his commercial work, which was primarily for Sears, Roebuck and Company, but he also designed several houses, including a Kenwood, Chicag ...

, and was completed in 1928. For nearly sixty years it served as a warehouse and distribution center for Sears, Roebuck and Company and offered local bargain-hunters an opportunity to obtain merchandise at below-

catalog Catalog or catalogue may refer to: *Cataloging **'emmy on the 'og **in science and technology ***Library catalog, a catalog of books and other media ****Union catalog, a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries ...

prices. Sears closed the distribution center in January, 1988, and the building became vacant. Various developers investigated new uses for the property and it came close to being demolished several times.

Midtown Exchange

The Landmark Center has a sister building, which was also originally designed for Sears, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Sears, Roebuck and Company Mail-Order Warehouse and Retail Store. In 2005, it was converted into the

Midtown Exchange The Midtown Exchange is a historic structure and mixed-use building located in the Midtown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is the second-largest building in Minnesota in terms of leasable space, after the Mall of America ...

, including an international bazaar and food court known as the Midtown Global Market. Like the Landmark Center, the Midtown Exchange has a large medical group as a cornerstone in the building.

Restoration of Sears building

After purchasing the former Sears property, The Abbey Group (a Boston-based real estate concern) contracted the architectural firm of Bruner/Cott & Associates to convert it into a profitable rental space. Bruner/Cott took special consideration for the original character of the building while adding distinctive features including a seven-story tall interior space lit by oversized skylights that deliver natural light to interior office spaces. The conversion was recognized with awards including: * 2001 Preservation Achievement Award, Boston Preservation Alliance * 2001 Reconstruction Award, Building Design & Construction * 2002 Preservation Award, Massachusetts Historical Commission Derelict for a time before being reopened in fall 2000, the building now houses retail stores (including REI and Staples), a 13-screen movie theater, a 1,700-space parking garage, a sports complex and a

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

center; as well as office space largely occupied by tenants related to the medical field and the nearby

Longwood Medical and Academic Area The Longwood Medical and Academic Area (also known as Longwood Medical Area, LMA, or simply Longwood) is a medical campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Flanking Longwood Avenue, LMA is adjacent to the Fenway–Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and Mission H ...

: the anchor, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts occupied the majority until its departure in 2015, while most of the additional offices are rented by

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...

. Boston Children's Hospital has administrative offices as well, in addition to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Toast is currently the largest tenant in the building. A food hall, Time Out Market, opened in 2019 on the ground floor of the building. Also in 2019, Trillium Brewing Company opened a taproom in a new greenhouse-like structure with outdoor seating area, on the grounds of 401 Park. On January 5, 2021, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. disclosed that it was purchasing the Landmark Center for $1.52 billion to continue developing the property as a life science hub.

References

Notes

Bruner/Cott

External links

* City of Boston
Landmarks CommissionSears Building Study Report
1989
401 Park , Boston Food, Shopping, Offices & Events
{{Boston skyscrapers Commercial buildings in Boston Harvard Medical School Economy of Boston Art Deco architecture in Massachusetts Sears Holdings buildings and structures Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places Fenway–Kenmore Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Retail buildings in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston