Post Office Square (est. 1874) 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 language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

is a

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

located in the

financial district A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

at the intersection of

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

, Pearl and Water Streets. It was named in 1874 after the United States Post Office and Sub-Treasury which fronted it, now replaced by the

John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse The John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse, formerly the United States Post Office, Courthouse, and Federal Building is a historic building at 5 Post Office Square in Boston, Massachusetts. The twenty-two-story, skyscraper was built betwe ...

. The square is almost entirely occupied by a privately owned and managed but publicly accessible park, Norman B. Leventhal Park, named for the Boston building manager and designer who designed it. It sits above a parking garage, named "The Garage at Post Office Square." The garage descends to below the surface, at the time one of the deepest points of excavation in the city. Revenues from parking fund the maintenance of the park. The park is a popular lunchtime destination for area workers. It features a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

, fountains, and a

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

around a central lawn, and the management provides seat cushions for visitors during the summer. Designed by landscape architect
The Halvorson Company
the park is also home to "125 species of plants."

History

Post Office Square Garage Boston in 1980s

In the 18th century, rope manufacturers occupied the area, then it became a residential district, and later a business and commercial area. The

Great Boston fire of 1872 The Great Boston Fire of 1872 was Boston's largest fire, and still ranks as one of the most costly fire-related property losses in American history. The conflagration began at 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, 1872, in the basement of a com ...

swept through the area, and as rebuilding began the area began to be called Post Office Square after the new United States Post Office and Sub-Treasury Building which faced the square. In 1874, the headquarters of the

New England Mutual Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

, designed by

Nathaniel Bradlee Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888) was a Boston architect and a partner in the firm of Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell. Life Bradlee was born in Boston to Elizabeth Davis and Samuel Bradlee. He married Julia Rebecc ...

, was erected in the square on the site of what is now Norman B. Leventhal Park. This building was demolished in 1945, and a large parking garage which filled the area of the present park was erected, being completed in 1954. Post Office Square was the site of a 1964 speech by

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

. There was a transformer explosion and fire in the One Post Office Square building in December 1986. An electric company worker was killed but it was after normal business hours and the building was able to be evacuated with only a few injuries. The above-ground parking garage was demolished in 1988. The new garage, entirely underground, was opened in 1990 at a cost of $18 million, and the park above it was completed in 1992.

Major buildings

Significant buildings on the square include the following: *

* New England Telephone and Telegraph Building is a historic structure built in 1947 at 185 Franklin Street. It is
Pending Boston Landmark
A developer purchased the building in 2011 and renamed it "50 Post Office Square." In this building, the laboratory in which the first

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

was built has been reconstructed. *

Langham Hotel Boston Langham Hotel Boston is a luxury hotel in a historic building located at 250 Franklin Street in the financial district of Boston, Massachusetts. Constructed in 1922, with a 1953 addition, the architecturally significant structure was the first Fed ...

, a building that until 1977 housed the

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers New England: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and all of Connecticut except ...

In 1978 it was designated 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 ...

. *

One Post Office Square One Post Office Square is a 42-floor modern skyscraper in the Financial District section of Boston, Massachusetts. The skyscraper is Boston's 12th-tallest building, standing 525 feet (160 m) tall. The building has exactly 831,975 square feet ...

* 100 Federal Street *Ten Post Office Square (Atlantic National Bank Building) built 1924, a pending

, petition accepted for further study in 2000.

Notes

External links

The Norman B. Leventhal ParkGarage at Post Office SquareSAH Archipedia Building Entry
{{Streets and squares in Boston 1874 establishments in Massachusetts Squares in Boston Financial District, Boston Privately owned public spaces