State Street Block (built 1857) is a granite building near the waterfront 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 ...

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 ...

. Architect

Gridley James Fox Bryant Gridley James Fox Bryant (August 29, 1816 – June 8, 1899), often referred to as G. J. F. Bryant, was a Boston architect, builder, and industrial engineer whose designs "dominated the profession of architecture in ostonand New England." ...

designed it. In the 1850s "the Long and Central Wharf Corporation ... sold each bay to individual owners, requiring that 'the granite to be used for the sidewalk & facade of each bay must be purchased from the Corporation & erected according to the architect's plan.'"

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

visited Boston in 1860, and wrote about what he saw: "Noblest of all State Street Block, east of the

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

, rough granite. The above probably one of the finest pieces of com ericalarchitecture in the world." Another visitor travelling through Boston (in 1859) called it "a magnificent block." In the mid-20th century, "nearly three-quarters of the original 22-bay building ... was amputated for construction of the

Central Artery The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts; it is designated as Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3. The original Artery, constructed in the 1950s, was named after ...

... and the roofline of the remainder has been destroyed."Petronella and Gordon. 2004; p.10. The surviving portion of the block was added as part of the

Custom House District Custom House District is a historic district in Boston, Massachusetts, located between the Fitzgerald Expressway (now Purchase St. / the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway) and Kilby Street and South Market and High and Batterymarch Streets. Nam ...

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 1973.

References

Images

File:StateStreetBlock Boston bySoule G90F368 037F detail 2 .jpg, State St. Block, ca.19th c., looking from waterfront File:1870 FinancialDistrict Boston map byFFuchs JohnWeik detail2.png, Detail of 1870 overview of Boston, showing Custom House, and State Street Block at waterfront File:Boston harbor and East Boston from State St. block, by Soule, John P., 1827-1904 2.jpg, The view of Boston Harbor from State Street Block, ca.19th c. File:2008 StateStreetBlock Boston 2214858271.jpg, State Street and State Street Block, 2008 File:State Street Block - Boston, MA.jpg, State Street Block, 2015 Commercial buildings completed in 1857 History of Boston Financial District, Boston Commercial buildings in Boston Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Commercial blocks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts 1857 establishments in Massachusetts

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