Athenæum Press is an historic building located at 215 First Street in

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 ...

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

. The structure occupies the entire block between First Street, Second Street, Athenæum Street, and Linskey Way, which was formerly known as Munroe Street. Topped by a statue of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

sculpted by Adio diBiccari, the building is visible from the nearby

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 ...

and the

Longfellow Bridge The Longfellow Bridge is a steel rib arch bridge spanning the Charles River to connect Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Kendall Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bridge carries Massachusetts Route 3, US Route 3, the MBTA Re ...

History

The Athenæum Press was designed by the architecture firm, Lockwood, Greene, and Company, with tile vaults designed by the Guastavino Company. The building was completed in 1895. The structure was built for

Edwin Ginn Edwin Ginn (February 14, 1838 – January 21, 1914) was an American publisher, peace advocate and philanthropist. Biography Ginn was born in Orland, Maine, on February 14, 1838, into a Universalist farming family who were descendants of early ...

and

Ginn & Company Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...

, owners of ''The Athenæum Press'', to house its printing operations, and was built using principles of late nineteenth-century textile mill construction. Due to its highly visible location, the building was given a number of stylistic embellishments, including a large sculpture of

Ancient Greek temple Greek temples ( grc, ναός, naós, dwelling, semantically distinct from Latin , "temple") were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in ancient Greek religion. The temple interiors did not serve as meeting places, ...

implemented in brick, patinated copper, and glass. The building 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 ...

in 1982. The building was the third major printing house built in Cambridge (after those of

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

and

Riverside Press Riverside Insights is a publisher of clinical and educational standardized tests in the United States; it is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It is also a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers. Riverside Insights was establish ...

), and one of the first major industrial sites on Cambridge's riverfront. The building has of floor space and was renovated circa 2005. The facility was used for many years to print textbooks. Ginn & Company later became part of Pearson Education. As of 2019, occupants include the Cambridge Athletic Club, Partners HealthCare Innovation, the

Lean Enterprise Lean enterprise is a practice focused on value creation for the end customer with minimal waste and processes. The term has historically been associated with lean manufacturing and Six Sigma (or Lean Six Sigma) due to lean principles being popu ...

Institute, SAGE Therapeutics, Constellation Pharmaceuticals and several other small businesses.

References

External links

Souvenir of the Athenaeum Press
by Ginn and Company, 1903. A 24-page book with descriptions and photographs, available for free download.

showcasing printing activities in the building in 1925. Moviecraft archive. {{Authority control Commercial buildings completed in 1895 Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts

History

See also

References

External links