The Landmark Center or 401 Park Building in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

is a commercial center situated in a

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

building built in 1928 for

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

. 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 simply referred to as "the Fens," is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park syst ...

, 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 appears ...

park system designed in the 19th century by

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

. 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 language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, 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. ...

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 ma ...

, 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 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 Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, 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 Americ ...

, 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

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

s 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 Recreational Equipment, Inc., doing business as REI, is an American retail and outdoor recreation services corporation. It was formerly governed, and continues to brand itself, as a consumers' co-operative. REI sells camping gear, hiking, clim ...

and Staples), a 13-screen

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, a 1,700-space parking garage, a sports complex and a

day care Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

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 ...

: 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 medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

and the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

. Boston Children's Hospital has administrative offices as well, in addition to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. A

food hall A food hall is a large standalone location or department store section where food and drinks are sold. Overview Unlike food courts made up of fast food chains, food halls typically mix local artisan restaurants, butcher shops and other food- ...

, Time Out Market, opened in 2019 on the ground floor of the building. Also in 2019,

Trillium Brewing Company Trillium Brewing Company is a brewery that currently operates six facilities throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, United States. These locations include a production brewery in Canton, MA, a restaurant/taproom/beer garden in Canton, MA, a f ...

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 $1.52 billion (~$ in ) 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