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 headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

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 ...

. 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, Massachusetts, Boston architect, Building, builder, and industrial engineering, industrial engineer whose designs "dominated the pr ...

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 Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

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 ...

, 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 the concurrent section of Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3 through Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The modern-day Artery, built as part of the Big Dig from ...

... 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 (United States), 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 ...

to 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 ...

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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