Nomination for International Trust Company Building

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 REV. (9/77) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR NPS USE ONLY RECEIVED JUL 3 0 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED 7.38- SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS 1 NAME HISTORIC International Trust Company Building (use for publication) AND/OR COMMON Same 2 LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 39-47 Milk Street CITY.

TOWN Boston STATE Massachusetts 3 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY DISTRICT XBUILDING(S) -STRUCTURE SITE -OBJECT OWNERSHIP PUBLIC XPRIVATE -BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION _IN PROCESS _BEING CONSIDERED - VICINITY OF CODE 025 STATUS _OCCUPIED XUNOCCUPIED - WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE - YES: RESTRICTED _YES: UNRESTRICTED XNO .NOT FOR PUBLICATION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 9th COUNTY Suffolk CODE 025 PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE MUSEUM X COMMERCIAL _PARK -EDUCATIONAL PRIVATE RESIDENCE -ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS GOVERNMENT SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION _MILITARY OTHER: 4 OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME CDM, Inc. STREET & NUMBER 7 Water Street CITY. TOWN Boston . VICINITY OF STATE Massachusetts 02108 5 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Suffolk County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER Pemberton Square CITY.

TOWN Boston, REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS STATE Massachusetts TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts July, 1978 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Massachusetts Historical Commission FEDERAL XSTATE COUNTY LOCAL CITY. TOWN Boston STATE Massachusetts 02108 DESCRIPTION CONDITION _EXCELLENT GOOD X FAIR DETERIORATED _RUINS CHECK ONE XUNALTERED ALTERED CHECK ONE XORIGINAL SITE -MOVED DATE. - UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

The International Trust Company faces north on Milk Street near the heart of the Downtown Financial District. It is bounded on the east by Devonshire Street, on the west by Arch Street, and is close to Washington Street, the Old South Meeting House, and Post Office Square. The immediate area is characterized by a mix of four and five story post-fire (1872) commercial buildings, eight to fifteen story turn-of-the-century elevator office buildings, and modern high-rise office towers. The International Trust Company Building is a nine-story office building, constructed in two stages in1893 and 1906, five bayswide and deep,measuring approximately 100 feet on each side and 125 feet from sidewalk to cornice line. It is constructed of Toad-bearing masonry piers and walls set into a reinforced concrete foundation, with floors supported on steel I-beams.

This proto-skelton frame is faced with buff- colored Indiana limestone and has plinths of polished Quincy granite and a flat, Designed by the prominent Boston architect, William G. Preston, the original portion, completed in 1893, was eight stories high and two bays wide on Milk Street, extending the full five bays back along Devonshire. Built by the noted Boston firm of Gooch & Pray, this earlier building used portions of the foundation and internal structure of its predecessor, the five-story 'Iron Building'. Preston enlarged the 1893 building substantially in 1906, by extending it along Milk to Arch Street (adding a central bay and two end bays which duplicated the two originals) and adding a story to the top.

In the process, he converted the originally offset arched entrance on the Milk Street facade to a window, and replaced the earlier heavy, bracketed stone cornice with a lighter copper one (which is now missing). His addition matched the original scrupulously, in terms of material, style,and ornament, so that there are now no noticeable seams separating old from new construction. The addition did, however, alter the building's overall proportions, making it appear blockier and less columnar. Contemporary references to the building's style describe it as "a combination of Renaissance and Romanesque" , or, more simply, "Roman Renaissance", although to the modern eye the 'Renaissance' or Beaux-Arts elements clearly predominate. The five arcaded two-story window bays on the bottom floors of each of the three dressed facades form the building's base.

These are separated by modified Corinthian pilasters and punctuated at the top with baroque cartouches, and the section is topped with a projecting, molded string course. Because of a sloping grade towards Devonshire Street, the basement floor along the facade is at street level. Low entranceways decorated with ornate cast-iron grill- work at the Milk/Devonshire corner lead directly to this basement floor, where the safe deposit vaults were originally located. The reetangular central entrance on Milk Street is topped by a heavy segmentally arched Baroque pediment supported on paired consoles, Tlanked by large, arched windows with voluted keystones and relief-carved griffins in the spandrels.

The oxeye windows in the center of the Arch and Devonshire Street facades are surrounded by foliate carving, and framed by large allegorical figures carved by the noted New York sculptor Max Bachman (whose most notable work was the series of allegorical figures on the Pulitzer Building in New York).

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD -PREHISTORIC -1400-1499 -1500-1599 _1600-1699 _1700-1799 *X800-1899 X1900- AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE - CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC_COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION _LAW AGRICULTURE X ECONOMICS _LITERATURE X ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION _MILITARY ART "ENGINEERING _MUSIC XCOMMERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT -PHILOSOPHY. _COMMUNICATIONS -INDUSTRY POLITICS/GOVERNMENT INVENTION RELIGION _SCIENCE _SCULPTURE _SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _THEATER TRANSPORTATION _OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1893, 1906 BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT William Gibbons Preston STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The International Trust Company is significant architecturally in three areas; as a major work of a prominent Boston architect, an early example of Beaux-Arts office construction, and an early example of proto-skeleton frame construction. The building's architect, William Gibbons Preston (1844-1910) studied for a short time at the Ecole des Beauz-Arts in Paris before beginning practice in Boston in 1862. At first in association with his well-known father, Jonathan, and later on his own, Preston designed major Boston buildings in the French Academic, Romanesque, Queen Anne and Renaissance Revival manners, including the Museum of Natural History (now Bonwit Teller), the oldest portion of the Hotel Vendome, the First Corps of Cadets Armory, and the Chadwick Lead Works.

He also designed numerous Back Bay residences, demonstrating his tacile command of the eclectic architectural vocabulary of the late 19th Century. The International Trust Company Building, designed in the latter part of his career, may be his earliest Beaux-Arts design and is certainly a major work of a prominent Boston architect. Preston was also known outside of Massachusetts and designed such wel1-known buildings as the Savannah Cotton Exchange. As an early example of Beaux-Arts facade treatment on a commercial structure, the International Trust Company Building anticipates the popularity of that style, especially for large-scale or public buildings, following the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Though it retains some elements of the previously popular Romanesque Style, the building possesses a monumentality, a formality of facade organization, and an ornateness of detail which derive from the Beaux-Arts tradition and which mark it as an unusally fine example of the 'mercantile classicism' which was soon to predominate in office architec- ture. The new method of building construction based on the steel skeleton frame, developed by the so-called 'Chicago School' of architects in the 1880's and in wide use there by 1893, had an enormous impact on the scale and design of American commercial architecture. Nevertheless, these advances were slow to catch on in traditionally-minded Boston.

Thus tional load-bearing masonry walls with 'modern' (and still somewhat daring) reinforced concrete and steel framing, stands as an early Boston example of the use of these new methods and materials. The building's historical significance derives from its origin as the home office of a major New England trust company. As such, it reflects the growth of banking and finance in late 19th Century Boston, and the growth of the downtown business district, with consequent changes in land use. 1. 2 3.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Damrell, Charles S., p. 88, 316, 364, 370, 371, Illus. p. 460. American Architect, Vol. 15. No. 425 pp. 75-76, Feb. 16, 1884. Withey, Henry F. and Elsle Rathburn Wilthey, Blographical Dictlonary ot American Architects, Los Angeles, 1956, pp. 486-7. American Architect and Building News, Vol. 39 p. 14,p. 889, Jan. 1, 1893. 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 7,200 sq. ft. QUADRANGLE NAME Boston South UTM REFERENCES A1,9/ 3/ 3,0/590 :46l9.1118 0 ZONE EASTING NORTHING CLL ZONE EASTING QUADRANGLE SCALE 1:24000 L,1,L NORTHING LhILuL LiLL FLU ULLILLLIILLLI HLIJ L VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION 39-47 Milk Street, Ward 3, Assessor's parcel number 4662.

Beginning at the corner of the structure at the northwest corner of Milk and Arch Streets, running easterly to corner of thestructure at the northeast corner of Milk and Devonshire, thence turning and running southerly to the corner of the structure where it abuts LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Candice Jenkins, National Register Coordinator Matthew Kiefer, Are Boston Landmarks Commission Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET & NUMBER 294 Washington Street CITY OR TOWN Boston May.

1979 TELEPHONE 617 727-8470 STATE Massachusetts 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL - STATE_ LOCAL As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), 1 hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE HetuulWesluska 7/20/79 DATE TITLE Executive Director, Mass. Historical Commission FOR NPS USE ONLY HEREPY CERYIFY THAT THIS PROPERTV IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER DATE ATTEST: KEEP ER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER rhagret Ouluy DATE 9-10-29 2/26/28 GPO 921-803 Form No. 10-300a (Kev.

10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY RECEIVED JUL 3 0 1979 DATE ENTERED 101979 CONTINUATION SHEET 1 ITEM NUMBERS 7,8,10PAGE 7. Description continued The five-story main section of the building is divided into three horizontal segments. A bottom story of arcaded, round-arched windows with deep reveals and molded extrados is clearly derived from the work of H.H. Richardson. The middle three-story segment is composed of three bays of multiple windows separated by foliate relief-carved span- drels, and framed within carved, molded surrounds. A top story of rectangular windows sepa- rated by paired colonettes has wider, panelled divisions which continue the lines of the bay separations below.

The entire section is capped with a rinceau-carved frieze, and is framed in on the Arch and Devonshire facades by small, rectangular windows set into wide stone piers at the ends of each floor. The bottom story of the two-story section repeats the arcaded floor of round-arched windows below, except that the intermediate pilasters are fluted and, again, wider separations continue the window bay divisions below. The added top story is composed of small, rectangular windows divided by paired consoles which mirror those in the entrance pediment. The window bay divisions are marked on this floor by high relief cartouches which, like much of the carved decoration, derive from the Beaux-Arts tradition. The light color, smooth finish, and tight mortar joints of the stone facing are also evocative of Beaux-Arts monumentality and classicism.

No alterations have occurred since the major addition in 1906 except for a small roof top structure to house mechanical equipment and a small canopy at the main entrance. 8. Significance continued The International Trust Company was founded in 1879, in the wake of Boston's rapid recovery from the Panic of 1873. Originally housed in a five-story building built shortly after the 1872 Fire, the firm's steady growth in the boom years of the 1880's and early 1890's caused it to undertake the construction of a new home office on the same site, in 1893. By this time, the firm was among the four or five largest in New England, boasting combined assets of about 7 million dollars. 10.

Geographical Data continued 59 Devonshire St., thence turning and running westerly along the party wall to the corner of the srtucture where it abuts 20 Arch St., thence turning and running northerly to the beginning point. 3364 15,268 29 27 2523238 21 SCHOOL 30 28 24 !1,853 258 260 1713 3798 4600% 19/15 0Z0E 4868 9 753 ST. 279 WATER 276 R78 984 HARVARD PL 22,442 329327325319315 280 288 290 1299 29g 300 306 10e5

OLD SOUTH MEETING 8500 HOUSE MILK " 4716 SPRING LANE 70/6 24,200 597 I1 115 915 WASHINGTON 328 332 9Eg 2980 16> 175, 3742 12 17VM3S 5/56 5052 3634 23 501> 43 45 49 900 19 STREET 9481 = 8 201 28 |30 36L DEB1S 59 163 167 171 173 181 183 185 191 195 5565 HAWLEY SNOW 4901 8tlt 6504 £98£ *42 48/56 58/69 FRANKLIN 62 /64 66 68 72 70 74 35 19957 53 5557 3050 3050 5964 63 |65 67 69 osl 95 12,00 8 36 88 90 100 102 109 85 87/89 91 93 4831 12,647 PLACE ARCH 7009 6573 4997 DEVONSHIRE 11,409 BUSSEY A, 217 4176 2524 19, 126 WHINTROP SO. ° 20 19,294 38 40 42 FEDERAL BUILDING U.S. POST OFFICE COURT HOUSE TEET 60 HAWES 573/ SQUARE UMONU 48,382 77 79 8T 2468 5800 B1: FEDERAL 12/14/16 18 20 2224 30 113 115 119 125 6488 40 42 44 46 50 23,568 International Trust Co. Bldg. 45 Milk St. Boston, Ma. Scale: 1" = 100' UTI References: 19/330500/4691180 JUL 3 0 1979 1,'v- 4500.

IPARKING CONGRESS 145 STREE 9 RECEIVED JUL 3 0 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER SEP | 01979 PropertyQ nternational Juunt Company Binh ding state mass (Suffolk Working Nunber . 30. 29./812 TECHNICAL CONTROL Photos pl Maps OR 2.31.79 Home of au inuestment house foented during Botoris recovry HISTORIAN from the genie g 1823; füm had grown by the tinu conatuction inseotment feiho Vilusora to be one of New Englands 4-5 la tst auest m bilting grared, asarcations with the growth Oulug 9/10/29 d banking and ferince in late ,qth C Booton. ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN Sileeng ie naik lnoniarat Bare Aeliket William Sitomo uot. in constuctin techniques, employing looth a thel fome and boad-beareig walls.

ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory- Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 10-2-79 Send-back Re-submit Entered SEP O 979 United States Department of the Interior - Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service Boston International Trust Company Building Boston Redevelopment Athority July 1977 Photo #1 Suffoek Corunty Milk Street (north) elevation JUL 3 0 1979 SE P 10 1979 PLEASE REPRINT ONLY WITH PHOTO CREDIT AND PERDSO FROM THE PUBLC MIOAPO OFFICE, BOSTON NEOCVELOFMAO AUTRORITY MA 02201 Uhe Onmumonmealth of Massachusetts Serretary of State RECEIVED Massachusells Historical Commissiery:3 1979 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY 294 Nashinglon Areel Boston, Mrassachusells 02108 SECRETARY OF STATE (617) 727-8470 NOTIFICATION OF PROPOSED NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION HISTORICAL COMMISSION DATE: March 12, 1978 RECET ED TO: Boston Landmarks Commission ADDRESS: City Hall JUL 3 0 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER FROM: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION SUBJECT: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES THIS IS IO NOTIFY YOU THAT THE FOLLOWING PROPERTY: NAME: International Trust Company Building ADDRESS: 45 Milk Street, Boston OWNER: CDM, Inc.

is being considered by the Massachusetts Historical Conmission for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register affords recognition and protection for districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American History, architecture, archeology and culture. Listing in the National Register places no restrictions on the owner's actions unless Federal funding or licensing is involved. However, certain Federal tax consequences may result from listing in the National Register. -Please refer to section 2124 of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 for an explanation of these provisions. lease comment below, sign, and return this form at your earliest convenience to Candace Jenkins, National Register Coordinator, Massachusetts Historica. Commission at the above address.

To facilitate action on this nomination, we would appreciate yourresponse within thirty days. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Jenkins at the Commission office. Approve nomination Disapprove nomination Comments: Signature jnbita B. Mc Donaugh _Date march 14,1979 Name and Title Judita B. MaDonough, Survey Director 2/2/77 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of the Secretary of State MASSACHUSETTS 294 Washington Street HISTORICAL Boston, Massachusetts 02108 COMMISSION 617-727-8470 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY Secretary of State PROPOSED NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION NOTIFICATION TO OWNER DATE: March 12, 1979 TO: CDM, Inc.

ADDRESS: 82 Devonshire Street, Boston FROM: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION SUBJECT: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES RECEIVED NUL, NATIONAL REGISTER THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT THE FOLLOWING PROPERTY: NAME: International Trust Company Building ADDRESS: 45 Milk Street, Boston NOMINATED BY: Boston Landmarks Commission is being considered by the Massachusetts Historical Commission for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register affords recognition and protection for districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American History, architecture, archeology and culture. Listing in the National Register places no restrictions on the owner's actions unless Federal funding or licensing is involved. However, certain Federal Tax consequences may result from listing in the National Register.

Please refer to section 2124 of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 for an explanation of these provisions. Please acknowledge receipt of this notification by signing below and returning this form to Candace Jenkins, National Register Coordinator, Massachusetts Historical Commission at the address above. The State Review Board will not consider this nomination until we receive your comments or thirty days have passed from the date of notification. Written comments on the significance of this property are encouraged and may be attached to this form. Signature GRPD , Prenzaar pato 14 MAncu 73 2/2/77 CDM INC. FIDELITY GROUP 82 Devonshire Street / Boston, MA 02109 / 617-726-0370 RECEIVED M: 19 1379 MASS. HIST. COMM. 8. March 16, 1979 RECEIVED JUL 3 0 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER Ms.

Candace Jenkins National Register Coordinator Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, MA 02108 Dear Ms. Jenkins: As you may know our firm recently acquired 45 Milk Street from the Sawyer Interests with the intention of rehabilitation of the structure into a first class office building. enclosed brochure describes some of our other rehabilitation work in Boston. We are very interested in having this listed on the Register and I would be pleased to meet with you to discuss any in- formation we could provide beyond the studies by the Landmark Commission. Very truly ypurs, G. Daniel GDP : ecs Enclosure MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of the Secretary of State 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 617-727-8470 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY Secretary of State July 19, 1979 Mr.

Ronald Greenburg, Acting Chief Registration Branch Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service 440 G Street NW Washington, D.C. 20243 RECEIVED JUL 3 0 1979 NATIONAL REGISTER Dear Mr. Greenburg: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Boston -International Trust Company Building Lancaster Ponakin Bridge Lancaster VAtherton Bridge Lynn High Rock, High Rock Cottage, Daisy Cottage New Bedford New Bedford Historic District All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. 2 Sincerely, Chistine Bousding Christine Boulding Survey Director Massachusetts Historical Commission CB/ts encl.

ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER MASSACHUSETTS STATE SEP 1 0 1979 Date Entered Name Atherton Bridge Ponakin Bridge International Trust Company Building Location Lancaster Worcester County Lancaster vicinity Worcester County Boston Suffolk County Also Notified Honorable Paul G. Isongas Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Edward P. Boland Honorable John J. Moakley State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L. Weslowski Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 NR Byers/bjr 9/18/79 For further information, olease call the National Register at (202)343-6401