Nomination for Stearns, R. H., House

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 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM RECEIVED MAY 1 3 1980 DATE ENTERED 4-6 1080 SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME R. H.

Stearns Building HISTORIC AND/OR COMMON Same 2 LOCATION 3 5 STREET & NUMBER 140 Tremont Street CITY, TOWN Boston - NOT FOR PUBLICATION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 9th STATE Massachusetts - VICINITY OF CODE 025 COUNTY Suffolk CODE 025 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY _DISTRICT X BUILDING(S) STRUCTURE _SITE LOBJECT OWNERSHIP _PUBLIC *PRIVATE _BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION _IN PROCESS _BEING CONSIDERED STATUS _OCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED XWORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE XYES: RESTRICTED _YES: UNRESTRICTED _NO PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM _COMMERCIAL _PARK EDUCATIONAL XPRIVATE RESIDENCE _ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS _GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION _MILITARY -OTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME The Stearns Company STREET & NUMBER 84 State Street CITY.TOWN Boston - VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION STATE Massachusetts 02109 COURTHOUSE.

REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETSuffolk County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER CITY. TOWN Pemberton Square Boston Massachusetts REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets öf the Commonwealth of Massachusetts DATEJuly 1979 _FEDERAL XSTATECOUNTY_LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Massachusetts Historical Commission CITY. TOWN Boston MA 0210&ATE 7 DESCRIPTION CONDITION -EXCELLENT XGOOD FAIR -DETERIORATED _RUINS _UNEXPOSED CHECK ONE -UNALTERED X ALTERED CHECK ONE XORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DATE. DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

The R.H. Stearns building is located in Boston's mercantile district at the inter- section of Tremont Street and Temple Place. The building is adjacent to historic Boston Common (NR) and is in proximity to the Washington Street retail district, the Beacon Hill (NR) residential district and Boston's theatre district. The R.H. Stearns Department Store, an example of restrained Beaux Arts classical style, erected in 1909 as a ten story building with a high ornamental parapet. In the late twenties, an additional floor was added behind the parapet walls. This three bay by twelve bay, free standing, flat roofed, steel frame structure is faced in limestone, granite and brick. The two dressed facades facing Tremont Street and Temple Place are primarily limestone.

The major entrance to the store faces the Boston Common with an additional entrance at the center of the building along Temple Place. The facades are divided into three sections consisting of a two story base, a central and an upper section. The Tremont Street facade (northwest) is three bays wide stressing a vertical organi- zation of fenestration beginning with the elaborate storefront and culiminating in round arched windows visually connecting the ninth and tenth floors. At base section, in the street level two full height display windows flank each side of the main entrance. A cast iron marquee detailed in Beaux Arts tradition overhangs the main entrance. Bronze letters, affixed to the marquee, identify R.H. Stearns and Company. A handsomely detailed project- ing balcony, supported on decorative brackets, covers the entrance at the level of the second story windows.

The windows, both double bay, double hung, and encased in cast 1ron, are accented with carved stone work on either side, and balustrades below. A projecting cornice, beneath which the R.H. Stearns logo is affixed, separates the base from the sixth story central section. In this central section, a three-double bay window pattern is regularly maintained. A similar, though more elaborate cornice sets off the top portion of the building. At the top level windows are full height and arched with carved keystones to provide a magnificent view of the Common, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay. A decorative balcony adorns the middle bay. Above the arched ninth floor windows a projecting and handsomely detailed cornice supports a balustraded parapet. The Temple Place facade (southwest) is twelve bays wide with the five westernmost bays projecting slightly and detailed like the Tremont Street facade.

A similarly articu- lated marquee identifies the pedestrian entrance in the sixth bay. A service entrance is located at the rear of the facade. The remaining two elevations do not have street exposure and are treated simply. The southeast elevation abuts another building for five stories; the upper five stories are faced with buff brick and contain regularly spaced rectangular window openings. northeast elevation is also faced with buff brick with the exception of its northernmost bay which is faced with limestone. It continues the vertical fenestration pattern cul- minating in a round arch of the facade but lacks the detail. The exterior of the Stearns Building remains unaltered with three minor exceptions: the loss of the bronze spread eagle flagpole finial which was donated by R.H. Stearns to the U.S.

Navy for the original masthead of the USS Massachusetts, the removal of the glass canopies which originally adorned the Tremont Street entrance marquee, and the replacement of 1/1 sash with 2/2. The building interior was designed for retail use with wide open sales areas. The ground floor sales area was originally most refined in its ornamentation and furnishing with detailed plasterwork and cabinetry. The interior has been constantly changed during the building's use as a department store, as sales departments and tastes changed. The original interior detailing has been removed except for the ground floor display windows and some areas of ornamental ceiling work.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD _PREHISTORIC -1400-1499 - 1500-1599 -_1600-1699 -1700-1799 - 1800-1899 X1900- AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION -LAW AGRICULTURE _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE X ARCHITECTURE -EDUCATION -MILITARY ART ENGHNEERING -MUSIC XCOMMERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY. -COMMUNICATIONS _INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _INVENTION _RELIGION _SCIENCE -SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _THEATER -TRANSPORTATION OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1909 BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT Parker, Thomas & Rice, architects Wells Bros. Co., builder STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The R.H. Stearns Building, which retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship, is significant for its role in the social and cultural history of Boston, as a significant example of the work of Parker, Thomas and Rice, and as an important example of turn of the century restrained Beaux Arts classical commercial buildings. The R.H. Stearns Building was designed in 1908-1909. Its architects, Parker, Thomas and Klce, were recognized by contemporary critics as being among Boston's most Skilltul designers of the early 1900's. J. Harleston Parker (1873-1930) F.A.I.A., a graduate of Harvard College, studied architecture at M.I.T. and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. On his return to Boston in 1900 he began architectural practice in partnership with Douglas H.

Thomas (1872-1915), F.A.I.A., a Johns Hopkins graduate who also trained at M.I.T. and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In 1907 (after the design of the Fenway Studios), Arthur Wallace Rice (ice - hat most of thetr oe edoe fomistowes edecuted aneeof pan ostoongn Baltimore. The firm's major Boston works include the R.H. Stearns Department Store, the 1921 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Building, the Harvard Club, the Tennis and Racquet Club, and a number of downtown elevator office buildings. Although their work demon- strates an ability to work comfortably in a variety of styles, a marked preference for Neo-classical and Renaissance Revival styles is evident.1 As noted in the Architectural Record of August 1913, 7'the store for the R.H.

Stearns & Co., is scrupulously simple in its general appearance, and both economical in the amount of ornamentation, and reticent in its effect....one detects the possible influence of a desire on the part of the store owner to be solid and unpretentious but none the less smart-like a good old Boston family.2 The building is an excellent example of restrained Beaux Arts classicism, popular in commercial buildings at the turn of the century. The structural framework and the in- terior purpose of the R.H. Stearns Building reveals a similar quality in the choice of materials and design. Built with reinforced concrete and structural steel, the building was exemplary of the most current technology. The ceiling detailed in rosettes of terra cotta and plaster, was equipped with one of the first sprinkler systems utilized in the City of Boston. The R.H.

Stearns Store was a special refinement in retailing in American history, and as such has played an important role in the cultural history of Boston. The American department store is largely a product of the years from 1860 to 1910, with several factors besides the example of Bon Marche particularly important in its development. Increased urban population meant that large numbers of people lived within comparatively small areas and were easily able to reach almost any place in town via improved mass transportation systems. Horse-drawn trolleys, charging a reasonable fare, carried many potential cus- tomers from every section of town to the point of sale. Also, the lowering of the price

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES "Notes on the Works of Parker, Thomas, and Rice of Boston and Baltimore," Architectural Record, Volume XXXIV, No. 11, August 1913. Parker, J. Harleston; Thomas, Douglas H; and Rice, Arthur W., Original Plans & Drawings Withey, Henry F. and Elise Kathburn, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased), Los Angeles, New Age, 1956. LO GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE NIUT VERIFIED ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 11,106 square feet QUADRANGLE NAME Boston South UTM REFERENCES AL19 L3/ 3,011,0,0 ZONE L4,6/9+ 121, 010) EASTING NORTHING BL,1 ZONE LL EASTING QUADRANGLE SCALE 1=24,000' Ll.Lu NORTHING FLi HLL LLJLL dLLLIL VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Please refer to the attached map.

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Candace Jenkins, National Register Editor ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET & NUMBER 294 Washington St. CITY OR TOWN Boston Judith McDonough, Boston Landmarks Comm Robert Yelton, Bay Consulting Group DATE December 1979 TELEPHONE 617-727-8470 STATE Massachusetts 02108 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESER VATION 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).

I 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 Patemah Weoburk 4/11/50 TITLE Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Colfm.

FOR NPS USE ONLY 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER ATT KEEP ER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER Anduus CHIEF OF REGISTRATION DATE 6/16/88 DATE 6 12/80 GPO 921-803 FHR-8-300A (11/78) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR HCRS USE ONLY RECEIVED MAY 1 3 1980 DATE ENTERED 8 1 CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER PAGE of paper beginning about 1830 afforded merchants economical and widely circulated advertising More available capital during the Industrial Revolution, low taxes, and cheap labor to build and staff stores also contributed to the rise of the department store in America.

These factors, together with an improved standard of living and a demand for more and better goods, encouraged many small merchants to create more efficient distribution systems by expanding their operations. When all of these factors came into focus in the late 1860's and early 1870's, the department store had a firm foot hold in America. Although the term "department store " isn't recorded in the language until 1887, when a New York establishment advertised itself as H.H. Heyn's Department Store, the idea of separate departments in stores can be found in print at least 40 years earlier.3 Jordan Marsh, just a block from R.H. Stearns, was the first to develop the department store concept totally. Eban Jordan, in partnership with Benjamin Marsh, opened a whole- sale jobbing business at 129 Milk Street in 1851.

This was the origin of the present retail business, one which is known for having introduced numerous innovations 1n the field. William Filene opened his first retail store in 1851, and subsequently he operated a number of small dry goods stores in and around Boston. In 1890, Filene leased 445-447 Washington Street (Boston, MA) creating a space believed to be the largest of the time devoted exclusively to women's ready-to-wear and accessories. Stearns and Co. established traditions of etiquette, style, and selective merchandising throughout the Boston community. While similar to Jordan Marsh in origins and concept, R.H. Stearns carved out a market niche by catering to the carriage trade. turn of the century, was a bustling commercial center where those who attained wealth were not always sure about the "correct" way to spend their money. R.H.

Stearns was successful in part because the market had confidence that items for sale in the store had been preselected for their "correctness" '. The 1909 building was perfectly matched to this concept; advertising the store's understated elegance across the Common to Boston's influential citizens living in Back Bay and on Beacon Hill. Richard H. Stearns was born in Ashburnham, MA in 1824. He was educated in district schools and at Phillips Academy, Andover, after which he taught school. In 1846, Stearns moved to Boston and worked in the store of C.C. Burr. A little more than a year later he began business for himself, opening a small store under the old Adams House on Washington Street. This was the beginning of the business in which the founder took a vital in- terest until his death in his 85th year. In 1977, R.H. Stearns Company closed its Boston store.

The building has been purchased and is being rehabilitated for use as housing for the elderly. 1. merican Aechitects (Deceased), Los Angeles lew Age, 19oary of 2. R "Notes on the Works of Parker. Thomas and Rice of Boston and Baltimore" Architectural Record, Volume XXXIV, Number II, August, 1913. 3. Hendrickson, Robert. The Grand Emporium, Stein and Day, New York, 1979, pp. 30-33. WALL LIBERTY FOUNTAIN OFAYE TE PARK 22A 20 18 3569 2350 ST.PL. PARK 6148 919 GRANARY BURIAL GROUND (CEM) DCATHOLIC INFORMATION o CENTER 6756 87,900 3120 3120 3290 8000 STREET PARK STREET CHURCH 119 STREET M.B.T.A PARK STA. MONUMENT 30 MALL MALL WINTER 30 60 L 137 1920 1940 1840 136 2806 TREMONT ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL (EPISCOPAL) 11,106 3 10/2 16 20 24 TEMPLE 55O> 1520 288 3295 3250 17,250 10,958 R.H.

Stearns Department Store 140 Tremont Street, Boston, MA Scale: 1" = 100' UTM References: 19/330100/4691100 8 200 24, 400 447 980 35 606937 39 PLACE 2548 3964 2844 PL. 5o 1810]] 2410 WINTER -1029 4630 24 22 20 S3 ST 56 6085 50 JACKSON 8160 479 WALL T127 2433 1700 3400 126125 4800 HAMILTON 122 121 120 4800 17,329 3> 35 33/464 29 25 9715 168.5 MUSIN JUN | 6 1980 Property Strasas, f. H. Building State Working Number Ma-S TECHNICAffalE 5-/3-80 1327 CONTROL Photos. 2 Maps 2 Poston Built in 1909 by the noted'auch. fiem ofParker, Thomas, E Rice, this tuilding is eligibl HISTORIAN br auchitecture ao a restrained example g Beaux arts classical commercial architectue. ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2.

3.81 Send-back Re-submit Entered -JUN | 6-1980 United States Department of the Interior -Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service R.H SteasTEARNS Be BLDG. 140 Tremont St. Boston, Ma. Suffolk co. Photo by: George DuBois, 1979 Negative filed at: George Macomber Co. 89 Brighton Ave. Boston, Ma. View of Tremont St. facade from west. #1 olz JUN | 6 1980 | MAY 1 3 1980 MON HARREN SANGS BANT Tranick Leas R.H. SEANSSTEARNS CO. _Bldg, BLDG. 100 Tremont St. Suffolk co. MAY 1 3 1980 Boston, Ma. Photo by: George DuBois, 1979 Negative filed at: George Macomber Co. JUN | 6 1980 89 Brighton Ave. Boston, Ma. Oblique view of Tremont St. & Temole P1. facades from southwest. #2012 ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACHUSETTS Date Entered JUN | 6 1930 Name Colburn, Sarah Foster, House Charles Playhouse A11 Saint's Church Stearns, R.

H., Building Grafton Inn Location Cambridge Middlesex County Boston Suffolk County Boston Suffolk County Boston Suffolk County Grafton Worcester County Also Notified Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Paul Isongas Honorable Thomas P. 0'Ne111, Jr. Honorable Brian J. Donnally Honorable John J. Moakley Honorable Joseph D. Early State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L. Weslowski Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 NR Byers/mjd 6/27/80 For further information, please call the National Register at (202)343-6401.