Nomination for Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

P& Form 10-80 A. 881 CMB Nº. 1084-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - NOV 2 9 1990* NATIONAL REGISTER This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations of eligibility for individual properties or distriots. See instruotions in Guidellnes for Completing National Register Forms (National Regiater Bulletin 16). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering . the requested information. If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, styles, materials, and areas of significance, enter only the categories and subcategories listed in the instructions. For additional apace use continuation sheete (Form 10-900a). Type all entries. 1.

Name of Property historic name Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store other names/site number 2. Location street & number 309 Park Drive and city, town Boston state Massachusetts code MA 201 Brookline Avenue county Suffolk code N/A not for publication N/A vioinity 025 zip oode 02116 3.

Classification Ownership of Property Xprivate public-local public-State public-Federal Category of Property X bullding(®) district site structure object Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing bulldinge ,sites structures .objecte Total Number of contributing resources previously llsted in the National Register _ 0 Name of related multiple property listing: State/Federal Agency Cortification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this [Xnomination request for determination of eligibillty meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property [X meets does not meet the National Register criteria. See continuation sheet.

Signature of certfying offical Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau Date Commission; In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Seo continuation sheet. Signature of commenting or other official Date State or Federal agency and bureau 5. National Park Service Cortification 1, hereby, certify that this property is: entered in the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register. L See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the National Register. removed from the National Register.

other, (explain:) Signature of the Keepe Date of Aotion Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Function or Use Historic Functions (enter categories from instructions) Commerce/Department Store; Specialty Store Current Functions (enter categories from instructions) Vacant Work in Progress 7. Description Architectural Classification (enter categories from instructions) Modern Movement/Art Deco Materials (enter categories from instructions) foundation. Limestone walls Brick; Limestone; Concrete Block roof - other Asphalt Steel; Aluminum; Glass Describe present and historic physical appearance.

Occupying a prominent location in the Fenway section of Boston at the intersection of Park Drive, Brookline Avenue and the Olmsted Park System, the Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store ("Sears") dominates its surroundings by its size, positioning and architectural design. While the original Sears Building occupies only about 29% of its 385,142 square foot trapezium site, its additions and acquisition increase this coverage to 55%, with most of the remaining land being asphalt or concrete covered parking and loading areas. Traces of the original landscaping plan (although not the plantings themselves) exist near the south corner of the building. The MBTA Riverside Line's Fenway "T" Station is located at the west corner of the site.

Since the completion of the original building in 1928-1930, the Sears Roebuck and Company complex has expanded to suit its needs, spawning two additions and incorporating a previously independent building. All four elements are now interconnected, but may be evaluated as four distinct components: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, George C. Nimmons, and Nimmons Carr and Wright, architects, 1928-1939, Sections "A-D" on the attached plan, "Sears Roebuck and Company Building Sections" Miller Building, architect unknown, 1929, Section M. Addition, Carr and Wright, architects, 1948-1949, Section E. Addition, Ballinger and Company, architects and engineers, 1966, Section F.

1928-1930 Building, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue The original Sears Building (Sections A-D) was constructed in two consecutive phases: Sections A and B plus basement and floor 1 of Section C and basement to floor 4 of Section D in 1928; floors 2-8 of Section C and 5-8 of Section D Facing Park Drive, the primary 21-bay, 442 foot-long southwest facade is the most detailed, featuring a three-bay-wide projecting central tower element flanked by 9-bay-wide wings...The, tower, 84 feet 6 inches wide at its base and. [X] See continuation sheet United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 291990 Section number Page _1 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 50 feet 6 inches square at the top, rises 200 feet (12 stones) with 3 setbacks above floors 2, 9 and 11.

It represents the building's most impressive use of Art Deco style and limestone detail at its top, and above its 2-story central entrance. The tower's three-window-wide central bay projects 5 feet from its 2-window-wide flanking bays. The first setback occurs only on the front, above the second floor. At the ninth floor the tower is set back on the southeast and northwest sides, continuing with four identically finished facades. The third setback, on all four sides, is above floor ll. Floors 1 and 12, along with floors 3 and 4, represent the most elaborate detalling or the building. Floors 10 and 12 have double-height, round-arched windows with limestone keystones supporting carved limestone attached columns which terminate in free-standing urns in the shape of stylized Corinthian-like capitals above the lith floor, and carved hexagonal posts at the top of the tower.

At the lith floor setback, ornately carved buttresses flank the central bay on all four elevations, with all detail being rendered in limestone. A second area of limestone articulation occurs above the two-story recessed main entrance on the tower, within and around the central bay. The limestone carving is in the form of stylized foliation set in a variety of geometric contexts and interspersed with smaller geometric forms. Most is relatively low relief except for the urns and other points of termination. Architectural setbacks and chamfers of limestone blocks tend to monumentalize the decorative limestone elements. The central tower is flanked by nine-bay wings, each of which has a slightly projecting three-bay portion with piers rising above the roof parapet.

Two-window bays again flank a three-window central bay in each case with the round-arched windows at floor 8 and the limestone detail similar to that at the top of the tower. Other bays on the wings have single large window openings set between wide brick piers which rise only to the parapet, with more modest limestone detail above the eighth floor windows. Southeast and northwest elevations repeat the pattern of the southwest facade's wings. The thirteen-bay southeast Brookline Avenue elevation is 262.92 feet long and incorporates two projecting 3-bay portions, complete with limestone detail similar to those on the southwest facade. The balance of the windows are similarly treated as well, except for an additional set at the second floor mezzanine of Section D. There is also a one-story entrance centered in the projecting portion nearest to Park Drive.

The northwest elevation, being only 208.85 feet with eleven bays, features only one projecting three-bay element with detail and window treatment similar to the others. Other aspects of the elevation have similar treatments as those on the southwest and southeast except on floor 1, which has been altered by the introduction of loading docks. Also, an entrance similar to that on the southeast has been removed and the three-story 1966 addition abuts the northeastern three bays of this elevation. There are limestone belt courses (continued) United States Department of the Interlor National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ / Page _< NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts above floors 2 and 8 on all three elevations, with the latter interrupted by the projecting three-bay portions.

Much of the northeast elevation is obscured from view by the 1949 and 1966 additions to the building. The visible portion reveals an industrial-like arrangement of large, regularly organized window openings, most of which are of similar size and shape. The limestone belt course seen above the eighth floor windows on the other elevation is continued on the northeast. The elevation is broken at the junction of Sections C and D, angling toward the west on Section C. There are twenty-one bays in the two sections. There are brick spandrels between window levels, with limestone sills and concrete lintels, on all elevations. All windows have fixed steel-framed units surrounding top-hinged projecting steel casements (in most cases) with the steel painted green. A 20 inch-high limestone water table serves as the base for the brick walls of southwest, southeast and northwest elevations.

Brick is laid in common bond with alternating header/stretcher bonding courses occurring every sixth course. There has been considerable replacement of brick and infill of window openings (the latter mostly on floor 1) with a brick that is similar in texture but slightly warmer in color. An earlier design for the building which appeared in The American Architect (see attachment) included store fronts or "Show Windows" in all bays on floor 1 (except the entrances) of the southwest and southeast elevations. The building as built featured only two of these large windows on the southwest plus five on the southeast. The other bays on the southeast, exclusive of the tower, had clerestory windows. All of these, as well as a number of basement lights, have been bricked up. The roof is flat with a built-up tar and gravel surface.

The brick parapet with limestone coping sits atop a "pipe tunnel" which follows the perimeter of Sections A and B of the building. Between Sections A and B and C and D are a series of unadorned brick elevator and mechanical penthouses. A steel smoke stack rises from one of these. The building structural system consists of a reinforced concrete foundation and frame, with 12 inch-thick brick exterior walls. Round mushroom columns 20 feet on center in both directions support reinforced concrete slabs at all Tevels. The columns range in diameter from 3 feet in the basement to 1 foot on floor 8. Columns in the tower are square. Ceiling heights in the main part of the building range from 9 feet 6 inches on most floors to 16 feet in the first floor retail area. Structural elements are exposed except in the lobby, on floors 2 to 8 of the tower and part of floor 2, with a cafeteria and offices.

(continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet Section number _7 Page _3 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Exclusive of the tower, which includes the main lobby with round arches, original staircase with alternating square and twisted balusters and wood handrail, more recent elevators, plus halls and offices on the upper floors (modest detail), the buildingis divided into four sections (A,B,C and D), separated by brick partitions with elevators, staircases and washrooms strung all 9 levels (basement to 8). The partition between Sections A and B is 41 Trc par pr betaen Secti ons and e tis 109 missing on floor 1 to provide uninterrupted retail space.

There are a number of non-structural partitions in the basement and on floors 1 and 2, some original but most of more recent vintage. Floors 3 through 8 have relatively uninterrupted spaces. Floor 2 of Section D and its mezzanine are packed with distribution equipment. Exposed concrete, brick and later concrete block surfaces are painted on all levels. The building contains about 1,000,000 square feet of floor space. The bulk of the interior was built as, and remains, open warehouse space featuring only concrete mushroom columns 20 feet on center in both directions. There are few later concrete block partitions and some fairly recent stud and sheetrock/plywood partitions with hung ceilings. The tower section is divided into smaller rooms but essentially without detail.

The arches in the lobby and staircase to the second floor are of some interest as is the distribution equipment (of an uncertain date) on floor 2. The original plans for the building exist and include some details of the lobby. The "spiral conveyor", a brick cylinder enclosing spiral chutes and located near the west corner of Section A on floors 3 to 8, is of particular interest as an original part of the distribution system. The building's original main switchboard is still in use in the basement. The tower has offices on floors 2 to 8, mechanical space on floors 9 to 11, and a 50,000 gallon water tank on floor 12, which services the gravity-fed sprinkler system. The Miller Building, 155-163 Brookline Avenue (Section M) Originally constructed in 1929, it was leased to the Miller Rubber Company of New England, a wholesale tire store, from 1929 to 1936.

From 1938 through 1954 it housed the Sears Service Station, and was substantially altered by Sears in 1937 and 1948. An application filed at Inspectional Services requests permission to change the use from a service station to a "super service station" which required storing much larger amounts of gasoline, lubrication oil and kerosene. Partitions were removed and "greasing pits" were added. A building permit dated January 26, 1948 gives a further scope of work as follows: "Make necessary alterations in present building to change occupancy trom service station and retall store to mail order store.

openings in wall to provide access to new addition to existing mail order (continued) United States Department of the interior Nationa Park Service NOV 2 9 1990 Natlonal Register of Historic Plases continuation Sheet Section number _7 - Page - Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts store." This work coincided with the 1949 addition and was also completed by Carr and Wright with Turner Construction as the contractor. The three-story brick and concrete building, painted yellow, has a flat roof and windows of the same style and muntins the same color as found in the main Sears building. Original cast concrete detail, featuring a stylized tire motif, has been almost entirely removed, openings have been blocked up and poor painting has caused the brick to retain water and crack.

The interior has more recently been reconfigured into office space with drop ceilings and vinyl floor covering. 1949 Addition, Section E Also by Carr and Wright, Section E serves as a connector between the Miller Building and the original Section D. The addition features a canopied loading dock and is strictly utilitarian, built of brick and concrete. It houses much of the mail order house distribution equipment. 1966 Addition, Section F Abutting Sections C, E, and M, this final addition to the Sears plant is again strictly utilitarian, a three-story brick building with loading docks, roll up metal doors, flat roof and aluminum windows. The plans drawn up by Ballinger Company envisioned future additions of 8 floors, which were not built.

(continued) nited States departmeni oi the interio etonalcerk servic National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 1 Page_4 NOV > 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Archaeological Description The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store site may contain intact remains of prehistoric Native American fishweirs from the Late Archaic Period (ca. 3000 - 1000 B.C.). These remains may consist of wooden stakes set vertically into underlying deposits in configurations to facilitate catching fish in the various tidal channels that formerly covered the Back Bay at low tide.

Portions of fishweirs have been documented underlying Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay since 1913, in 1939 at the construction site of the New England Mutual Life Company Building, at the 1946 and 1954 construction of the Old John Hancock building, the IBM building (corner of Boylston and Claredon streets), and at the 1986 construction at 500 Boylston Street. Fishweir remains in the Back Bay tend to be directly associated with the interface of clay, peat and silt deposits as are found at the Sears and Roebuck building site, varying in depth between 10 and 30 feet below surface. Preservation at these sites is generally excellent because of the high water table in the Back Bay and the extreme depth of archaeological deposits. (end) Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Certitying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: nationally | statewide LX locally Applicable National Register Criteria LXA Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Architecture Commerce Community Planning & Development Period of Significance 1928 - 1940 NOV 2 91990 Significant Dates 1928 - 1930 Cultural Affiliation N/A Significant Person N/A Architect/Builder See Continuation Sheet State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above. The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store (1928-1930) ("Sears building"), located at 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and meets National Register Criteria A and C.

Under Criterion A, the Sears building is significant for the valuable role it played in the local economy and by extension as a catalog mail order house, the building represents and reflects the changing tasks, styles and material wants and needs of late 19th throughlate 20th century American consumers. Additionally under Criterion A, the Sears building and its site are associated with the growth and development of the Fenway district. Under Criterion C, the Sears building represents an architectural style, Art Deco, that is scarce in Boston; it is an example of the work of George C. Nimmons (1865-1947), FAIA, a prolific designer of industrial and mercantile structures; and shows several advancements in building technology.

Like most massive industrial and mercantile buildings, the Sears building has seen alterations and additions over the years, yet the original structure is easily envisioned without its later (1940's and 1960's) appendages and bricked up openings. The building's integrity remains and its alterations are reversible. Not long after the first settlers arrived on the Shawmut Peninsula in the summer of 1630, the need for additional grazing and foraging land for their cattle and swine became apparent. With nearby Roxbury and Charlestown already established as separate towns, inhabitants of Boston were forced to look toward more distant shores for suitable pastures. Less than two miles westward, across amarshy bay, an area of hills, woods and pasture land appeared to be an ideal spot.

Called Muddy River, after the meandering stream which formed its boundary with Roxbury, it was eventually set off from Boston as Brookline in 1705. The first reference to Muddy River as a grazing ground in the Town Records of Boston occurred in 1634 when Edmund Quinsey, Samuel Wilbore and others were called upon to make rates for "the young cattle and cowskeeper at Muddy [X] See continuation sheet United States Department of the Interior NationalPark Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 8 Page _ NOV ? 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order,Store, Boston, Massachusetts - Between 1635 and 1641 the land at Muddy River was divided up among certain inhabitants of Boston through a series of grants, offered initially to the more prominent citizens (the first being "a sufficient allotment for a farm for our Teacher, Mr.

John Cotton") and subsequently to "the poorer sort ot the Inhabitants...(who) have no Cattell, shall have their proportion of allotments for planting ground..." Individual grants to the "poorer sort" were limited to four or five acres. In 1675 John Josselyn wrote: "Two miles from the town at a place called Muddy-River, the Inhabitants have Farms, to which belong rich arable grounds and meadows where they keep their Cattle in the Summer, and bring them to Boston in the Winter..." The northeastern portion of Muddy River, including the Sears site, and bounded by the river of the same name on the southwest, the bay on the east and the Charles River on the north, was salt water marsh and therefore of limited use for farming and grazing.

Nevertheless, between 1636 and 1641, twenty-four grants and sales of marsh were recorded 1n the Town kecords, the tirst ot which was a grant to Thomas Savage,who "shallhave seven acres layed him out, for keeping of his Cattle (being in number five)." In 1637 Thomas Flint "hath allotted unto him twenty-four acres of marsh ground at the mouth of Muddy River..." The largest grant was for sixty acres to Peter Oliver in 1640. In the beginning Bostonians kept their cattle at Muddy River during the summer while corn was growing on their plots of land at home, returning the animals to the Shawmut Peninsula for the winter. Gradually farms were established and by 1650 there were about twenty-five families living in Muddy River.

In the 17th century it was the most convenient grazing land, during the 18th century Brookline was the nearest farming community, and by the 1830s and 1840s, it had become the favorite resort for wealthy Boston merchants. Brookline's population, which stood at 518 in 1/90, had risen only tocos by 1840, but spurted to 5,164 1n 1860, following the opening of the Brookl1ne Branch of the Boston and Worcester Railroad in April of 1848. Chartered on June 23, 1831, the railroad began operations as tar as Newton on Apr1l 16, 1834. Colonel Amos Binney (1778-1833), who had been U.S. Navy Agent for the Port of Boston from 1812 until 1826, was appointed the first superintendent, but died of "liver complaint" on January 11, 1833. The railroad nevertheless opened with passages made chiefly by the Meteor Engine, built in England by Robert Stephenson.

Applications from the inhabitants of Brookline in 1847 led to the establishment of a Brookline branch, running diagonally across the marshes to Brookline Village, in April of the following year. By 1849 the railroad had twenty-nine engines, fifty-seven passenger cars and hundreds of In 1868 the Boston and Worcester line merged with the Western Railroad to form the Boston and Albany Railroad. In 1928 a two-track spur was laid down leading into a one-story train shed at the rear of the newly constructed Sears Roebuck building, accounting for the angle of the northeast elevation of Section C of the structure. The Boston and Albany right of way (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ 8 Page.

Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts became the MBTA Riverside subway line in 1959. As early as 1633 a cart bridge was ordered constructed "at some convenient place over the Muddy River" , the location of which was where Boston's Huntington Avenue becomes Brookline's Boylston Street today. Until the Mill Dam was completed in 1821, this bridge (and its successors at this location) provided the only overland connection from Roxbury (Boston) to Brookline, Watertown, Newton and Cambridge. In 1717 Benjamin White sold a small lot to James Goddard for a tavern, a short distance west of the bridge. Known as the Punch Bowl Tavern, it became an important stagecoach stop and was the nucleus around which the village of Brookline gathered.

The construction of the Mill Dam and of other bridges over Muddy River, plus the opening of the Brookline Branch Railroad, drained business away from the Punch Bowl, which was bought in 1833 by Isaac Thayer and demolished. The northeastern tip of the Brookline marshes, where the Charles River expanded into a bay fed by the Muddy River, was called Sewall's Point, after a notable Massachusetts family. Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), known for his Diary, was appointed a commissioner in 1692 to try the Salem witchcraft cases, for which he later "repented." He was also chief justice of the Superior Court from 1718 to 1728 and an overseer of Harvard College. Judge Sewall's wife, Hannah, was the daughter of John Hull, Mint Master for New England, who minted the famous Pine Tree Shilling.

In fourteen separate transactions between 1670 and 1684, John Hul1 had acquired 300 acres of land in Muddy River "known by of Brookline Swamp Line and Hogs Coat" (Suffolk Deed 26:183), abutting the Charles River on the north and the marshes to the east. substantial tract of "woodland pasture meadow and Salt Marsh" was willed to John Hull's daughter, Hannah. In 1712 Samuel and Hannah Sewall conveyed the 300 acres to their eldest son, Samuel and his wife Rebecca, as "one handsome Seat or living with Suitable Accommodations, the Partition or Division whereof would prejudice and Spoil the same" (Suffolk Deed 26:183). Samuel and Rebecca, in turn, granted the estate to their "only Son and Heir apparent Henry Sewall" in 1739 (Suffolk Deed 61:133). During the Revolutionary War, a fort stood on Sewall's Point, which can be on Lt.

Page's 1775 map of "Boston Its Environs and Harbour with the Rebels Works." The fort was for a time commanded by Col. Thomas Aspinwall (1734-1799), brother of Dr. William Aspinwall who owned part of what is now the Sears site from 1791 until his death in 1823. In 1781 the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed an "Act to provide for the Payment of Debts due from the Conspirators and Absentees and for the recovery of Debts due to them." This resulted in the confiscation of property of certain of the culprits, including one Samuel Sewall, Esquire, late of Brookline, who was an absentee.

Two-hundred and sixty-three acres of the 300-acre Sewall farm were sold to Edward Kitchen Wolcott to Brookline, (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number 8 Page 3 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts yeoman, in 1782 (Suffolk Deed 135:113). Wolcott sold the Hull/Sewall estate to Uriah Cotting for $50,000 in 1815 (Norfolk Deed 50:33), who bought it on speculation, anticipating construction of the Mill Dam of which he was guiding force and engineer until his death in 1821. Cotting had played a similar role a few years earlier as an energetic partner in the Broad Street Association, developers of warehouses along Broad and India Streets as well as India and Central Wharves. He also designed the U.S.

Custom House in 1810, located on the Broad Street Association's land. On June 14, 1814 a charter was granted to the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation to construct a dam separating the Charles River proper from the marshy bay to the south. According to a plan published by Benjamin Dearborn in February of that year, the dam would run from the foot of Beacon Street at The dam with Western Avenue (later Beacon Street) on top opened July 2, 1821. Following Cotting's death that same year, Loammi Baldwin (1780-1838) took over as engineer and completed the project, which included the diagonal Cross Dam at Gravelly Point. Loammi Baldwin, whose father Colonel Loammi Baldwin (1740-1807) developed the Baldwin apple and planned the Middlesex Canal, began a law career but soon turned to engineering. He is considered the father of civil engineering in America.

designed Holworthy Hall at Harvard in 1811, the Union Canal (Pennsylvania) in 1821, determined the proportions of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1825 and became chief engineer of the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1827. The "great dam" , a 50-foot-wide, 1 1/2-mile-long earthen dike faced with stone on the river side, enclosed about 600 acres of the Back Bay with the Cross Dam separating the westerly full basin from the easterly receiving basin. At high tide water entered the full basin through filling sluices and flowed on the the receiving basin by way of mill sluices, powering mills adjacent to the Cross Dam in the process. The water eventually returned to the Charles at 1ow tide through emptying sluices in the main dam.

Construction of the Mill Dam, plus the introduction of causeways for the Boston & Worcester and Boston & Providence Railroads in 1834, converted the tidal marshes into foul smelling mud flats at low tide, causing an offended citizenry to agitate for filling in the bay. The way for systematic filling of the Back Bay was opened in 1856 with a tripartite indenture among the Commonwealth, the City of Boston and various private proprietors. A plan with streets laid out in a formal grid and generally credited to Arthur Gilman was developed in 1856, with the contract being let the following year. Beginning at the east end, filling to a depth of over 20 feet had reached Clarendon Street by 1860, beyond Exeter by 1870 and was completed by 1900, with building construction in pursuit.

Brookline Avenue was laid out at some point between 1814, when it was shown on Benjamin Dearborn's plan as a "contemplated road," and 1818, when it appeared as "Punch Bowl Road" on Mather Withington's "Plan of Brookline Marshes Belonging to Sundry Persons."It was so-named because it connected the Mill (continued) Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ Page - NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Dam road with Washington Street in Brookline in the vicinity of the Punch Bowl Tavern. It became Brookline Avenue officially in 1868. Audubon Road was opened for travel to Brookline Avenue in 1892 and renamed Park Drive prior to 1938, when it so appeared in the Bromley Atlas for that year.

Fullerton Street, the northeastern boundary of the Sears site, which appeared as Miner Street in the 1873 Hopkins Atlas, acquired its present name about 1900. Despite completion of the Mill Dam/Western Avenue in 1821 and the laying out of Punch Bowl Road and Brighton Road (now Commonwealth Avenue) as extensions of it, planning for development of the Brookline marshes did not begin in earnest until the early 1870's. Although much of the marsh area was owned by individuals as early as the 1630's, it is difficult to trace specific ownerships from then until the present day. Fortunately Mather Withington's aforementioned "Plan of Brookline Marshes" presents a reasonably accurate picture of the shape, size, location and ownership of all of the parcels as of 1818.

The Sears site is easy to locate since it is at the junction of Punch Bowl Road and Muddy River, the latter being the boundary line between Brookline and Roxbury. What is now the site was then composed of two complete parcels owned by Samuel Craft and John Warren respectively, plus parts of three other parcels with their owners being Ebenezer Heath, General Isaac Gardner and Dr. William Aspinwall. The boundaries of the five lots continued until 1917, when all but the Aspinwall parcel came under the ownership of Eugene N. Foss. With the exception of John Warren (1779-1848), a farmer and stone mason who arrived in Brookline shortly before 1809, all of the owners were descendents of early Brookline landholds. In 1786 the four-acre lot was owned by Nehemiah Davis. Warren purchased it in 1814 from Samuel Hammond (Norfolk Deed 52:126) and sold it to David R.

Griggs in 1846 (Norfolk Deed 170:138). Griggs' family in turn conveyed it to Edward R. Secomb in 1871 (Suffolk Deed 1056:282). By 1922 it had been acquired by the Park Square Real Estate Trust following a series of short-term ownerships. Al though members of the Craft family were not among the first landowners in Muddy River, Griffin Craft (ca. 1600-1689) arrived from England in 1630 and settled in Roxbury, near the east bank of Muddy River. Samuel Craft (1787-1850) who owned a parcel on the Sears site in 1818, was a 6th generation descendent of Griffin, and a man of considerable property who was active in establishing the Congregational Society in Brookline. Samuel's grandfather Ebenezer Craft (1705-1791, a cordwainer who owned large tracts of land in Brookline and el sewhere, was in possession of the lot in 1786. Samuel sold the property to Charles : B.

Dana, a Brookline merchant, in 1853 (Norfolk Deed 218:80). A mortgage default in 1881 placed the property in the hands of Rufus Estabrook of Newton (Suffolk Deed 1538:469), whose heirs conveyed it to Eugene N. Foss sometime after 1895. Foss held it until after 1917 when it was acquired by the Park Square Real Estate Trust. John Heath of Roxbury (1732-1804) owned ten parcels in Brookline by 1786, one (continued) Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 = 1990 Section number _ Page _ Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts of which was partly on the Sears site. He married Susannah Craft in 1858 and fought in the Revolutionary War. His son Ebenezer (1765-1845), town treasurer, constructed a new meeting house in Brookline, and inherited the property.

Following Ebenezer's death in 1845 it was purchased by Hon. David Sears (1787-1871) (Norfolk Deed 162:83), distinguished descendent of Richard Sares who settled in Yarmouth in the 17th century. A wealthy Boston merchant and real estate developer, David Sears built and occupied the bow-fronted granite mansion house at 42 Beacon Street, contributed substantially to the construction of St. Paul's Church on Tremont Street (both designed by Alexander Parris), and built "Sears Tower" at the observatory in Cambridge. "About 1850 Mr. Sears purchased some 200 acres of land in the suburbs of Boston, which has since become the beautiful village of Longwood, which he proceeded to lay out and beautify at great expense, giving to many of the streets and squares names which he believed to be identified with the family in this country and in England".

(May: The Descendents of Richard Sares) He also built Sears Chapel or Christ's Church in Longwood in 1860-1862, designed by Arthur Gilman. David Sears served several terms as a state representative and state senator. Following his death in 1871 the Heath parcel was transferred to the West Boston Land Associates (Suffolk Deed 1119:261). By 1884 it was back in the Sears family, having been acquired by David's grandsons David and Henry Sears who held it until 1912 when they sold it to Eugene N. Foss (Suffolk Deed 3651:135). The Gardner parcel was in the possession of General Isaac Sparhawk Gardner (1756-1818) at the time of his death.

This marsh land was conveyed to his grandfather Isaac Gardner (1686-1767), who had married Susanna Heath in 1715 and was the first deacon of the First Church, as two parcels from Dudley Boylston (1688-1748), yeoman, town constable and husband of Elizabeth Gardner, in 1729 (Suffolk Deed 45:145) and from Edward Devotion (d. 1744) in 1739 (Suffolk Deed 69:95). Dudley Boylston was the brother of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston (1680-1766), the first physician in the U.S. to innoculate for smallpox. Brookd neotionhts deatstneferte nasesaate todhertowor towards Bus ding or Maintaining a School". His grandfather Edward, probably a French Huguenot from the La Rochelle family of Pierre de la Barre de Vaution, had acquired substantial acreage in Muddy River before 1667. In 1821 General Gardner's Samuel, a yeoman, sold the 7 1/2 acres to Caleb Clark (1789-1849), also a (Norfolk Deed 65:125).

By 1873 that portion of the parcel part of the Sears site had been subdivided into row house lots. Dr. William Aspinwall (1743-1823) acquired his 5-acre parcel of saltmarsh from Henry Dana, innholder, in 1791 (Suffolk Deed 169:195). In 1760 Caleb Dana esquire, conveyed the lot to his son Caleb, a tanner (Suffolk Deed 118:156). The Danas were residents of Cambridge. Dr. Aspinwall was the great grandson of Peter Aspinwall (ca. 1612-1687) who purchased a 150-acre farm in Muddy River in 1650. The doctor married Susanna Gardner, sister of General Gardner, (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number_ Page _ NOV 2 = 1090 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts and became the first physician to practice in Brookline.

His friend General (Dr.) Joseph Warren convinced him to serve in the medical division during the Revolutionary War to "save Yankees instead of killing British." He was State Senator four times, Justice of the Peace and founded and maintained two hospitals for smallpox innoculations. His portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart. Dr. Aspinwall's son Augustus (1787-1865) sold the parcel to Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886) 1n 1858 (Norfolk Deed 263:150). Amos Lawrence, a commission merchant for textiles in Boston, was a director of numerous corporations, trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital, treasurer of Harvard and president of the trustees of the Groton School. In 1850 he bought ninety acres in Brookline from Ebenezer Francis and built a stone house in which he lived until his death.

From 1851 on Amos and his brother William developed Cottage Farm with stone and brick cottages behind trees and hedges. The brothers also built the Church of Our Saviour in Brookline (Alexander Esty, 1868) in memory of their father. During the 1850s Amos A. Lawrence became involved with the Emigrant Aid Company, promoting emigration to kansas as an anti-slavery device. the founding of the state university in Lawrence in 1863. Lawrence Hall at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge was built with his money in 1873 and 1880. By 1873 the Aspinwall portion of the Sears site had been subdivided into row house lots.

From the early 1870s on when the northeastern edge of the Sears site was subdivided into row house lots, the parcels were held by a variety of land speculators, real estate trusts and an insurance company until January 5, 1928, when Sears Roebuck and Company purchased the 287,612-square-foot main portion of the site from the Park Square Real Estate Trust (Suffolk Deed 4967:322). On August 16, 1929, after the first phase of the Sears building was constructed, the company acquired the northeastern strip along Fullerton Street (Suffolk Deed 5123:218), except for the lot at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street which was sold by Nelson Pierce James of Newton to "155 Brookline Avenue Inc." in 1928 (Suffolk Deed 5043:381).

The building presently occupying the corner site was constructed in 1929 and leased to the Miller Rubber Company of New England (wholesale tires) from that year through 1936. From 1938 through 1954 it housed the Sears Service Station (gasoline), after which it was integrated into the Sears mail order operation. There is no evidence of any construction on the main Sears parcel prior to the erection of the mail order and retail building in 1928. It is not surprising that the marshes lagged well behind higher ground as choice development sites. Land speculation in Brookline began even before construction of the Mill Dam, with Uriah Cotting's purchase of the entire Sewall estate from E.K. Wolcott for $50,000 in 1815 (Norfolk Deed 50:33).

Three years later Israel Thorndike, David Sears and Ebenzer Francis bought up Cotting's purchase and began to partition the large holding on the assumption that land values would escalate with completion of the dam (Norfolk Deed 64:61). While Longwood was (continued) United States Department of theInterior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet iUV 2 > 1990 Section number Page _ Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts developed by David Sears following his 200-acre purchase in about 1820, and Cottage Farm was built up by Amos A. Lawrence during the 1850s, the marshes had to wait until after they were annexed to Boston in 1870. Hopkins' 1873 Atlas records extensive subdivision of blocks for row houses between the Boston and Albany Railroad to the north and Brookline Avenue to the southeast. Amos A. and William R.

Lawrence laid out 221 lots on six blocks between Beacon Street and the railroad, R.A. Ballou and C.H. Burditt owned five smaller blocks with ninety-seven lots on the southeast side of Beacon Street and W.E. and D.N. Skilling had laid out 160 lots on four blocks northeast of the Sears site with twenty brick bowfront row houses already completed. By 1890 only thirteen of the Lawrence lots on Beacon Street were occupied and the rest of the area was unchanged. Three row houses and a stable were added to the northeast edge of the Sears site by 1895, and the number of houses on Beacon Street had increased to sixty-one.

By 1917 the triangle between the Boston and Albany main line and the Brookline Branch was filled with bowfronted brick row houses and small apartment buildings, while two Willys-Overland warehouses had been constructed along Brookline Avenue and nine of the row houses demolished. This signaled the end of residential uses in the blocks abutting Brookline Avenue. By 1922 the remaining eleven row houses were gone from the Willys-Overland block and several commercial buildings were added on both sides of Brookline Avenue. The three houses and stable disappeared from the Sears site sometime after 1928, and by 1938 the neighborhood was completely commercial. The area immediately southwest of the Sears site across Muddy River in Roxbury, was developed earlier in a significantly different manner.

Much of Roxbury maintained a semi-rural or suburban residential character through most of the 19th century. Consistent withthis situation was a "Plan of land of L. Pope and N.H. Emmons on Appleton Place in Roxbury" of January 16, 1845, drawn by Alexander Wadsworth, showing twenty-seven large lots laid out between Brookline Avenue and "Longwood Stream" (Muddy River). In 186l twelve of the twenty-seven lots were occupied by detached frame houses. By 1871 there were thirteen houses, by 1890 the fourteenth residence had been added and by 1895 the maximum of eighteen was reached. With the appearance of the Simmons Female College Building in the 1906 Bromley Atlas, the area began to change.

In 1931, after completion of the Sears building, the change in character of the neighborhood had become much more pronounced with the fifteen remaining houses interspersed with brick apartment bulldings as well as an expanded Simmons College. Although also partially filled land, the Fenway (Back Bay Fens) never developed on the grand and elegant scale of the neighboring Back Bay, in spite of the fact that many noted institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts and several important individuals such as Isabella Steward Gardner, made their homes in the area. By the turn-of-the-century educational institutions - Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute, the Museum School, Simmons (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number - 8 Page .

8 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts College, Emmanuel College and Boston University - were encroaching in or near the Fenway area. Along Brookline Avenue close to the railroad, automobile related businesses sprang up: tire sales such as the Miller Tire Building, Dunlop Tires, automobile sales and service stations. New roads were planned with the increasing use of the automobile and this was one of the major points Sears' management considered when buying the empty parcel bounded by Brooki1ne Avenue, Park Drive and Fullerton Street. Additionally, the adjacent railroad made it possible to distribute all over Massachusetts.

Of the many factors that mark the Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store as an important contributor to all of New England and part of New York as well as Boston's architectural, economic and social heritage, (a particularly interesting one) is its visual role as a by-product of the burgeoning early 20th century motor age. As America's love of speed and efficiency grew throughout the century with the advent of the motor car, one can see a connection between the Sears building and growth of the American "mall" - For example, as one looks through the articles published in the major Boston newspapers for the opening of the Sears building, the importance of easy access to the city via automobile by the many fast roads and spacious, convenient parking lots is repeatedly stressed.

The newspapers create an "all roads lead to Sears" feeling as a map is shown with all roads ending up at the mail order and retail store. At Sears one could shop for clothing and household items, service the car, bury tires, meet friends at the soda fountain and shop some more. The era of the commercial strip and the drive-thru restaurant was just around the corner. Sears Roebuck and Company, established in Chicago in 1894, has always been conscious of the important role it has played in developing, encouraging and shaping American taste. The pages of early 20th century Sears catalogs reveal a modernity we today often fail to associate with Sears Roebuck and Company. For instance, Sears began to sell automobiles as early as 1908. By 1910, five models were offered, but by 1915 Sears had dropped its line of automobiles.

It is interesting to note, however, that Sears stores traditionally (as in the Park Drive store) have a service or automotive center, perhaps stemming from these early days. Sears published how-to ma nuals for painting, carpentry and dressmaking, attemping to keep up with Paris fashions, and sold childrens' wear. Sears offered just about everything for the home and the household, but one very interesting, little known sales line (noted by author David L. Cohn) was birth control. Although it was technically still against the law in most states to distribute information about birth control and contraceptive devices, the 1935 catalogs offered a variety of contraceptives under the guise of "feminine hygiene needs" and so bypassed the law and provided a popular sales order to their public. The speed with which the Sears building was erected was testimony to changing times in old Boston.

After investigating hundreds of plans and blueprints for (continued) NUr < ° ISYU United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - 8 Page Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts the project, it is clear that a substantial portion of the construction was carried out only a few months prior to the opening of the building on August 30, 1928. For example, on one plan from the Indiana Limestone Company of Bedford, Indiana, a handwritten notation indicates that the limestone needed above the line drawn across the plan was not even sent "to the mill for production" until July 17th. The sheer number of contractors and craftsmen involved in this project is overwhelming (see Appendix A) and managing all ot their specifications would have been a job itself.

Blueprints exist for electrical work, ductwork, iron work, plumbing, fire doors, stairways, windows, equipment such as belt conveyors and moving baskets, carved limestone and, of course, the architects' architectural blueprints themselves. The Sears plant was very much an industrial building: as times changed and machinery advanced, Sears updated its equipment, its lighting, its use of space. Like the large buildings of its type that survive, it is generally because the buildings have become almost living organisms, growing, shrinking. and changing with the current generation's needs. George C. Nimmons (1865-1947) was a prolific architect and author, and an enthusiastic booster of the profession for over forty years. Nimmons discussed subjects from industrial design to the importance of teaching the fine arts in college.

His long period of contact with Sears management could in itself make an interesting avenue of study; just as Cohn chose to examine American morals and changing tastes through the Sears catalogs from 1905 to 1940, so too may one examine the architecture of a century of Sears buildings from the earliest 1880's masonry structure to Chicago's soaring Sears Tower. Born in Ohio, Nimmons attended a local school before traveling to Europe for study. After his return he began his career as a draughtsman in the offices of Burnham and Root at the age of eighteen. In 1897 Nimmons formed a partnership with William K. Fellows. Nimmons and Fellows practiced together until 1910. Together they produced one of Sears Roebuck and Company's earliest and most successful buildings, as well as other Sears projects in the Mid-West, and industrial buildings in Chicago.

Nimmons may not have been the most creative or inspiring designer, but he was enthusiastic about his subject, industrial design, and sought to make it pleasing, functional and attractive at the same time. Nimmons said of the Boston building, "The Boston store in design does not follow any historic style of architecture." Al though he claims no historical precedent guided his work, one can clearly see antecedents in his design. His work may not have had a cornice line, but it had columns, sills, lintels, belt courses and a Gothic flavor, all skillfully integrated and executed. Nimmons remained always abreast of the latest technology and made every attempt to integrate it into his work. His sense of ornamental detail was highly refined and sophisticated as demonstrated in the exquisite limestone carving on the Boston Sears Building.

(continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ 8 Page10 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Nimmons served, at age twenty-eight, as a Superintendent of Buildings for the as the landscape architects and a host of other contemporary notables. Another important role for Nimmons was as author. As mentioned above, he wrote extensively about the state of current industrial architecture, but he was also asked by the AIA Committee on Architectural Education to write about the importance of a fine arts background. The resulting 1923 article was entitled, "The Significance of the Fine Arts." Little is currently known about Carr, but Clark C.

Wright (1880-1948), the well as engineering, studying at Chicago's Art Institute and Armour's Institute of Technology. In 1915 Wright joined Nimmon's firm as a draughtsman. By the time the Sears Building was planned, Wright was certainly. an important member of the firm. Establishing the actual dates that Nimmons practiced simply as George C. Nimmons and Company, and as Nimmons, Carr and Wright, is difficult to determine. It seems fairly clear that the design for the Boston Sears may be attributed primarily to Nimmons and his stamp is on several of the plans. However, the stamp , "Nimmons Carr & Wright" is also on plans of 1928. The stamp also reads "Boston, Massachusetts," suggesting a field office for the firm, although such an office is not listed in the Boston Directories for 1928 and 1929.

That they had a field office is not surprising and was necessary in order to complete the project as rapidly as they did. Even this supervision failed to prevent several fatal accidents from occurring in the months before the building opened. According to testimony gathered after the accidents, many of the workers attributed the fatalities to the rapid building schedule demanded by Sears. Carr and Wright must have also gained the confidence of Sears headquarters, for they went on to design the 1940's addition of the Boston Sears plant after Nimmons had retired. The newspaper articles commemorating the opening of Sears Roebuck and Company at the Fenway reveal several items of interest concerning the building's up-to-the-minute technology and ideas of improved shopper comfort and convenience, associated specifically with this store and its architects.

Major selling points of the project to its contemporary users included: the generous parking facilities; an eight-car train shed that facilitated handling of goods, cut costs to customers, and protected merchandise from bad weather; and its potential as a "neighborhood center" where "friends may wait for each other upon appointment," which included a restaurant and soda fountain, a beauty parlor ("for grown-up ladies"), and well-appointed restrooms. One development originated by the architects, according to the Boston Herald, called for a special "comfort floor." Fine sand was laid atop the concrete, (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number . 8 Page _ Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts which was then covered with a matched maple top.

This was said to be the first time such a notion had been considered and carried out. Users agreed that it gave a springy step and aided tired and aching feet. The other feature used for the first time in a Sears building - and certainly new to industrial structures - was the ventilating system, described by the Boston Herald as "one of the newest ventilating systems in the United States.... Sears Roebuck and Company has purchased for other stores the same kind of ventilating system that is to be used in Boston. There were similarities in many of the mail order stores, with the central tower and vertical emphasis appearing most often, such as in Memphis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The first three of these have similar materials to the Boston store, with Los Angeles adapting to regional conditions with stucco and tile.

The Boston store was the 10th of 12 mail order stores: the last of the first burst of constuction. The final two stores were constructed in 1946 and 1972. Boston's is the third largest, following Chicago and Philadelphia. There were additional stores as well, including Sears in Cambridge. Several years later a March 1935 article in Architectural Forum entitled "Without Windows" contains an interesting discussion of eliminating windows from the new Sears stores, as a method of controlling climate and saving energy. The author notes that "Nimmons, Carr and Wright may well have started a train of development that will eventually lead to the complete elimination of the window in certain types of commercial buildings." It appears that with Sears as a client, Nimmons and his associates were very involved in state-of-the-art technology.

Although never fully executed in the Boston Sears building, earlier plans of the building as well as photographs of contemporary buildings from The Architectural Record (June 1931), showing stores in Cambridge, BuffaTo, California and Washington, D.C., demonstrated that ground floor storefronts were an integral part of Nimmons' designs at this time. These storefronts, with awnings and canopies, play a major role in his work into the 1940s, as may be seen in the later articles from Architectural Forum (March 1935) and The Architectural Record (September 1940).

(continued) niec states Department of the Interic lational Park Servic IYUY 2.990 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet = Section number - Page 12 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Archaeological Significance Portions of the so-called Boylston Street fishweir are considered to be among Boston's most important archaeological resources. Portions of the fishweir are included in the Back Bay Historic District National Register nomination, which also recognizes that the horizontal extent of the site is not known. Geologically, the Sears Roebuck and Company Site is included within the same Charles River estuary as the Boylston Street fishweir site, and fishweir remains could be uniformly distributed throughout this area.

Prehistoric fishweir remains that might be preserved at the Sear Roebuck building site may be significant for data on l) location of such remains relative to the Back Bay, and 2) information on construction and use of the fishweir structure(s). in the Back Bay, relative to the configuration of the bay and its channels in the period 3000 - 1000 B.C., may elucidate prehistoric patterns of resource exploitation in the Boston area. Dating of fishweir remains from the Sears Roebuck building site could be used to test Dena Dincauze's theory that the focus of prehistoric activity along the Charles River moved upriver with the shifting estuary head.

(end) Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 9.Malor Bibllographical Roferences Previous documentation on file (NPS): X preliminary determination of Individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested HPCA #11186MA previously llsted in the National Register prevloualy determined ellgible by the National Register designated a National Historlc Landmark recorded by Historic American Bulldings Survey # recorded by Historlc American Engineering Record # 10.

The rest of the file

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

Geographical Data Acreage of property 8.8 acres UTM References A L1 9 Zone L326750 Easting CLL L4.6 899,9,0 Northing X See continuation sheet Primary location of additional data: IX State historic preservation office Other State agency Federal agency Local government J University Other Specify reposltory: Massachusetts Historical Commission B D LLL Zone Easting Northing LL -See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description X] See continuation sheet Boundary Justification X See continuation sheet 11. Form Propared By name/title Leslie Larson & Kim Shillland with Betsy Friedberg, National Register Director organization _Massachusetts Historical Commission date.

1990 street & number 80 Boylston Street telephone (617) 727-8470 city or townBoston state _ zip code 02116 *U.S.GPO:1988-0-223-918 Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 9 Page. 1 Bibliographical References NOV ?91000 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Archival Sources Inspectional Services Department, City of Boston: Building Permits. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds: Deeds and Plans. Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store: Plans, Blueprints, Drawings, Specifications, etc. housed within the building. Suffolk county Registry of Deeds: Deeds and Plans. Books, Articles, Reports Aspinwall, Algernon Aikin, The Aspinwall Genealogy, Rutland, VT: The Tuttle Co., cl902. Boston Directories. Boston Herald, 8/29/28, pp. 19-26, Special feature on Sears Roebuck & Company.

Boston Landmarks Commission, Building Information Form, Sears Roebuck & Company. Boston Landmarks Commission, Study Report, Sears Roebuck & Company Mail Order House, September 1989. Boston Landmarks Commission, Study Report, Olmsted Parks, September 1989. Bunting, Bainbridge, Houses of Boston's Back Bay, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967. Cohn, David L., The Good Old Days, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940. Crafts, James M. and Willíam F., The Crafts Family A Genealogical and Biographical History of the Descendents of Griffin and Alice Craft o1 Roxbury, Mass. T630-1890, Northampton, MA: Gazette Printing Co., T893. Cummings, Kathleen R., Archítectural Records in Chicago. A Guide to Architectural Research Resources in Cook County and Vicinity, Chicago: Burnham Library, Art Institute of Chícago, 1981.

Curtis, John Gould, History of the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, Boston & New York: Houghton MiffTin Company, 1933. Driscoll, James M., "Railroads in Brookline" , Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1931. Fabos, Julius G.; Milde, Gordon T.; Weinmayer, T. Michael, Frederick Law O1msted, Sr., Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1968. "Five Retail Stores Planned for a Motor Age," Architectural Record, September 1940, pp. 32-42. Griggs, Susan Vining, "The Devotion Family of Brookline", Brookline Historical Publication Society, No. 14, 1898. Hale, Charles, "The 'Back Bay' Improvement" , Boston Almanac, 1959. Heath, Richard, From Buttonwood Marsh to Mail Order Tower: The History and Development of the Sears Building and Its West Fens Community, Spring 1989.

Jones, Theodore F., "Land Ownership in Brookline, From the First Settlement", Brookline Historical Society, Publication No. 5, 1923. (continued) United States Department o! the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page _ NGV 391000 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Lawrence, William, Life of Amos A. Lawrence, Boston & New York: Houghton Lindstrom, Janet, Miffline & CO-"The Aspinwalls and Lewis Tappan" , Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1949. Little, Nina Fletcher, "History of the John Warren Homestead", Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1966. May, Samuel P., The Descendents of Richard Sares (Sears) of Yarmouth, Mass. 1638-1888, ATbany: Joel MunselT's Sons, T890. Nimmons, George C. "Modern Industrial Plants" , I and II, Architectural Record, November 1918, pp.

414-421 and December 1918, pp. 533-349- Nimmons, George C, "The New Renaissance in Architecture as Seen in the Design of Buildings for Mail Order Houses" , American Architect, August 5, 1928. Nimmons, George C., "The Need of Architectural Instruction in American Colleges" , American Architect, August 6, 1919. Reports of Directors of the Boston and Worcester - Rail Road to the Stockholders, 1834, 1838, 1840-1867. Rockwell, Samuel Forbes, Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston, North Andover, MA: Andover Press, 1932. Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Company, 1872. SinHistorica Society, 1967 , Proceedings of the Brookline State Street Trust Company, Mayors of Boston. An Illustrated Epitome of Who the Mayors Have Been and What They Have Done, Boston: Walton Advertising & Printing Co., 1914.

Tucci, Douglass Shand, Built in Boston: City and Suburb, Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1978. Watkins, Walter K., "Devotion Family", Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1902. White, Charles F., "Brookline's First Locomotive", Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1931. whitehiversity Press, 1950ston A Topographical History, Cambridge: Harvard Woods, Harriet F., Historical Sketches of Brookline, Mass., Boston: PuDI1 shed for the Author by Robert S. Davis & Co., 1874. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers Project, The WPA Guide to Massachusetts, New York: Pantheon Books, 1937. Weil, Gordon L., Sears Roebuck .S.A., New York: Stein & Day Publishers, 1971. Zaitzevsky, Cynthia, Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982.

Atlases and Maps Bromley Atlases: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1902, 1906, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1922, 1928, 1938. Hopkins Atlas: 1873. (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet NOV 39 1000 Section number 9 Page Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Boston Redevelopment Authority map "A Plan of those Parts of Boston Map of Boston Boundary Line Changes, 1926. Lt. Page, "Boston Its Environs and Habour with the Rebels Works", 1775. "Plan of Lands Belonging to the Commonwealth" Wadsworth, Alexander, "Plan of land of L. Popé & N.H. Emmons on Appleton Place in Roxbury" Withington, Mather, "A Plan of Brookline Marshes Belonging to Sundry Persons", Wrightman, H.M., "Plan of Lands on the Back Bay", 1864.

Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ Page 3 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Appondix A A Partial List of Architects, Engineers and Contractors Company Title of Plan 1928 and 1930 Building and Machinery George C. Nimmons & Co., Architect, Chicago, Ill. Nimmons, Carr & Wright, Architects, Chicago & Boston Indiana Limestone Co., Bedford, IN. Martin C. Schwab Construction Engineers Chicago, Ill Hegeman-Harris Co., General Contractor, Bos. The Merrill Co., Heating & Piping, Bos. Martin C. Schwab Construction Engineers Griffin Keiver Co. Lancaster Iron Works, Lancaster, PA. A.L. Smith Iron Works, Chelsea, "Main Switchboard" Store Front design Steel Stack Plans for metal work Variety Fire Door Co.

The Compound Pyrono Door Co., Boston branch Structural Gypsum Corp., Linden, N.J. New England Structural Co., Everett, MA. V.J. Gallini Turner Construction Co. "Pipe Tunnel" Plans for Trainshed Revision to 2nd fl. framing Alterations to door details 1930's Machinery and Building Alteations Hess Engineering Co. "Boston Shipping Room," Layout of Conveyors 1948 Building Addition and 1940's & 1950's Machinery & Alterations Blackal1 Clapp & Clark Plans for Plumbing Arthur Olive Eng. Service B1dg. "To Be Removed" Sam. O1 son Co., Chicago, II1. conveying equipment conversion to oil firing Conveyor Specialty Co. install. conveyor equip. Link Belt Co., 136 Brookline Ave. Bos. Installing conveyors, trolley truck tow, etc. Air Conditioning install. Dunlap & Esgar, Arch/Eng., Chicago, I11.

"Support Framing for New Tower on Existing Roof" Date 1928 1928 1928 1928- 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1930 1936 1941 1945 1949 1950 1951 1953 1958 1958 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29190n Section number o Page Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 1965 Building Addition and 1960's Machinery Unibelt Conveyors conveyors Ballinger Company, Architects and Engineers Lookwood Greene Engineers, 316 stuart st. Bos. Norfolk Conveyor, Cohasset, MA. cafeteria alterations 1962 1965 1964 1965 1964 The above list is intended as partial not definitive list. Undoubtedly many other individuals and companies were involved in the original building, later alterations and updating of equipment.

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Nur 2 - 990 National Register of Historls Places Continuation Sheet Section number -10 Page l Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Verbal Boundary Description The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store lot is roughly a trapezium in shape, with the Park Drive edge gently curved leading into a rounded corner at Brookline Avenue, and small jogs on Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street.

It is bounded on the southwest on a curved line (radius = 1719.12 feet) by Park Drive, 725 feet; on the south by a corner (radius = 20 feet), 34.53 feet; on the southeast by Brookline Avenue, 490 feet to a jog; southwest on the jog, 20 teet; southeast again on Brookline Avenue, 150 feet; northeast on Fullerton Street, 469.62 feet to a jog; southeast on the jog, 20.31 feet; northeast again on Fullerton Street, 118.29; east on Fullerton Street, 37.55 feet; northwest on the MBTA Riverside Line, 480.73 feet. Boundary Justification The boundary defining the Sears Roebuck lot is shown on the attached Boston Redevelopment Authority map. The legal boundary was also established in Suffolk County Deeds 4544:245; 4967:321, 322; 5123:218 and a "Plan of Land in Boston - Mass." by Aspinwall and Lincoln, dated July 21, 1928.

ill TRANSIT LAUTHORITY METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Boston Redevelopment Authority maj 4 2,965 15,042 REA STREET 155 FULLERTON 1929 PARKING 1949 1966 1928-30 ARKING AREA 1928 159 16 NORTH = 104 AVENUE 6919 9/33 BOYL STON ROEBUCK CO DRIVE PARK DRIVE PARK BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD RIVER FENWAY MUDDY 80%0 BROOKLINE 1678 200 400 SCALE 500 FT NORTH Expansion Joints Section "F' Floors 1-3 1966 Sears Roebuck & Co. Building Sections Section "M" Fioors 1-3 1929 Section "F" Floors B-3 Section "E" Floors B-3 1949 Section "C" Figors B-8 1928-30 Section "D" Floors B-8 1928-30 Brookline Ave Section "B" Floors B-8 1928 Section "A" Floors B-8 1928 OWE IT FloorsB- Park Drive CHARLES ARIGHTON RIVER winow SUSANNA CRAFT CANA ROAD tips dui S CHILDS 2120 E. WHITNEY i; THOMAS WHITE OSHU - CLARK 3r. 30g. ACKERS/ EBENEZER FRANCIS ESQ.

15g. 3r. 17p EBEN? CRATI - - 1a 35 4x BENJ" WHITC JOSEPH GODDARD-ESQ- .-5 BENJAMIN GODDARD ÉSQ. WAY 00. 21. 20g 27. GEN ISAAC GARDNER WAY 0a. 1r. 29p. 7. 3 8 0. 34. ...A 2.2. 39 LONATHAN MASON 10 g. 10p. EBEN! CRAFT 1a. tr. 34 g. J MASON 1a. JONA. MAMMOND 30. 30p L MASON ESQ CALEB CRAFT 20. 3r. 25p WAP- JONA. MASON ESQ 2a. 2r. 37p EBEN: HEATH 3a. 3r. 15p. DR ASPINWALL 4 1r. 1p. CALEB CLARK 21p. STEPMEN SHARP ESQ 6a. Or. Op DR. ASPINWALL 8p. SAMUEL CRAFT 2a. 3c 28p JOMN WARREN 48. fr. 3p DAVID MAYSLIP BENJ: WHITE 30. Op. 6a Ir. Tp BENJ: wHITE 2o. ir. M. CALEB CLARK. se. lr. 19pl EBEN* RICHARDS TIMO COREY 10. 5r. 23A WIDOW SUSANNA CRAPT SAMUEL MAMMOND be. Or. lp DR. ASFINWALL THADDEUS 3r. 15p JACKSON JOMA. JACKSON 1:34 JONM MILANE® KRGSOURY ta Ir. N0p CALED CRAFT de tr.

39, TIMOTHY COPC I ELAH COREY A Plen of BROOKLINE MARSHES Belonging to Sundry Persons July 1818. Mather Withington. Survayor. Omguned an toa MILL DAM ar Mo'd fodaa e,4. 1000 uck & Company Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA SOPIBOPULLER 1020 NUV 2 > 1990 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA ca. 1821 map of Mill Dam, Cross Dam, Punch Bowl Road N Part of Cambridge Port W. B.Bridye CHARLES RIVER Brigkton Roud Sewalls Point EAT Great Damse B.AY Common BASIN RECEIVING BASIN Point Braa9 Roxbury Scale BOSION NECK y Furlongs' vor hatf a Mile Washuington Street SOUTH BAY W N Rive Vinship Charles Tusts Tav. T B.&W. R.R Cor Semvoir Morse Pipe -Babcook - Stearns Pipe N Church AM B Sears E -Marsh - Dearborn Theliy Hagnetic Merid.

jiem Dam B.&W.R.R Beceiving Basin Sears Roebuck & Company 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue Boston, MA 1873 Hopkins Atlas -A511 CHHI Fluds .all Meersh 1 176794 8.Aher Tucubsu "cton ".r" 1+1,118:3 in. it grir tet i'". GT NII 6 Albany ..HLnwirni C'atl: Godda 187,309 146,666 .I.Thampison it 0th rustees West Beaslon LundAlssor! NewburyStLand Associates 16l1. 06i3 hunison 133,241 E ven APP NGV 29 1990 111 Waskern Avrmug Assuciates -ls/0n Cl1s o. Westerndvenun Associ ictes 02Y69 Henrr B."". "hers 177113 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 1895 Bromley Atlas IUY 2 1990 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA MINER 4673 289,pe) 3342 FAIR HAVEN -ST. 89.394 iddlo Susan peah etal. 760 3284 2880 sed 2280 3280, et 2037 328a. DANSILAM 2280 3667 -2380-- 3280 whitnoy- 5619 Chusi Enoch it. Road Shant 14.702 Tador Seurs 125.60, al. PAXTON 146.538 Gardiner L. if. Child.

BROQKLINE= 0156 Ében Sec.13 Blk.5 22.796 11 Kufus Estabrook HTs. et al. 78.008 19:.990 Khitroy 17.038 NO1ST.0g,xe 3470 AUDUBON 12 in ROAD xaust 1º u METROPOLITAN SEWER popo-His. él wt. 1593 dlbert Bromneal 29.326 Char. F. Stone et al 22,144p BELLEVUE 17.310 I. Pope,trs. ot al 15.000 Jacab Jacob Edwards 27,286 SeeJ3 Bllc. 6 20.075 'dmards 15.000 NOV 2 Y 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brockline Avenue, Boston, MA 1928 Bromley Atlas =ST -FULLERTON= 1 mar y Panr Square et al Trs: Real Estate Ir. $104.716 Man J. Stober Edith 3 5 A S e a. Sec.13 BIk.5 R 277.165; ROEBUÇK & CO. ===== ÃÜBÜBÖÑ TV' FATK HousEa METROPOLITAN RI/p 980.758 VERWAY Sec.I3 Bik,1ZA 15- 100 ,PILGRIM U SCHOOL aucy 9, Ping rin cot Incx COURT Nheelock 68095 tredkan 29579 cas fstone) C/. Huttamay Girace 27295 Eduardsvetalo 19.79.5 3IKe.6-1027 wm H.Roth

TeoRaToRY 19950 , (l)) Edwurds -ret 15.000 .6,150 75 35 ivur <- 090 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 1938 Bromley Atlas e -anSTE FULLERJ ONE 8 F - +0+ 5' BIk 5% 360,292 SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO.J 88 88 Stober Fiss Edith P10, First National Bank C /1621. 9 Lorin pal D 24,36 9119 Cal 6939V Q. -Amos 9/32 120 PARK BAN 1 Sec13B PTD PILGRIM COURT 1Real Estate Jayeelock 28095 4999 cha. F. 15,997 18,646 - Trs. Emmanue/ allene NUr < - 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, NA rendering of first scheme showing storefronts in all floor 1 window bays; site plan with landscaping August 5, 1928 THE AMERICAN ARCHITECT Page 147 EFEESE LCmiLWMi PTELalH SEARS. ROEBUCK & COMPANY MAIL ORDER STORE, BOSTON. MASS.

NIMMONS, CARR 8 WRIGHT, ARCHITECTS nuv <° 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 1929 photo BUILDING FOR SEARS, ROEBUCK'& CO., BOSTON NIMMONS, CARR & WRIGHT, ARCHITECTS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 11/29/90 12/28/90 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 12/12/90 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 1/13/91 REFERENCE NUMBER: 90001992 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER: N PDIL: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N N N COMMENT WAIVER: N _ACCEPT VRETURN _REJECT 1/2/41 DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: Please home sttpe pigi and dute nomenation frum RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE_ DATE_ DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR ./N CLASSIFICATION _count _resource type STATEIDEDERAL AGENCY CERTEPICATION Peane Lano tAne Leza historic _current DESCRIPTION architectural classification materials descriptive text SIGNIFICANCE Period Areas of Significance--Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) _summary paragraph _completeness _clarity _applicable criteria justification of areas checked _relating significance to the resource context _relationship of integrity to significance _justification of exception _other BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA acreage _UTMs _verbal boundary description boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION sketch maps USGS maps photographs OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone _presentation Signed Maju Date 1/2/50 2 NPS Form 10-900 (Rev.

8-86) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Es-U NOV 2 9 1990* NATIONAL REGISTER This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations of eligibility for individual properties or districts. See instructions in Guidelines for Completing National Register Forms (National Register Bulletin 16). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the requested information.If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, styles, materials, and areas of significance, enter only the categories and subcategories listed in the instructions. For additional space use continuation sheets (Form 10-900a). Type all entries. 1.

Name of Property historic name Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store other names/site number 2. Location street & number 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue city, town Boston state Massachusetts code MA county Suffolk code N/A not for publication N/A vicinity .025. zip code 02116 3.

Classification Ownership of Property X private public-local public-State public-Federal Category of Property X bullding(s) district site structure object Name of related multiple property listing: Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing bulldings sites structures objecte Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register _ State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination Jrequest for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets theprocedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. [ See continuation sheet.

xuditz nuDonong Signature of certifying official Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical 1791 Date Commission; State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. See continuation sheet. Signature of commenting or other official Date State or Federal agency and bureau 5. National Park Service Certification 1, hereby, certify that this property is: entered in the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the National Register. Imtered in thu Sebme Bgar National Registea 1/ist2) removed from the National Register. other, (explain:)_ Date of Action Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 6.

Function or Use Historic Functions (enter categories from instructions) Commerce/Department Store; Specialty Store Current Functions (enter categories from instructions) Vacant Work in Progress 7. Description Architectural Classification (enter categories from instructions) Modern Movement/Art Deco Materials (enter categories from instructions) foundation Limestone walls Brick; Limestone; Concrete Block roof other Asphalt Steel; Aluminum; Glass Describe present and historic physical appearance. Occupying a prominent location in the Fenway section of Boston at the intersection of Park Drive, Brookline Avenue and the 0lmsted Park System, the Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store ("Sears") dominates its surroundings by its size, positioning and architectural design.

While the original Sears Building occupies only about 29% of its 385,142 square foot trapezium site, its additions and acquisition increase this coverage to 55%, with most of the remaining land being asphalt or concrete covered parking and loading areas. Traces of the original landscaping plan (although not the plantings themselves) exist near the south corner of the building. The MBTA Riverside Line's Fenway "T" Station is located at the west corner of the site. Since the completion of the original building in 1928-1930, the Sears Roebuck and Company complex has expanded to suit its needs, spawning two additions and incorporating a previously independent building. All four elements are now interconnected, but may be evaluated as four distinct components: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, George C.

Nimmons, and Nimmons Carr and Wright, architects, 1928-1939, Sections "A-D" on the attached plan, "Sears Roebuck and Company Building Sections" Miller Building, architect unknown, 1929, Section M. Addition,Carr and Wright, architects, 1948-1949, Section E. Addition,Ballinger and Company, architects and engineers, 1966, Section F. 1928-1930 Building, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue The original Sears Building (Sections A-D) was constructed in two consecutive phases: Sections A andBplus basement and floor 1 of Section C and basement to floor 4 of Section D in 1928; floors 2-8 of Section C and 5-8 of Section D in 1930. Facing Park Drive, the primary 21-bay, 442 foot-long southwest facade is the most detailed, featuring a three-bay-wide projecting central tower element ng a three-bay; flanked by 9-bay-wide wings,.

The, tower, 84 feet 6 inches wide at its base and [X See continuation sheet Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service NOV 2 91990 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ Page - Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 50 feet 6 inches square at the top, rises 200 feet (12 stones) with 3 setbacks above floors 2, 9 and 11. It represents the building's most impressive use of Art Deco style and limestone detail at its top, and above its 2-story central entrance. The tower's three-window-wide central bay projects 5 feet from its 2-window-wide flanking bays. The first setback occurs only on the front, above the second floor. At the ninth floor the tower is set back on the southeast and northwest sides, continuing with four identically finished facades. The third setback, on all four sides, is above floor 11.

Floors 1l along with floors 3 and 4, represent the most elaborate detailing on the buflding. Floors 10 and 12 have double-height, round-arched windows with limestone keystones supporting carved limestone attached columns which terminate in free-standing urns in the shape of stylized Corinthian-like capitals above the llth floor, and carved hexagonal posts at the top of the At the Iith floor setback, ornately carved buttresses flank the central bay on all four elevations, with all detail being rendered in 1imestone. A second area of limestone articulation occurs above the two-story recessed main entrance on the tower, within and around the central bay. The limestone carving is in the form of stylized foliation set in a variety of geometric contexts and interspersed with smaller geometric forms. Most is relatively low relief except for the urns and other points of termination.

Architectural setbacks and chamfers of limestone blocks tend to monumentalize the decorative limestone elements. The central tower is flanked by nine-bay wings, each of which has a slightly projecting three-bay portion with piers rising above the roof parapet. Two-window bays again flank a three-window central bay in each case with the round-arched windows at floor 8 and the limestone detail similar to that at the top of the tower. Other bays on the wings have single large window openings set between wide brick piers which rise only to the parapet, with more modest limestone detail above the eighth floor windows. Southeast and northwest elevations repeat the pattern of the southwest facade's wings.

The thirteen-bay southeast Brookline Avenue elevation is 262.92 feet long and incorporates two projecting 3-bay portions, complete with limestone detail similar to those on the southwest facade. The balance of the windows are similarly treated as well, except for an additional set at the second floor mezzanine of Section D. There is also a one-story entrance centered in the projecting portion nearest to Park Drive. The northwest elevation, being only 208,85 feet with eleven bays, features only one projecting three-bay element with detail and window treatment similar to the others. Other aspects of the elevation have similar treatments as those on the southwest and southeast except on floor 1, which has been altered by the introduction of loading docks.

Also, an entrance similar to that on the southeast has been removed and the three-story 1966 addition abuts the northeastern three bays of this elevation. There are limestone belt courses (continued) Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _7 - Page - Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts above floors 2 and 8 on all three elevations, with the latter interrupted by the projecting three-bay portions. Much of the northeast elevation is obscured from view by the 1949 and 1966 additions to the building. The visible portion reveals an industrial-like arrangement of large, regularly organized window openings, most of which are of similar size and shape.

The limestone belt course seen above the eighth floor windows on the other elevation is continued on the northeast. elevation is broken at the junction of Sections C and D, angling toward the west on Section C. There are twenty-one bays in the two sections. There are brick spandrels between window levels, with limestone sills and concrete lintels, on all elevations. All windows have fixed steel-framed units surrounding top-hinged projecting steel casements (in most cases) with the steel painted green. A 20 inch-high limestone water table serves as the base for the brick walls of southwest, southeast and northwest elevations. Brick is laid in common bond with alternating header/stretcher bonding courses occurring every sixth course.

There has been considerable replacement of brick and infill of window openings (the latter mostly on floor 1) with a brick that is similar in texture but slightly warmer in color. An earlier design for the building which appeared in The American Architect (see attachment) included store fronts or "Show Windows" in all bays on floor 1 (except the entrances) of the southwest and southeast elevations. The building as built featured only two of these large windows on the southwest plus five on the southeast. The other bays on the southeast, exclusive of the tower, had clerestory windows. All of these, as well as a number of basement lights, have been bricked up. The root 1s flat with a bullt-up tar and gravel surface. The brick parapet with limestone coping sits atop a "pipe tunnel" which follows the perimeter of Sections A and B of the building.

Between Sections A and B and C and D are a i hg. Bemen beet ong A and l series of unadorned brick elevator and mechanical penthouses. A steel smoke stack rises from one of these. The building structural system consists of a reinforced concrete foundation and frame, with 12 inch-thick brick exterior walls. Round mushroom columns 20 feet on center in both directions support reinforced concrete slabs at all The columns range in diameter from 3 feet in the basement to l foot on floor 8. Columns in the tower are square. Ceiling heights in the main part of the building range from 9 feet 6 inches on most floors to 16 feet in the first floor retail area. Structural elements are exposed except in the Tobby, on floors 2 to 8 of the tower and part of floor 2, with a cafeteria and offices.

(continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _7 Page _3 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Exclusive of the tower, which includes the main lobby with round arches, original staircase with alternating square and twisted balusters and wood handrail, more recent elevators, plus halls and offices on the upper floors (modest detail), the building is divided into four sections (A,B,C and D), separated by brick partitions with elevators, staircases and washrooms strung along the partition separating Sections A and B from C and D. This holds for all 9 levels (basement to 8). The partition between Sections A and B is missing on floor 1 to provide uninterrupted retail space.

There are a number of non-structural partitions in the basement and on floors 1 and 2, some original but most of more recent vintage. Floors 3 through 8 have relatively uninterrupted spaces. Floor 2 of Section D and its mezzanine are packed with distribution equipment. Exposed concrete, brick and later concrete block surfaces are painted on all levels. The building contains about 1,000,000 square feet of floor space. The bulk of the interior was built as, and remains, open warehouse space featuring only concrete mushroom columns 20 feet on center in both directions. There are few later concrete block partitions and some fairly recent stud and sheetrock/plywood partitions with hung ceilings. The tower section is divided into smaller rooms but essentially without detail.

The arches in the lobby and staircase to the second floor are of some interest as is the distribution equipment (of an uncertain date) on floor 2. The original plans for the building exist and include some details of the lobby. The "spiral conveyor" , a brick cylinder enclosing spiral chutes and located near the west corner of Section A on floors 3 to 8, is of particular interest as an original part of the distribution system. The building's original main switchboard is still in use in the basement. The tower has offices on floors 2 to 8, mechanical space on floors 9 to l1, and a 50,000 gallon water tank on floor 12, which services the gravity-fed sprinkler system. The Miller Building, 155-163 Brookline Avenue (Section M) Originally constructed in 1929, it was leased to the Miller Rubber Company of New England, a wholesale tire store, from 1929 to 1936.

From 1938 through 1954 it housed the Sears Service Station, and was substantially altered by Sears in 1937 and 1948. An application filed at Inspectional Services requests permission to change the use from a service station to a "super service station" which required storing much larger amounts of gasoline. lubrication oil and kerosene. Partitions were removed and "areasing pits" were added. A building permit dated January 26, 1948 gives a further scope of work as follows: "Make necessary alterations in present building to change occupancy from service station and retail store to mail order store.

Cut openings in wall to provide access to new addition to existing mail order (continued) Initec States oebanment othe interio ational Park Service NOV 2 9 1990 National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _1 Page 3 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts store." This work coincided with the 1949 addition and was also completed by and Wright with Turner Construction as the contractor. The three-story brick and concrete building, painted yellow, has a flat roof and windows of the same style and muntins the same color as found in the main Sears building. Original cast concrete detail, featuring a stylized tire motif, has been almost entirely removed, openings have been blocked up and poor painting has caused the brick to retain water and crack.

The interior has more recently been reconfigured into office space with drop ceilings and vinyl floor covering. 1949 Addition, Section E Also by Carr and Wright, Section E serves as a connector between the Miller Building and the original Section D. The addition features a canopied loading dock and is strictly utilitarian, built of brick and concrete. It houses much of the mail order house distribution equipment. 1966 Addition, Section F Abutting Sections C, E, and M, this final addition to the Sears plant is again strictly utilitarian, a three-story brick building with loading docks, roll up netal doors flat roof and aluminum windows. The plans drawn up by Ballinger Company envisioned future additions of 8 floors, which were not built.

(continued) Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number -/ - Page . NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Archaeological Description The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store site may contain intact remains of prehistoric Native American fishweirs from the Late Archaic Period (ca. 3000 - 1000 B.C.). These remains may consist of wooden stakes set vertically into underlying deposits in configurations to facilitate catching fish in the various tidal channels that formerly covered the Back Bay at low tide.

Portions of fishweirs have been documented underlying Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay since 1913, in 1939 at the construction site of the New England Mutual Life Company Building, at the 1946 and 1954 construction of the O1d John Hancock building, the IBM building (corner of Boylston and Claredon Streets), and at the 1986 construction at 500 Boylston Street. Fishweir remains in the Back Bay tend to be directly associated with the interface of clay, peat and silt deposits as are found at the Sears and Roebuck building site, varying in depth between 10 and 30 feet below surface. Preservation at these sites is generally excellent because of the high water table in the Back Bay and the extreme depth of archaeological deposits. (end) Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 8.

Statement of Significance Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: nationally statewide LX] locally XA NOV 2 9 1990 Applicable National Register Criteria Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Architecture Commerce Community Planning & Development Period of Significance 1928 - 1940 Signiticant Dates 1928 - 1930 Cultural Affiliation N/A Significant Person N/A Architect/Builder See Continuation Sheet State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above.

The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store (1928-1930) ("Sears building"), located at 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and meets National Register Criteria A and C. Under Criterion A, the Sears building is significant for the valuable role it played in the local economy and by extension as a catalog mail order house, the building represents and reflects the changing tasks, styles and material wants and needs of late 19th through late 20th century American consumers. Additionally under Criterion A, the Sears building and its site are associated with the growth and development of the Fenway district. Under Criterion C, the Sears building represents an architectural style, Art Deco, that is scarce in Boston; it is an example of the work of George C.

Nimmons (1865-1947), FAIA, a prolific designer of industrial and mercantile structures; and shows several advancements in building technology. Like most massive industrial and mercantile buildings, the Sears building has seen alterations and additions over the years, yet the original structure is easily envisioned without its later (1940's and 1960's) appendages and bricked up openings. The building's integrity remains and its alterations are reversible. Not long after the first settlers arrived on the Shawmut Peninsula in the summer of 1630, the need for additional grazing and foraging land for their cattle and swine became apparent. With nearby Roxbury and Charlestown already established as separate towns, inhabitants of Boston were forced to look toward more distant shores for suitable pastures.

Less than two miles westward, across a marshy bay, an area of hills, woods and pasture land appeared to be an ideal spot. Called Muddy River, after the meandering stream which formed its boundary with Roxbury, it was eventually set off from Boston as Brookline in 1705. The first reference to Muddy River as a grazing ground in the Town Records of Boston occurred in 1634 when Edmund Quinsey, Samuel Wilbore and others were called upon to make rates for "the young cattle and cowskeeper at Muddy [X See continuation sheet Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 9.

Major Bibllographical References Previous documentation on file (NPS): X preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested HPCA #11186MA previously listed in the National Register previously determined eligible by the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark recorded by Historic American Bulldings Survey # recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 10. Geographical Data Acreage of property 8.8 acres UTM References A L19 Zone 326750 Easting 4689990 Northing C [X] See continuation sheet Primary location of additional data: X State historic preservation office Other State agency Federal agency Local government University Other Specify repository: Massachusetts Historical Commission B D LLL Zone Easting Northing See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description See continuation sheet Boundary Justification X See continuation sheet 11.

Form Prepared By name/tite_Leslie Larson &Kim Shilland with Betsy Friedberg, National Register Director organization_Massachusetts Historical Commission date street & number 80 Boylston Street 1990 telephone (617) 127-8470 city or town Boston state _ MA _zip code_02116 *U.S.GPO:1988-0-223-918 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - e Page- NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order,Store, Boston, Massachusetts River" - Between 1635 and 1641 the land at Muddy River was divided up among che more prominent citizens i the first being "a suffictent aflotment for ay to a sufficient allotment for a farm for our Teacher, Mr. John Cotton") and subsequently to "the poorer sort of the Inhabitants... (who) have no Cattel1, shal1 have their proorer sort! allotments for planting ground...

" Individual grants to the were limited to four or five acres. In 1675 John Josselyn wrote: "Two miles from the town at a place called Muddy-River, the Inhabitants have Farms, to which belong rich arable grounds and meadows where they keep their Cattle in the Summer, and bring them to Boston in the Winter... The northeastern portion of Muddy River, including the Sears site, and bounded by the river of the same name on the southwest, the bay on the east and the Charles River on the north, was salt water marsh and therefore of limited use for farming and grazing.

Nevertheless, between_1636 and 1641, twenty-four grants and sales of marsh were recorded in the Town Records, the first of which was a grant to Thomas Savage, who "shall have seven acres layed him out, for keeping of his Cattle (being in number five)." In 1637 Thomas Flint "hath allotted unto him twenty-four acres of marsh ground at the mouth of Muddy River..." The largest grant was for sixty acres to Peter Oliver in 1640. In the beginning Bostonians kept their cattle at Muddy River during the summer while corn was growing on their plots of land at home, returning the animals to the Shawmut Peninsula for the winter. Gradually farms were established and by 1650 there were about twenty-five families living in Muddy River.

17th century it was the most convenient grazing land, during the 18th century Brookline was the nearest farming community, and by the 1830s and 1840s, it Brookline's population, which stood at 518 in 1790, had risen only to 1,265 by 1840, but spurted to 5,164 in 1860, following the opening of the Brookline Branch of the Boston and Worcester Railroad in April of 1848. Chartered on June 23, 1831, the railroad began operations as far as Newton on April 16, 1834. Colonel Amos Binney (1778-1833), who had been U.S. Navy Agent for the Port of Boston from 1812 until 1826, was appointed the first superintendent, but died of "liver complaint" on January 11, 1833. The railroad nevertheless opened with passages made chiefly by the Meteor Engine, built in England by Robert Stephenson.

Applications from the inhabitants of Brookline in 1847 led to the establishment of a Brookline branch, running diagonally across the marshes to Brookline Village, in April of the following year. By 1849 the rallroad had twenty-nine engines, tifty-seven passenger cars and hundreds of freight cars. In 1868 the Boston and Worcester line merged with the Western Railroad to form the Boston and Albany Railroad. In 1928 a two-track spur was laid down leading into a one-story train shed at the rear of the newly constructed Sears Roebuck building, accounting for the angle of the northeast elevation of Section C of the structure.

The Boston and Albany right of way (continued) Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 8 Page NOV 2 9 1990 =, Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts became the MBTA Riverside subway line in 1959. As early as 1633 a cart bridge was ordered constructed "at some convenient place over the Muddy River" , the location of which was where Boston's Huntington Avenue becomes Brookline's Boylston Street today. Until the Mill Dam was completed in 1821, this bridge (and its successors at this location) provided the only overland connection from Roxbury (Boston) to Brookline James Goddard for a tavern, a short distance west of the bridge. Known as the Punch Bowl Tavern, it became an important stagecoach stop and was the nucleus around which the village of Brookline gathered.

The construction of the Mill Dam and of other bridges over Muddy River, plus the opening of the Brookline Branch Railroad, drained business away from the Punch Bowl, which was bought in 1833 by Isaac Thayer and demolished. The northeastern tip of the Brookline marshes, where the Charles River expanded into a bay fed by the Muddy River, was called Sewall's Point, after a notable Massachusetts family. Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), known for his Diary, was appointed a commissioner in 1692 to try the Salem witchcraft cases, for which he later "repented." from 1718 to 1728 and an overseer of Harvard College. Hannah, was the daughter of John Hull, Mint Master for New England, who minted the famous Pine Tree Shilling.

In fourteen separate transactions between 1670 and 1684, John Hul] had acquired 300 acres of land in Muddy River "known by the name of Brookline Swamp Line and Hogs Coat" (Suffolk Deed 26:183), abutting the Charles River on the north and the marshes to the east. substantial tract of "woodland pasture meadow and Salt Marsh" was willed to John Hull's daughter, Hannah. In 1712 Samuel and Hannah Sewall conveyed the 300 acres to their eldest son, Samuel and his wife Rebecca, as "one handsome Seat or living with Suitable Accommodations, the Partition or Division whereof would prejudice and Spoil the same" (Suffolk Deed 26:183). Samuel and Rebecca, in turn, granted the estate to their "only Son and Heir apparent Henry Sewall" in 1739 (Suffolk Deed 61:133). During the Revolutionary War, a fort stood on Sewall's Point, which can be seen on Lt.

Page's 1775 map of "Boston Its Environs and Harbour with the Rebels Works." The fort was for a time commanded by Col. Thomas Aspinwall (1734-1799), brother of Dr. William Aspinwall who owned part of what is now the Sears site from 1791 until his death in 1823. In 1781 the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed an "Act to provide for the Payment of Debts due from the Conspirators and Absentees and for the recovery of Debts due to them. This resulted in the confiscation of property of certain of the culprits, including one Samuel Sewall, Esqure, late of Brookline, who was an absentee.

Two-hundred and sixty-three acres of the 300-acre Sewall farm were sold to Edward Kitchen Wolcott to Brookline, (continued) United States Department of the Interior NationalPark Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _8 Page _3 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts yeoman, in 1782 (Suffolk Deed 135:113). Wolcott sold the Hull/Sewall estate to Uriah Cotting for $50,000 in 1815 (Norfolk Deed 50:33), who bought it on speculation, anticipating construction of the Mill Dam of which he was guiding force and engineer until his death in 1821. Cotting had played a similar role a few years earlier as an energetic partner in the Broad Street Association, developers of warehouses along Broad and India Streets as well as India and Central Wharves. He also designed the U.S.

Custom House in 1810, located on the Broad Street Association's 1and. On June 14, 1814 a charter was granted to the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation to construct a dam separating the Charles River proper from the marshy bay to the south. According to a plan published by Benjamin Dearborn in February of that year, the dam would run from the foot of Beacon Street at The dam with Western Avenue (later Beacon Street) on top opened July 2, 1821. Following Cotting's death that same year, Loammi Baldwin (1780-1838) took over as engineer and completed the project, which included the diagonal Cross Dam at Gravelly Point. Loammi Baldwin, whose father Colonel Loammi_Baldwin (1740-1807) developed the Baldwin apple and planned the Middlesex Canal, began a law career but soon turned to engineering. He is considered the father of civil engineering in America.

designed Holworthy Hall at Harvard in 1811, the Union Canal (Pennsylvania) in 1821, determined the proportions of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1825 and became chief engineer of the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1827. The "great dam", a 50-foot-wide, 1 1/2-mile-long earthen dike faced with stone on the river side, enclosed about 600 acres of the Back Bay with the Cross Dam separating the westerly full basin from the easterly receiving basin. At high tide water entered the full basin through filling sluices and flowed on the the receiving basin by way of mill sluices, powering mills adjacent to the Cross Dam in the process. The water eventually returned to the Charles at low tide through emptying sluices in the main dam.

Construction of the Mill Dam, plus the introduction of causeways for the Boston & Worcester and Boston & Providence Railroads in 1834, converted the tidal marshes into foul smelling mud flats at low tide, causing an offended citizenry to agitate for filling in The way for systematic filling of the Back Bay was opened in 1856 with a tripartite indenture among the Commonwealth, the city of Boston ana various private proprietors. A plan with streets laid out in a formal grid and generally credited to Arthur Gilman was developed in 1856, with the contract being let the following year. Beginning at the east end, filling to a depth of over 20 feet had reached Clarendon Street by 1860, beyond Exeter by 1870 and was completed by 1900, with building construction in pursuit.

Brookline Avenue was laid out at some point between 1814, when it was shown on Benjamin Dearborn's "Punch Bowl Road"Plan as a "contemplated road," and 1818, when it appeared on Mather Withington's "Plan of Brookline Marshes Belonging to Sundry Persons." It was so-named because it connected the Mill (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number 8 Page. Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Dam road with Washington Street in Brookline in the vicinity of the Punch Bowl Tavern. It became Brookline Avenue officially in 1868. Audubon Road was opened for travel to Brookline Avenue in 1892 and renamed Park Drive prior to 1938, when it so appeared in the Bromley Atlas for that year.

Fullerton Street, the northeastern boundary of the Sears site, which appeared as Miner Street in the 1873 Hopkins Atlas, acquired its present name about 1900. Despite completion of the Mill Dam/Western Avenue in 1821 and the laying out of Punch Bow] Road and Brighton Road (now Commonwealth Avenue) as extensions of it, planning for development of the Brookline marshes did not begin in earnest until the early 1870's. Although much of the marsh area was owned by individuals as early as the 1630's, it is difficult to trace specific ownerships from then until the present day. Fortunately Mather Withington's aforementioned "Plan of Brookline Marshes" presents a reasonably accurate picture of the shape, size, location and ownership of all of the parcels as of 1818.

The Sears site is easy to locate since it is at the junction of Punch Bowl Road and Muddy River, the latter being the boundary line between Brookline and Roxbury. What is now the site was then composed of two complete parcels owned by Samuel Craft and John Warren respectively, plus parts of three other parcels with their owners being Ebenezer Heath, General Isaac Gardner and Dr. William Aspinwall. The boundaries of the five lots continued until 1917, when all but the Aspinwall parcel came under the ownership of Eugene N. Foss. With the exception of John Warren (1779-1848), a farmer and stone mason who arrived in Brookline shortly before 1809, all of the owners were descendents of early Brookline landholds. In 1786 the four-acre lot was owned by Nehemiah Davis. Warren purchased it in 1814 from Samuel Hammond (Norfolk Deed 52:126) and sold it to David R.

Griggs in 1846 (Norfolk Deed 170:138). Griggs' family in turn conveyed it to Edward R. Secomb in 1871 (Suffolk Deed 1056:282). By 1922 it had been acquired by the Park Square Real Estate Trust following a series of short-term ownerships. Al though members of the Craft family were not among the first landowners in Muddy River, Griffin Craft (ca. 1600-1689) arrived from England in 1630 and settled in Roxbury, near the east bank of Muddy River. Samuel Craft (1787-1850) who owned a parcel on the Sears site in 1818, was a 6th generation descendent of Griffin, and a man of considerable property who was active in establishing the Congregational Society 1n Brookline. Samuel's grandfather Ebenezer Craft (1705-1791, a cordwainer who owned large tracts of land in Brookline and el sewhere, was in possession of the lot in 1786. Samuel sold the property to Charles B.

Dana, a Brookline merchant, in 1853 (Norfolk Deed 218:80). A mortgage default in 1881 placed the property in the hands of Rufus Estabrook of Newton (Suffolk Deed 1538:469), whose heirs conveyed it to Eugene N. Foss sometime after 1895. Foss held it . until after 1917 when it was acquired by the Park Square Real Estate Trust. John Heath of Roxbury (1732-1804) owned ten parcels in Brookline by 1786, one (continued) Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ 8 Page 5. Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts of which was partly on the Sears site. He married Susannah Craft in 1858 and fought in the Revolutionary War. His son Ebenezer (1765-1845), town treasurer, constructed a new meeting house in Brookline, and inherited the property.

Following Ebenezer's death in 1845 it was purchased by Hon. David Sears (1787-1871) (Norfolk Deed 162:83), distinguished descendent of Richard Sares who settled in Yarmouth in the 17th century. A wealthy Boston merchant and real estate developer, David Sears built and occupied the bow-fronted granite mansion house at 42 Beacon Street, contributed substantially to the construction of St. Paul's Church on Tremont Street (both designed by Alexander Parris), and built "Sears Tower" at the observatory in Cambridge. "About 1850 Mr. Sears purchased some 200 acres of land in the suburbs of Boston, which has since become the beautiful village of Longwood, which he proceeded to lay out and beautify at great expense, giving to many of the streets and squares names which he believed to be identified with the family in this country and in England".

(May: The Descendents of Richard Sares) He also built Sears Chapel or Christ's Church in Longwood in 1860-1862, designed by Arthur Gilman. David Sears served several terms as a state representative and state senator. Following his death in 1871 the Heath parcel was transferred to the West Boston Land Associates (Suffolk Deed 1119:261). By 1884 it was back in the Sears family, having been acquired by David's grandsons David and Henry Sears who held it until 1912 when they sold it to Eugene N. Foss (Suffolk Deed 3651:135). The Gardner parcel was in the possession of General Isaac Sparhawk Gardner (1756-1818) at the time of his death.

This marsh land was conveyed to his grandfather Isaac Gardner (1686-1767), who had married Susanna Heath in 1715 and was the first deacon of the First Church, as two parcels from Dudley Boylston (1688-1748), yeoman, town constable and husband of Elizabeth Gardner, in 1729 (Suffolk Deed 45:145) and from Edward Devotion (d. 1744) in 1739 (Suffolk Deed 69:95). Dudley Boylston was the brother of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston (1680-1766), the first physician in the U.S. to innoculate for smallpox. Edward Devotion was constable, perambulator and surveyor of highways for Brookline. At his death he left his estate to the town "towards Building or Maintaining a School" His grandfather Edward, probably a French Huguenot from the La Rochelle family of Pierre de la Barre de Vaution, had acquired substantial acreage in Muddy River before 1667.

In 1821 General Gardner's son Samuel, a yeoman, sold the 7 1/2 acres to Caleb Clark (1789-1849), also a yeoman (Norfolk Deed 65:125). By 1873 that portion of the parcel which is part of the Sears site had been subdivided into row house lots. Dr. William Aspinwall (1743-1823) acquired his 5-acre parcel of saltmarsh from lenry Dana, innholder, in 1791 (Suffolk Deed 169:195). In 1760 Caleb Dana esquire, conveyed the lot to his son Caleb, a tanner (Suffolk Deed 118:156) The Danas were residents of Cambridge. Dr. Aspinwall was the great grandson of Peter Aspinwall (ca. 1612-1687) who purchased a 150-acre farm in Muddy River in 1650.

The doctor married Susanna Gardner, sister of General Gardner, (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 8 Page _ ° NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts and became the first physician to practice in Brookline. His friend General (Dr.) Joseph Warren convinced him to serve in the medical division during the Revolutionary War to "save Yankees instead of killing British." He was State Senator four times, Justice of the Peace and founded and maintained two hospitals for smallpox innoculations. His_portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart. Dr. Aspinwall's son Augustus (1787-1865) sold the parcel to Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886) in 1858 (Norfolk Deed 263:150).

Amos Lawrence, a commission merchant for textiles in Boston, was a director of numerous corporations, trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital, treasurer of Harvard and president of the trustees of the Groton School. In 1850 he bought ninety acres in Brookline from Ebenezer Francis and built a stone house in which he lived until his death. From 1851 on Amos and his brother William developed Cottage Farm with stone and brick cottages behind trees and hedges. The brothers also built the Church of Our Saviour in Brookline (Alexander Esty, 1868) in memory of their father. During the 1850s Amos A. Lawrence became invol ved with the Emigrant Aid Company, promoting emigration to Kansas as an anti-slavery device. contributed $10,000 for education which resulted in the founding of the state university in Lawrence in 1863.

Lawrence Hall at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge was built with his money in 1873 and 1880. By 1873 the Aspinwall portion of the Sears site had been subdivided into row house lots. From the early 1870s on when the northeastern edge of the Sears site was subdivided into row house lots, the parcels were held by a variety of land speculators, real estate trusts and an insurance company until January 5, 1928, when Sears Roebuck and Company purchased the 287,612-square-foot main portion of the site from the Park Square Real Estate Trust (Suffolk Deed 4967:322).

On August 16, 1929, after the first phase of the Sears building was constructed, the company acquired the northeastern strip along Fullerton Street (Suffolk Deed 5123:218), except for the lot at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street which was sold by Nelson Pierce James of Newton to "155 Brookline Avenue Inc." in 1928 (Suffolk Deed 5043:381). The building presently occupying the corner site was constructed in 1929 and leased to the Miller Rubber Company of New England (wholesale tires) from that year through 1936. From 1938 through 1954 it housed the Sears Service Station (gasoline), after which it was integrated into the Sears mail order operation. There is no evidence of any construction on the main Sears parcel prior to the erection of the mail order and retail building in 1928.

It is not surprising that the marshes lagged well behind higher ground as choice development sites. Land speculation in Brookline began even before construction of the Mill Dam, with Uriah Cotting's purchase of the entire Sewall estate from E.K. Wolcott for $50,000 in 1815 (Norfolk Deed 50:33). Three years later Israel Thorndike, David Sears and Ebenzer Francis bought up Cotting's purchase and began to partition the large holding on the assumption that land values would escalate with completion of the dam (Norfolk Deed 64:61). While Longwood was (continued) NOV 2 9 1990 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 8 Page. Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts developed by David Sears following his 200-acre purchase in about 1820, and Cottage Farm was built up by Amos A.

Lawrence during the 1850s, the marshes nad to walt until after they were annexed to Boston in 1870. Hopkins' 1873 Atlas records extensive subdivision of blocks for row houses between the Boston and Albany Railroad to the north and Brookline Avenue to the southeast. Amos A. and William R. Lawrence laid out 221 lots on six blocks between Beacon Street and the railroad, R.A. Ballou and C.H. Burditt owned five smaller blocks with ninety-seven lots on the southeast side of Beacon Street and W.E. and D.N. Skilling had laid out 160 lots on four blocks northeast of the Sears site with twenty brick bowfront row houses already completed. By 1890 only thirteen of the Lawrence lots on Beacon Street were occupied and the rest of the area was unchanged.

Three row houses and a stable were added to the northeast edge of the Sears site by 1895, and the number of houses on Beacon Street had increased to sixty-one. By 1917 the triangle between the Boston and Albany main line and the Brookline Branch was filled with bowfronted brick row houses and small apartment buildings, while two Willys-Overland warehouses had been constructed along Brookline Avenue and nine of the row houses demolished. This signaled the end of residential uses in the blocks abutting Brookline Avenue. By 1922 the remaining eleven row houses were gone from the Willys-Overland block and several commercial buildings were added on both sides of Brookline Avenue. The three houses and stable disappeared from the Sears site sometime after 1928, and by 1938 the neighborhood was completely commercial.

The area immediately southwest of the Sears site across Muddy River in Roxbury, was developed earlier in a significantly different manner. Much of Roxbury maintained a semi-rural or suburban residential character through most of the 19th century. Consistent with this situation was a "Plan of land of L. Pope and N.H. Emmons on Appleton Place in Roxbury" of January 16, 1845, drawn by Alexander Wadsworth, showing twenty-seven large lots laid out between Brookline Avenue and "Longwood Stream" (Muddy River). In 186] twelve of the twenty-seven lots were occupied by detached frame houses. By 1871 there were thirteen houses, by 1890 the fourteenth residence had been added and by 1895 the maximum of eighteen was reached. With the appearance of the Simmons Female College Building in the 1906 Bromley Atlas, the area began to change.

In 1931, after completion of the Sears buliding, the change in character ot the neighborhood had become much more pronounced with the fifteen remaining houses interspersed with brick apartment buildings as well as an expanded Simmons College. Although also partially filled land, the Fenway (Back Bay Fens) never developed on the grand and elegant scale of the neighboring Back Bay, in spite of the fact that many noted institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts and several important individuals such as Isabella Steward Gardner, made their homes in the area.

By the turn-of-the-century educational institutions - Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute, the Museum School, Simmons (continued) Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number - 8 Page 8 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts College, Emmanuel College and Boston University - were encroaching in or near the Fenway area. Along Brookline Avenue close to the railroad, automobile related businesses sprang up: tire sales such as the Miller Tire Building, Dunlop Tires, automobile sales and service stations. New roads were planned with the increasing use of the automobile and this was one of the major points Sears' management considered when buying the empty parcel bounded by Brookline Avenue, Park Drive and Fullerton Street.

Additionally, the adjacent railroad made it possible to distribute all over Massachusetts. Of the many factors that mark the Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store as an important contributor to all of New England and part of New York as well as Boston's architectural, economic and social heritage, la particularly interesting one) is its visual role as a by-product of the burgeoning early 20th century motor age. As America's love of speed and efficiency grew throughout the century with the advent of the motor car, one can see a connection between the Sears building and growth of the American "mall" example, as one looks through the articles published in the major Boston newspapers for the opening of the Sears building, the importance of easy to the city via automobile by the many fast roads and spacious, convenient parking lots is repeatedly stressed.

The newspapers create an "all roads lead to Sears" feeling as a map is shown with all roads ending up at the mail order and retail store. At Sears one could shop for clothing and household items, service the car, bury tires, meet friends at the soda fountain and shop some more. The era of the commercial strip and the drive-thru restaurant was just around the corner. Sears Roebuck and Company, established in Chicago in 1894, has always been conscious of the important role it has played in developing, encouraging and shaping American taste. The pages of early 20th century Sears catalogs reveal a modernity we today often fail to associate with Sears Roebuck and Company. For instance, Sears began to sell automobiles as early as 1908. By 1910, five models were offered, but by 1915 Sears had dropped its line of automobiles.

It is interesting to note, however, that Sears stores traditionally (as in the Park Drive store) have a service or automotive center, perhaps stemming from these early days. and dresseakarl, datempingto keep spedito Pari fashsons, padisord chardretry Sears offered just about everything for the home and the household, but one very interesting, little known sales line (noted by author David L. Cohn) was birth control. Although it was technically still against the law in most states to distribute information about birth control and contraceptive devices, the 1935 catalogs offered a variety of contraceptives under the guise of "feminine hygiene needs" and so bypassed the law and provided a popular sales order to their public. The speed with which the Sears building was erected was testimony to changing times in old Boston.

After investigating hundreds of plans and blueprints for (continued) NOV 2 9 1990 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 8 Page 9 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts the project, it is clear that a substantial portion of the construction was carried out only a few months prior to the opening of the building on August 30, 1928. For example, on one plan from the Indiana Limestone Company of Bedford, Indiana, a handwritten notation indicates that the limestone needed above the line drawn across the plan was not even sent "to the mill for until July 17th. The sheer number of contractors and craftsmen Prooived in this project is overwhelming (see Appendix A) andmanaging all of their specifications would have been a job itself.

Blueprints exist for electrical work, ductwork, iron work, plumbing, fire doors, stairways, windows, equipment such as belt conveyors and moving baskets, carved limestone and, of course, the architects' architectural blueprints themselves. The Sears plant was very much an industrial building: as times changed and machinery advanced, Sears updated its equipment, its lighting, its use of Like the large buildings of its type that survive, it is generally because the buildings have become almost living organisms, growing, shrinking and changing with the current generation's needs. George C. Nimmons (1865-1947) was a prolific architect and author, and an enthusiastic booster of the profession for over forty years. Nimmons discussed subjects from industrial design to the importance of teaching the fine arts in college.

His long period of contact with Sears management could in itself make an interesting avenue of study; just as Cohn chose to examine American morals and changing tastes through the Sears catalogs from 1905 to 1940, so too may one examine the architecture of a century of Sears buildings the earliest 1880's masonry structure to Chicago's soaring Sears Tower. Born in Ohio, Nimmons attended a local school before traveling to Europe for study. After his return he began his career as a draughtsman in the offices of Burnham and Root at the age of eighteen. In 1897 Nimmons formed a partnership with William K. Fellows. Nimmons and Fellows practiced together until 1910. Together they produced one of Sears Roebuck and Company's earliest and most successful buildings, as well as other Sears projects in the Mid-West, and industrial buildings in Chicago.

Nimmons may not have been the most creative or inspiring designer, but he was enthusiastic about his subject, industrial design, and sought to make it pleasing, functional and attractive at the same time. Nimmons said of the Boston building, "The Boston store in design does not follow any historic style of architecture. Al though he claims no historical precedent guided his work, one can clearly see antecedents in his design. His work may not have had a cornice line, but it had columns, sills, lintels, belt courses and a Gothic flavor, all skillfully integrated and executed. Nimmons and Boston Sears Building.

se emonstrated in the sxgu st e traestone carving on ehenec (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ 8 Page _10 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Nimmons served, at age twenty-eight, as a Superintendent of Buildings for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition under the direction of D.H. Burnham (who had been his employer) as the Director of Works, with Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot as the landscape architects and a host of other contemporary notables. Another important role for Nimmons was as author. As mentioned above, he wrote extensively about the state of current industrial architecture, but he was also asked by the AIA Committee on Architectural Education to write about the importance of a fine arts background.

The resulting 1923 article was entitled, "The Significance of the Fine Arts." Little is currently known about Carr, but Clark C. Wright (1880-1948), the third member of the firm, was born in Illinois. He trained in architecture as well as engineering, studying at Chicago's Art Institute and Armour's Institute of Technology. In 1915 Wright joined Nimmon's firm as a draughtsman. By the time the Sears Building was planned, Wright was certainly an important member of the firm. Establishing the actual dates that Nimmons practiced simply as George C. Nimmons and Company, and as Nimmons, Carr and Wright, is difficult to determine. It seems fairly clear that the design for the Boston Sears may be attributed primarily to Nimmons and his stamp is on several of the plans. However, the sta"Boston, Massachusetts, "Nimmons Carr & Wright" is also on plans of 1928.

stamp al so reads "suggesting a field office for the firm, although such an office is not listed in the Boston Directories for 1928 and 1929. That they had a field office is not surprising and was necessary in order to complete the project as rapidly as they did. Even this supervision failed to prevent several fatal accidents from occurring in the months before the building opened. According to testimony gathered after the accidents, many of the workers attributed the fatalities to the rapid building schedule demanded by Sears. Carr and Wright must have also gained the confidence of Sears headquarters, for they went on to design the 1940's addition of the Boston Sears plant after Nimmons had retired.

The newspaper articles commemorating the opening of Sears Roebuck and Company at the Fenway reveal several items of interest concerning the building's up-to-the-minute technology and ideas of improved shopper comfort and convenience, associated specifically with this store and its architects. Major selling points of the project to its contemporary users included: the generous parking facilities; an eight-car train shed that facilitated handling of goods, cut costs to customers, and protected merchandise from bad weather; and its potential as a "neighborhood center" where "friends may wait for each other upon appointment," which included a restaurant and soda fountain, a beauty parlor ("for grown-up ladies"), and well-appointed restrooms.

One development originated by the architects, according to the Boston Herald, called for a special "comfort floor." Fine sand was laid atop the concrete, (continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _ Page 11 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts which was then covered with a matched maple top. This was said to be the first time such a notion had been considered and carried out. Users agreed that it gave a springy step and aided tired and aching feet. The other feature used for the first time in a Sears building - and certainly new to industrial structures - was the ventilating system, described by the Boston Herald as "one of the newest ventilating systems in the United States....

Sears Roebuck and Company has purchased for other stores the same kind of ventilating system that is to be used in Boston." There were similarities in many of the mail order stores, with the central tower and vertical emphasis appearing most often, such as in Memphis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The first three of these have similar materials to the Boston store, with Los Angeles adapting to regional conditions with stucco and tile. The Boston store was the 10th of 12 mail order stores: the last of the first burst of constuction. The final two stores were constructed in 1946 and 1972. Boston's is the third largest, following Chicago and Philadelphia. There were additional stores as well, including Sears in Cambridge.

Several years later a March 1935 article in Architectural Forum entitled "Without Windows" contains an interesting discussion of eliminating windows from the new Sears stores, as a method of controlling climate and saving energy. The author notes that "Nimmons, Carr and Wright may well have started a train of development that will eventually lead to the complete elimination of the window in certain types of commercial buildings." It appears that with Sears as a client, Nimmons and his associates were very involved in state-of-the-art technology.

Although never fully executed in the Boston Sears building, earlier plans of the building as well as photographs of contemporary buildings from The Architectural Record (June 1931), showing stores in Cambridge, Buffalo, California and Washington, D.C., demonstrated that ground floor storefronts were an integral part of Nimmons' designs at this time. These storefronts, with awnings and . canopies, play a major role in his work into the 1940s, as may be seen in the later articles from Architectural Forum (March 1935) and The Architectural Record (September 1940).

(continued) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number _ Page _ 12 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Archaeological Significance Portions of the so-called Boylston Street fishweir are considered to be among Boston's most important archaeological resources- Portions of the fishweir are included in the Back Bay Historic District National Register nomination, which also recognizes that the horizontal extent of the site is not known. Geologically, the Sears Roebuck and Company Site 1s 1ncluded within the same Charles River estuary as the Boylston Street fishweir site, and fishweir remains could be uniformly distributed throughout this area.

Prehistoric fishweir remains that might be preserved at the Sear Roebuck building site may be significant for data on 1) location of such remains relative to the Back Bay, and 2) information on construction and use of the fishweir structure(s). Both the location and orientation of fishweir remains in the Back Bay, relative to the configuration of the bay and its channels in the period 3000 - 1000 B.C., may elucidate prehistoric patterns of resource exploitation in the Boston area. Dating of fishweir remains from the Sears Roebuck building site could be used to test Dena Dincauze's theory that the focus of prehistoric activity along the Charles River moved upriver with the shifting estuary head.

(end) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - 9 Page NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Bibliographical References Archival Sources Inspectional Services Department, City of Boston: Building Permits. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds: Deeds and Plans. Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store: Plans, Blueprints, Drawings, Specifications, etc. housed within the building. Suffolk county Registry of Deeds: Deeds and Plans. Books, Articles, Reports Aspinwall, Algernon Aikin, The Aspinwall Genealogy, Rutland, VT: The Tuttle C1902. Boston Directories. Boston Herald, 8/29/28, pp. 19-26, Special feature on Sears Roebuck & Company. Boston Landmarks Commission, Building Information Form, Sears Roebuck & Company.

Boston Landmarks Commission, Study Report, Sears Roebuck & Company Mail Order House, September 1989. Boston Landmarks Commission, Study Report, Olmsted Parks, September 1989. Bunting, Bainbridge, Houses of Boston's Back Bay, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967. cohn, David L., The Good Old Days, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940. Crafts, James M. and William F., Ihe Cratts ramily, A Genealogical an iographical History of the Descendents of Griffin and Alice Craft o Roxbury, Mass. 1630-1890, Northampton, MA: Gazette Printing Co., 1893. Cummings, Kathleen R., Architectural Records in Chicago. A Guide to Architectural Research Resources in Cook County and Vicinity, Chicago: Burnham Library, Art Institute of Chicago, Curtis, John Gould, History of the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts, Boston & New York: Houghton MiffTin Company, 1933.

Driscoll, James M., "Railroads in Brookline" , Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1931. Fabos, Julius G.; Milde, Gordon T.; Weinmayer, T. Michael, Frederick Law Sr., Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1968. "Five Retali Stores Planned for a Motor Age," Architectural Record, September 1940, pp. 32-42. Griggs, Susan Vining, "The Devotion Family of Brookline" , Brookline Historical Publication Society, No. 14, 1898. Hale, Charles, "The 'Back Bay' Improvement", Boston Almanac, 1959. Heath, Richard, From Buttonwood Marsh to Mail Order Tower: The History and Development of the Sears Bullding and Its west Fens Community, spring 1989. Jones, Theodore F., "Land Ownership in BrookTine, From the First Settlement", Brookline Historical Society, Publication No. 5, 1923.

(continued) Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 9 Page. NOV 29 1990 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Lawrence, William, Life of Amos A. Lawrence, Boston & New York: Houghton Lindstrom, Janet, Miffline & Coo"The Aspinwalls and Lewis Tappan", Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, Little, Nina Fletcher, "History of the John Warren Homestead", Proceedings of the Brooki1ne Historical Society, 1966. May, Samuel P., The Descendents of Richard Sares (Sears) of Yarmouth, Mass. 1638-1888, Albany: Joel MunselT's Sons, 1890. Nimmons, George C., "Modern Industrial Plants", I and II, Architectural Record, November 1918, pp. 414-421 and December 1918, pp. 533-549.

Nimmons, George C, "The New Renaissance in Architecture as Seen in the Design of Buildings for Mail Order Houses" , American Architect, August 5, 1928. Nimmons, George C., "The Need of Architectural Instruction in American Colleges" - American Architect, August o, 1919. Reports of Directors of the Boston and Worcester Rall Road to the Stockholders, 1834, 1838, 1840-1867. Rockwel1, Samuel Forbes, Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston, North Andover, MA: Andover Press, 1932. Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Company, T872. Singer, Dorothy M., "Aspinwall Cottage" , Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society, 1967. State StMaors Have Oeen an Mayar tot Bsvenone, Bstsrated to omer of ng Printing Co., 1914.

Tucci, Douglass Shand, Built in Boston: City and Suburb, Boston: New York Watkins, Walter K., Graphic Society "Devotion Family", Proceedings of the BrookTine Historical "Brookline's First Locomotive", Proceedings of the miteoeia nes er eicie geon y pograpnical History, canbrldge: Harvard Jniversity Press, Woods, Harriet F., Historical Sketches of Brookline, Mass., Boston: Published for the Author by Robert S. Davis & Co., T874. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers Project, The WPA Guide to Massachusetts, New York: Pantheon Books, 193/. Weil, Gordon L., zaitzevsky, Cynt a, s Rderuck Law fimsted and the Boston ParkSysshers, 1977. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982. Atlases and Maps Bromley Atlases: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1902, 1906, 1908, 1912, 1917, 1922, 1928, 1938. Hopkins Atlas: 1873.

(continued) Untted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historle Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number _ Page - Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Boston Redevelopment Authority map , "A Plan of those Parts of Boston Fui Ter 3: thithey, ack Bay in 1894% arso 1538, 1861; 1871, 18884. Fuller & Whitney, Map Pageostoostondas hthens agdsabour with the Rebels Morks", 1775. "Plan of Lands Belonging to the Commonwealth" Wadsworth, Alexander, ngian oh lanm of La Pope & N.H. Emmons on Appleton Place in Roxbury" , 1845 Withington, Mather, "A Plan of Brookline Marshes Belonging to Sundry Persons", Wrightman, H.M., "Plan of Lands on the Back Bay", 1864.

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number - 9 Page 3 Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Appondix A A Partial List of Architects, Engineers and Contractors Company Title of Plan 1928 and 1930 Building and Machinery George C. Nimmons & Co., Architect, Chicago, Ill. Nimmons, Carr & Wright, Architects Chicago & Bostor Indiana Limestone Co., Bedtord, IN. Martin C. Schwab Construction Engineers Chicago, I1l Hegeman-Harris Co., General Contractor, Bos. The Merrill co., Heating & Plping, Bos. Martin C. Schwab Construction Engineers Griffin Keiver Co. Lancaster Iron Works, Lancaster, PA. A.L. Smith Iron Works, Chelsea, MA. "Main Switchboard" Store Front design Steel Stack Plans for metal work Variety Fire Door Co.

The Compound Pyrono Door Co., Boston branch structural Gypsum Corp., Linden, N.u. "Pipe Tunnel" New England Structural Co., Everett, MA. Plans for Trainshed V.J. Gallini Revision to 2nd fl. framing Turner Construction Co. Alterations to door details 1930's Machinery and Building Alteations Hess Engineering Co. "Boston Shipping Room," Layout of Conveyors 1948 Building Addition and 1940's & 1950's Machinery & Alterations Blackall Clapp & Clark Plans for Plumbing Arthur Olive Eng. ervice Bldg To Be Removed Sam. O1 son Co., Chicago, I11. conveying equipment conversion to oil firing onveyor specialty Co install. conveyor equip. ink Belt Co., 136 Brookline Ave. Bos Installing conveyors, trolley truck tow, etc. Air Conditioning install. Dunlap & Esgar, Arch/Eng., Chicago, Ill.

"Support Framing for New Tower on Existing Roof" Date 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1928 1930 1936 1941 1945 1949 1950 1951 1953 1958 1958 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historlc Places Continuation Sheet NOV 29 1990 Section number _9 Page Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 1965 Building Addition and 1960's Machinery Unibelt Conveyors conveyors Ballinger Company, Architects and Engineers Lookwood Greene Engineers, 316 Stuart St. Bos. Norfolk Conveyor, Cohasset, MA. cafeteria alterations 1962 1965 1964 1965 1964 he above list is intended as partial not definitive list. Undoubtedly man ther individuals and companies were involved in the original bullding, late alterations and updating of equipment.

Unlted States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet NOV 2 9 1990 Section number _10 Page _ Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts Verbal Boundary Description The Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store lot is roughly a trapezium in shape, with the Park Drive edge gently curved leading into a rounded corner at Brookline Avenue, and small jogs on Brookline Avenue and Fullerton Street._It is bounded on the southwest on a curved line (radius = 1719.12 feet) by Park Drive, 725 feet; on the south by a corner (radius = 20 feet), 34.53 feet; on the southeast by Brookline Avenue, 490 feet to a jog; southwest on the jog, 20 feet; southeast again on Brookline Avenue, 150 feet; northeast on Fullerton Street, 469.62 feet to a jog; southeast on the jog, 20.31 feet; northeast again on Fullerton Street, 118.29; east on Fullerton Street, 37.55 feet; northwest on the MBTA Riverside Line, 480.73 feet.

Boundary Justification The boundary defining the Sears Roebuck lot is shown on the attached Boston Redevelopment Authority map. Sudevik Count Aueeds 4549245 ; 4967:921, 3u2g 5y 3:2,8 an establan ed Land in Boston - Mass." by Aspinwall and Lincoln, dated July 21, 1928. TRÂNS T * AUTHORITY METROPOLITAN, TRANSIT AUTHORITY 7 1132 CMARNOCK Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Boston Redevelopment Authority maj 4 2,965 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA STREET 4196 1138 15: 157 15,042 FULLERTON 1929 159 161 PARKING 163 NORTH KING PAR AREA 1949 11 = 1966 1928-30 184 - 176 9119 AVENUE 92-1661 6939 PARKING AREA 1928 9133 0 - 190 - 191 < 7 STON BOYL DRIVE PARK DRIVE PARK BOSTON AND ALBANY LROAD RIVER MUDDY SCALE FENWAY 6978 43,220 100 200 300 400 /9" 1 500 FT. NOV 2 9 1990 INORTH Expansion Joints Section "F" Floors 1-3 1966 NOV 2- Sears Roebuck & Co.

Building Sections Section "M" Floors 1-3 1929 Section "F' Floors B-3 Section "E" Floors B-3 1949 Section "C" Fioors B-8 1928-30 E Section "D" Floors B-8 1928-30 Brookline Ave. Section "B" Floors B-8 1928 Section "A" Floors B-8 1928 TOWEI IT FloorsB-L Park Drive CHARLES BRIGHTON WInOW SUSANNA r. 17 . S CRAFT ARAMARAS NAL PAD RIVER S CHILDS 2.1.28 E. WHITNEY 2. THOMAS WHITE JOSMU + CLARK 20 3r. 30p. ELLAH COREY ó 31. ACKERS EBENEZER FRANCIS ESQ. 15g. 17p. EBEN CRAFI - - Té3a40- BENJ". WHITE LONATHAN MASON 10 g. 10p. JOSEPH GODDARD-ESQ.- - .-50. CEN ISAAC GARDNER 1p-- WAY Oa. 1r. 29p. BENJAMIN GODDARD ESQ. WAY 20p 7. 3. 5. 8. 0. 34. 2.2.39 EBEN! 18. CRAFT tr. 34 p. JONA. MAMMOND 3a. 30p. J MASON 18. 3r. 3g J/ MASON ESQ. CALEB CRAFT 2a. 25p. JONA. MASON ESQ 2a. 37p. EBEN! HEATH 3a. 3r. 15p. DR. ASPINWALL 4 1r. 1p. CALEB CLARK

21p STEPMEN SHARP ESQ 6a Or. Op DR. ASPINWALL 2r. 8p. HAY SAMUEL JOMN CRAFT WARREN 28. 3r. 28p. 4a. 1r. 3p, DAVID MAYSLIP BENJ: WHITE 30. 3r. Op 8a Ir. BENJ® WHITE 20. Ir. Mp CALEB CLARK. Ir. 19p ÉBEN RICHARDS TIMQ COREY 10. 23p WIDOW SUSANNA CRAFT SAMUEL MAMMOND 60. Or. 1p DR. ASFINWALL THADDEUS 15p JACKSON JONA. JACKSON wILLun 1a. 3r.19 J0MM WYMAM WILLIAM KAGSOURY 2a.0r.16p CALED WYMAN 2a 1r. CRAFT de.tr. 39+ TIMOTHY COREY ,6g COpIgo FULLER 1820. A Man of BROOKLINE MARSHES Belonging to Sundry Per sons July 1818. Mather Withington, Surveyor. DAM Roce for racord Mar. 4. 1880 1 M Burdakin, Reyf Sears Roebuck & Company 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA NOV 2 9 1990 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA ca. 1821 map of Mill Dam, Cross Dam, Punch Bowl Road N Part of Cambridge Port W.

B.Bridge EAT BAY Greut Dam CHARLES RIVER Brigkton Road Sewalls Point Boul Road Common BASIN Shurt Dam RECEIVING BASIN Point Road to Roxbury Scale BOSION NECK + Furlongs vor hatt a Mile Washungton street SOUTH BAX W N e Charles Kuft's Tav. T 0 inship .& W. B.R Core HiLL K Horse pipe -Babcook -Stearns Aipe N Church -Soars E Dam B.&W.R.R Receiving -Marsh Franas -Dearborn NOVV2 9 Roebuck & 1,90A IKNIND TROBOGE Sears Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, map OI Boston, Back Bay, marshes, Liwyfinn (AQUEDUCT) Lemy Lerd in Na. -To BOSTON.) by order of Vaniel Treadwetl. James F: Buldwin. -Conmission Brookline Nathan Hale. 1837. 'jiem: Basin Sears Roebuck & Company 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue Boston, MA 1873 Hopkins Atlas - 4511,CHIS Flads .ol Muesh *1 "i1 1+4,018:3 54 176794 "ecn 8.ahers Tucob. bany G5. Klawrrnie Sülld TT/N C'ath: Godda.

187,307 11312 176,666 R.ITThampson rusters West Buslun and Assor NewburyStLand Associates 101. 06 FAF.07. itchr. Edward Edwin Lamson 033,241 Z K NOV 2 1990 Vesterndvenue- Associctes 143475 02,Y69 Whiliie Waslern. Assuciales 79.12% Boglslou 1, $ Assorial C. Wishington # 0hr o. Henr! Bi""r others 571113 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive 1895 Bromley Atlas MINER 2380 2280-- 2280 Pettuelrs. 2380 FAIR ?HAVEN 2230,pc) 3342 4673 -ST- HT'S. 5679 Whittox- 3667 2280 3280 -2380--- Chusi OANHA 3280 2031 3200 etat. Sear 2280 J.Iudor 146.538 2280 3284 1380 pc ST Seurs 125.601 PAX TON Sec.13 Blk.5 et al. HTs. Rufus Estabrook 78.008 NOV Brookline Avenue, 29 1990 Boston, MA 89.394 iddle Susan etal. Edw Enoch N. Road Shunt 14.702 L. Mf. Child. BROOKLINE= 1756 direr 22.796 1sraso Whitnoy 17.038 NoISTxog 3470 AUDUBON ROAD M'ET ROPOLITÁN vaus4 SEWER «kopo-His, etut.

1593 dlbert Brownetal 29.326 Chas. F. Stone et az 29.144 17:310 I. Popé,ttrs. 33 BELLEVUE 15.000 Jadab Jacob Édwaris 27,286 See.J3 Blk. 6 20.075 Edmards 16.000 NOV 29 1990 v0 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, 1928 Bromley Atlas MA =ST= -FULLERTON= A y t et al Irs: Partk square Real Estate 1T. 104.716 Wan J. Stober Edith 3 S e a ris =#:29 === Sec13 Blk:5 .r. ty Roeo uck 8t cb. 277.165 SEARS: ROEBUÇK & CO. AÜDÜBOÑ 309 - a GAT MaUSE S R I/V Y._ METROPOLITAN Sec.I BI,12/A 980.758 VERWAY SEWER ======== 110 100 ,PILGRIM SCHOOL -Tucy FredicoHat Pilgrimn CourtIng COURT Theelocki 29,549 C/. Huttraway 7997 ChasE,Stpne 13 firace 7990 wm H.

Roth, Edi ...27.286 retalo 0.6.78 19.795 N2 6-10L 2558 13.950 Edwards 15.000 75 35 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 1938 Bromley Atlas FULLERTON: K =t=+.++ 360,292 ST SEARS, ROEBUCK' Stober 1 Fish Edith 21,011 First National Bank i 116218 9 SubSet pal. D 2436 Lorin 9/19 6939V 8B Amos 9/32 128 440 TB ITART PARK Beacon GAT HOUSE SEWER =I=<Z=== 100 114 Akacgnedlock ,PILGRIM Rilgrim Real ostate i COURT 78095 Sec 3P 2 -Trs Emmanue/ -Ilene 4999 chas F. 15, M. Roth etal =5 NOV 2 9 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA rendering of first scheme showing storefronts in all floor 1 window bays; site plan with landscaping August 5, 1928 THE AMERICAN ARCHITECT Page 147 SEARS, ROEBUCK & COMPANY MAIL ORDER STORE, BOSTON, MASS.

NIMMONS, CARR & WRIGHT, ARCHITECTS NOV 2 > 1990 Sears Roebuck & Company, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 1929 photo BUILDING FOR SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO., BOSTON NIMMONS, CARR & WRIGHT, ARCHITECTS UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: RESUBMISSION PROPERTY NAME: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 1/10/91 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REFERENCE NUMBER: 90001992 NOMINATOR: STATE DETAILED EVALUATION: N VACCEPT RETURN _REJECT 1/15/2 are ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : 2/24/91 Entered 1n the National Registaz RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N CLASSIFICATION count resource type STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION historic _current DESCRIPTION _architectural classification materials descriptive text SIGNIFICANCE Period Areas of Significance--Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) _summary paragraph _completeness _clarity _applicable criteria _justification of areas checked _relating significance to the resource _context _relationship of integrity to significance _justification of exception _other BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA acreage _UTMs verbal boundary description _boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION _sketch maps _USGS maps _photographs OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone presentation Signed Date SERRE ROEBUCK : 2O1BROCKLINE AUE., BOSTON, MA PHOROGRADHER: LESLIE LARGON DATE: 8-24-89 MEZATIVE & LEBLTE LARSON, G JOY ST., BOSTOM, MA OZI08 PEOTONO: D VIEIV: SOUTHUEST (ARIMARY) FACADE; FROM SOUTH SEARS ROOBUCKÀ, COMPAMU 309 PARK DRIVEd 201 BROOKLNE AUE., BOSTON, MA PHOTOBRAPHERR: LESLIELARSON DATE : 8-24-89 NEGATIVE : LESLIELARGON, GJO4 SL., BOZTOM, MAOZIO PHOTO NO: E VIEW: SOUTHWEST FACADE # SOUTHERST ELEVATIONi FI SEARS ROEBUCK É, COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE k 201 BROOKLINE AVE; BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHERI LESLIE LARSON DATE: 8-29-89 ALEGATIVE & LESLIE LARGON, GJOY ST., BOTTON, MAOZI PHOTONO:O VIEW: MORTHWEST ELEVATION; FROM WEST 0661 6 2 10N SEARS ROEBUCK É COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE i 201 BROOKLINE AUE., BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIELARSON DATES 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIELARGON, CO J04 ST., BOSTON, MA O2I08 PHOTONO: 4 VIEW: NORTHEAST ELEVATION & PART OF SOUMORA ELEVATION OT 1949 ADDITION; FROM EAST SEARS ROEBUCK À, COMPAMY 309 PARK DRIVEI 201 BIROOKLINE AVE, BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHER& LESLIE LARGON DATE : 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LEGLIO LARGOM, G JOY ST., BOSTON, MAOZI PHOTO MO:E VIEW: UPPER FLOORS OF HORTHETAST ELEVATIOM: 196 IN FOREGROUMD; FROM NOrTH SEARS SEARS ROEBUCK!

COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE I 201 BROOKLINE AUE., BOSTOM, M PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARGON DA7E9 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIELANGOM, 6 JOY ST., BOSTOM, MAOZ PHOTONO: 6 VHEW: TOWER, SOUTHWEGT FACHDE; FROM souT SEARS ROBBUCK I COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE!

201 BROOKLINEAUENUE, BOSTOM, MA PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARSON DATE: 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESCVE LANSON, COJOY ST., BOSTON, MA OZIO8 PHOTONO : CI VIEW: UPPER FLOORS OF TOWER, NORTHWEST EDEUHTION; FROM WEST NUV SEARS SEARS ROEBUCK G COMPARLY 309 PARKDRIVO : 201 BROOKLINE AUE., BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLE LARGON DATE: 6-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIELARLOM, 6J04 ST., BOSTOM, MA OZIO8 PHOTONO: 8 VIELO: CARVED LIMESTONG & UIRICK DETAIL, STEEL WINDCUE, FlOORes 2-5 oF CENTeAL BAY of TOWER, SOUTOOTT FACADEi FROM SOUTHWUEST NOV 2 9 1990 SEARS ROEBUCKi COMPAMY 309 PARK DRIVEi 201 BROOKUNE AUE, BO>TON, M PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARGON DATE: 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIE LARSON, GJO4 ST., BOSTON, MA O PHOTO NO: 9 JIEWO: CARVED LIMESTONE PANEL, FLOOR Z, BOUTHEES OF TOWER; FRoM sOUTRUEsT G20 SEARS ROEBUCK & COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE i 201 BROOKLNE AUE., BOSTON, M PHOTOGRAPHER: LESUIE LARBON DATE: 8-24-89 NETATIVE: LEGLIE LANGOM, 6504 ST., BOSTON, MAOZIO PHOTONO:(10 VIEre: CARVED LIMEGTONE & BRICK DETAIL, FLOOR 8, N ELEVATION; FROM MORTHWEST NO SMOKING 46} 33240 55 785 NO SMOKING SEARS ROFBUCK & COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE!

201 BROOKLNE AVE., BOSTOM, MA PHOTDGRAPHER: LESCIE LARGON DATE : 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIELARÇOM, 6JO4 ST., BOSTOM, MAOZIOE PHOTONO: D VIEW: LOBBY d STARCASE; FLOORI, TOWER NOVl ers Smiling On Everything You Do!

309 PARK DRIVE À 201 BROCKLING AUE., BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARGON DATE: 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LESCIE LARGON, 6JO4 ST., BOSTON, MA OZIOB PHOTO NO: 112 VIeW: LOBBY FROM STAIRCASE; FLOORI, TOWER NOV 29 SEAKS ROGBUCK È COMPANY 309 PARK DRIVE: 201 BROOKLINE AUG., BOSTON, M PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARSON DATE: 8.24-89 NEGATIVE: LESLIE LARSON, GTO4 GT., BOSTON, MA PHOTO NO:13 VIEW: TÚPIAL WAREHOUEE SPACE: FLOOR 3, 5E SEARS ROEBUCKÉ COMPAMY 309 PARK DRIVE d 201 BROOKLINE AUE, BOsTON, PHOTOGRAPMERR: LESLIE LARSON DATE: 8-24-89 ALEGATIVE: LESLIE LASON, GTOY ST., BOSTON, MA PHOTO NO: (14) VIERO: COLUMNS, PIERS, STERL WIMDOCS: FLOOR SEARS ROEBUCKA, COMPAHY 309 PARK DRIVE : 201 BROSKLING AVE., BOSTON, MA PHOTOGRAPHER: LEBLIE LARGON DATE: 8-24-89 MEGATIVE: LEGLIE LARGOM, C JOY ST., BOSTON, MA OLIOB PHOTO NO: 15 VIERO: SPIRAL COMVETOR; FLOOR 4, SECTION A NOV SEARS ROEBUCK COMPANY 309 PARKDRIVE 1 201 BROOKLINE AVE, BOSTONI PHOTOGRAPHER: LESLIE LARSON DATE: 8-24-89 NEGATIVE: LEGMELARGOM, 6J04 ST., BOSTON, MA OZI PHOTONO: 16 VIENU: CONVEYORS; FLOOR 2 MEZZANIME, SECTIO REO.018 NOV 2 9.1990 NATIONAL REGISTER * COMMISIONT November 13, 1990 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O.

Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, HPCA #11186MA, 309 Park Drive and 201 Brookline Avenue, Boston (Suffolk County), Massachusetts 02116. There has been no owner objection for the property listed above. The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 60-90 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Comments received to date are attached to the nomination form. Sincerely, Betay Fredkerg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission Enclosure: Massachusetts Historical Commission, Valerie A.

Talmage, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J. Connolly, Secretary R-LOVE JAN /O 1991 NATIONAL REGISTER COMMISSIOT" Tat aAracha TSVB LIBEAY * 1 Comnmniteal u ter) January 8, 1991 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination: Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (HPCA #11186-MA). The nomination, originally submitted to the National Park Service on November 13, 1990, was returned to the Massachusetts Historical Commission on January 1, 1991, because it had not been signed and dated by the State Historic Preservation Officer.

That has now been done, and we are resubmitting the nomination (enclosed). Because of this unanticipated delay in listing, we now request expedited review of the nomination. Thankyou. Sincerely, Betoy Friedker Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure Massachusetts Historical Commission, Judith B. McDonough, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J. Connolly, Secretary