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Second Brazer Building

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1896, Cass Gilbert. 25–29 State St.
  • Second Brazer Building (Keith Morgan)

On the site of the first meetinghouse from 1629 to 1640, the Brazer Building is an excellent example of conservative steel-frame skyscraper design and the only Boston commission of New York architect Cass Gilbert, best known for the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan. Columnar in shape, bent to its irregular site and clad in limestone and terra-cotta, the Brazer Building represents the limitations of Boston height restrictions at the end of the nineteenth century and the importance of the intersection of State and Congress streets as the heart of Boston's financial center. The animated rustication of the facades rise to a sculptural treatment of the upper levels, the total composition more fanciful than most of the commercial buildings of its generation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Old State House (Second Boston Town House)
New England Merchants Bank Building
Stock Exchange Building and Exchange Place
Ames Building
Boston Company Building

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Second Brazer Building", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-GC10.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 51-51.

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