This list of over 200 buildings in Boston and Eastern Massachusetts is not a typical “Make Lists,, Not War” list. It is not a meta-list, although it does contain buildings on several meta-lists. It is not a “best buildings” list, although it does contain buildings on some “best buildings” lists.
One of the precursors of this list was a meta-list I made in 2015 of the best buildings in Boston and Cambridge. (You can find it HERE.) I also created a post of modernist architecture in Cambridge, MA (see it HERE.) Several Boston buildings also showed up on my lists of the best architects and their best buildings (HERE).
In 2021, I started collecting lists of the best buildings in Boston and eastern Massachusetts. The best list I found was a July 25, 2018 article in Boston Magazine titled, “The 100 Best Buildings in Boston.” But instead of creating a meta-list in the usual way and finding photos of the buildings on the Internet, I set out to visit and photograph as many of the buildings as I could. Along the way, I came across interesting buildings that weren’t on any of the lists, and I photographed them too.
The resulting list is a bit of a mix of well-known and more obscure buildings. It is not meant to be all-inclusive, particularly for locations outside Boston. I tended to focus on the cities and towns I live in, work in, or visit frequently. By placing the buildings in chronological order, I hope to create a narrative about the development of various styles of architecture (and architects) over time. Please note that many buildings have complicated histories of renovations, additions, and restorations. I’ve tried to include as much information as I could find in the “History” portion of the entry.
NOTE: I took all the photos but I have not copyrighted them. feel free to use or share. It would be nice if you could credit or link to Make Lists, Not War: The Meta-Lists Website.
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James Blake House
735 Columbia Rd., Dorchester, Boston, MA
Built: 1661
Architect: James Blake
History: Originally built as part of a large agrarian estate by James Blake, the Blake House is the oldest existing house in Boston. It was sold to the City of Boston in 1895. The Dorchester Historical Society restored the house and had it moved to Richardson Park in 1896. Another restoration project was completed in 2007.
Style: Western English
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Paul Revere House
19 North Square, Boston, MA
Built: 1680
Architect: John Jeffs
History: This home’s first owner was Robert Howard, a slave merchant. The building was renovated in the Georgian style in the mid-18th Century. Paul Revere owned the house from 1770 to 1800. The rear chimney was added c. 1790. Architect Joseph Everett Chandler oversaw restoration efforts in 1907-1908. The building opened as house museum in 1908 and is now a stop on the Freedom Trail of Boston’s historic sites.
Style: Elizabethan Tudor; Georgian
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Captain William Smith House
126 North Great Rd, Lincoln, MA
Built: 1692
Architect: Unknown
History: This building was the home of Benjamin Whittemore (d. 1734) and, later, Captain William Smith (1746–1787), commanding officer of the Lincoln minutemen and brother of Abigail Adams. It was incorporated in Minute Man National Historical Park in 1975. The house was restored to is 1775 appearance in 1983-1985.
Style: Colonial
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Union Oyster House
41-43 Union Street, Boston, MA
Built: c. 1704-1713
Architect: Unknown
History: The building began as a commercial establishment. Hopestill Capen’s dry goods business occupied the space from c. 1742 to 1826. Printer Isaiah Thomas published a newspaper “The Massachusetts Spy,” from the third floor beginning in 1771. In 1775, the store was the headquarters of Ebenezer Hancock, the first paymaster of the Continental Army. In 1796, exiled French noble Louis Phillippe (later King of France) lived on the 2nd floor. The building was renovated and opened as a restaurant in 1826 by Atwood & Bacon, and has been operating continuously since then.
Style: Georgian
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Old State House
206 Washington Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1712-1713
Architect: Robert Twelves (possibly)
History: The building served seat of Massachusetts colonial government from 1713-1776, and of Massachusetts state government from 1776-1798. The Interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1748. Occupying British troops used the building as a military barracks from 1768-1772. Renovated by Thomas Dawes c. 1772. Alterations by Isaiah Rogers, 1830. Restored by George Albert Clough, 1881-1882. Renovated by Goody, Clancy & Associates, 1991. Water-damaged masonry repaired, 2006. Tower restored and weather vane re-gilded, 2008.
Style: Georgian
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Old Corner Bookstore
283 Washington St., Boston, MA
Built: 1718
Architect:
History: Built as a residence by Thomas Crease. Renovated to become a bookstore in 1828. Home to Ticknor and Fields book publishers from 1832 to 1865. Renovations by Perry, Shaw and Hepburn, 1964. Renovations by William Rawn, 1985.
Style: Colonial
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Old North Church
193 Salem St., Boston
Built: 1723
Architect: William Price
History: The oldest standing church in Boston, the steeple was used to signal the British approach at the beginning of American Revolution, April 1775. Original steeple destroyed by a hurricane, 1804. Replacement steeple by Charles Bulfinch, 1807. Replacement steeple destroyed by a hurricane, 1954. New steeple built, 1955(?).
Style: Georgian -
Old South Meeting House
Corner of Washington and Milk street, Boston
Built: 1729
Architect: Robert Twelves (possibly)
History: Served as a Congregational Church from 1729-1872. Site of gathering before Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773. Interior destroyed by British troops, 1775. Interior renovations by Thomas Dawes. Established as museum in 1877.
Style: Georgian
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Codman House
34 Codman Road, Lincoln, MA
Built: 1735
Architect: Unknown
History: Original house built by Chambers Russell was Georgian in style. A major 1798-1799 enlargement and renovation converted the house to the Federal style. Charles Bulfinch may have been involved in the 1798-1799 redesign.
Styles: Georgian; Federal
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Faneuil Hall
1 South Market Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1740-1742
Architects: John Smibert
History: Grasshopper weather vane by Deacon Shem Drowne, 1742. Interior rebuilt after fire, 1762. Expansion by Charles Bulfinch, doubling height and width and adding third floor, 1806. Rebuilt of noncombustible materials, 1898–1899. Ground floor and basement remodeled, 1979. Restoration, 1992.
Style: Georgian
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Henry Vassall House
94 Brattle Street, Cambridge MA
Built: c. 1746
History: The original building on the site may date to the 1630s, but few traces remain. The building was confiscated during the American Revolution and used as an army hospital.
Style: Colonial
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King’s Chapel
Corner of Tremont and School streets, Boston, MA
Built: 1749-1754
Architect: Peter Harrison
History: Home of first Anglican Church congregation in Boston. Many members were Loyalists who fled the Revolution. It remained empty during the war and was reopened in 1782.
Style: Georgian
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Longfellow House and Washington’s Headquarters
105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Built: 1759
Architect: Unknown follower of James Gibb.
History: Originally owned by Tory John Vassall. Used by George Washington as headquarters 1775-1776. Expanded by owner Andrew Craigie (adding side porches and ell in rear, expanding library into a ballroom), 1791. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived there from 1844 to his death in 1882.
Style: Georgian
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First Harrison Gray Otis House
141 Cambridge Street, Boston
Built: 1795-1796
Architect: Charles Bulfinch
History: Current entrance added after 1801. Restored by Abbott Lowell Cummings, 1960.
Style: Federal
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Lyman Estate
185 Lyman Street, Waltham, MA
Built: 1793-1798
Architect: Samuel McIntire
History: Expanded by Richardson, Hartwell & Driver, 1882.
Styles: Colonial Revival; Federal
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Massachusetts State House
24 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1795-1798
Architect: Charles Bulfinch
History; The wood dome was covered with with copper by Paul Revere’s Revere Copper Company in 1802 and gilded in 1874. Expansion of building by Charles Brigham, 1895-1899. Wings added by Sturgis, Bryant, Chapman & Andrews, 1917. The Great Hall (Hall of Flags) was created in 1990 to designs by Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson & Abbott. The dome was re-gilded, 1997.
Style: Federal
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Phillips-Winthrop House
One Walnut Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1804
Architect: Charles Bulfinch
History: Home of Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Lindall Winthrop (1760-1841). Home of John Phillips (1770-1823), first major of Boston. Home of abolitionist Wendell Phillips (1811-1884).
Styles: Federal; Adamesque
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Jonathan Mason Houses
51-57 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1804
Architect: Charles Bulfinch
History: Daniel Webster lived here in 1817–1819. Revised and renovated by Cornelius Coolidge, 1837-1838.
Style: Federal
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Gore Place
52 Gore Street, Waltham, MA
Built: 1805-1806
Architect: jacques-Guillaume Legrand (possibly)
History: Summer home of Massachusetts governor and senator Christopher Gore. After an earlier building burned, Christopher’s wife Rebecca Gore drew sketches for a new home. Gore sent the sketches to Rufus King and asked Jacques-Guillaume Legrand to draw up plans, although it is not clear if the house is based on plans of Legrand.
Style: Federal
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Old West Church
131 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1806
Architect: Asher Benjamin
HIstory: The building has served as a church except for the period between 1894 and 1960, when it was a branch of the Boston Public Library.
Style: Federal
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Charles Street Meeting House
70 Charles Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1804-1807
Architect: Asher Benjamin
History: Many abolitionists spoke here in the years before the Civil War. Purchased by The First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1876. Exterior restored and interior renovated for mixed use by John Sharratt Associates, 1981-1982.
Styles: Georgian; Colonial
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William Hickling Prescott House
54-55 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1808
Architect: Asher Benjamin
History: Benjamin designed the twin houses at 54-55 Beacon Street for original owner James Smith Colburn. Boston historian William Hickling Prescott lived at 55 Beacon Street from 1845-1859.
Style: Federal
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Park Street Church
1 Park Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1809
Architect: Peter Banner
History: The building is 217 feet tall and was the tallest building in the United States from 1810 to 1828. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave his first speech here in 1829.
Styles: English Baroque; Neoclassical
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Union Club
7-8 Park Street Place, Boston
Built: 1809 (original); 1838 (revision)
Architect: Charles Bulfinch (original); Gridley J.F. Bryant (renovations)
History: The original owner of both houses was John Gore (nephew of Christopher Gore). Gore lived at No. 8 and leased or sold No. 7 to Dr. John Colllins Warren. Abbott Lawrence bought No 8 in 1836. In 1838, architect Gridley J.F. Bryant revised the house in the Greek Revival style with Regency-style wrought iron balconies. In 1863, the Union Club of Boston acquired No. 8. Bryant and John Hubbard Sturgis oversaw the transformation into a clubhouse. A fifth floor was added in the early 1880s by Peabody & Stearns, replacing the gable roof. The Club acquired No. 7 in 1896, gave it a 5th floor and matching façade, and incorporated it into the club.
Styles: Greek Revival; Regency
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Boston Manufacturing Company (Francis Cabot Lowell Apartments)
144-190 Moody Street
Built: 1813-1814
Architect: Paul Moody
History: First integrated spinning and weaving factory in the world, owned by Francis Cabot Lowell and associates, using water power and a power loom. Largest factory in the U.S., with a workforce of about 300. A second, larger mill was built in 1816. First and second mills connected, 1843. In the late 19th Century, the original mills were connected, the gable roofs removed, and additional floors were added with flat roofs.
Style: Industrial
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Salem Custom House
176 Derby Street, Salem, MA
Built: 1819
Architect: Perley Putnam
History: A wooden eagle carved by Joseph True was placed on the roof in 1826. Nathaniel Hawthorne worked in the Customs House as a surveyor from 1846-1848. The original eagle was replaced by a fiberglass replica in 2004.
Style: Federal
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Somerset Club (Sears House and Crowninshield-Amory House)
42-43 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1819 (Sears House); 1832 (Crowninshield-Amory House)
Architect: Alexander Parris (Sears House)
History: Parris designed the original home for David Sears at 42 Beacon Street. In 1832, Sears expanded the house and had the Crowninshield-Amory House built for his daughter. In 1872, the private Somerset Club bought the Sears House and added the third floor. The Club also bought 43 Beacon and combined the two homes into one clubhouse.
Style: Federal, with French elements
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Nathan Appleton Residence
39-40 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1818 or 1821 (sources differ)
Architect: Alexander Parris
History: The Nathan Appleton home is at 39 Beacon Street. The home at 40 Beacon Street, which was originally identical, was owned by Daniel Parker. A fourth floor was added to both homes in the 1870s or in 1888 (sources differ). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Fanny Appleton were married in the house in 1843. In the 1870s a fourth floor was added; the original balustrades were retained. The buildings were the home of the Women’s City Club of Boston from 1914 to the 1990s.
Style: mix of Federal and Greek Revival
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Quincy Market
206 South Market Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1824-1826
Architects: Alexander Parris
History: Restored to 1826 appearance by Architectural Heritage Inc., Roger Webb; Stahl/Bennett Architects. Frederic A. Stahl, Principal in Charge; Roger Lang, Project Manager; James H. Ballou, Consulting Architect; and William LeMessurier, Structural Engineer in 1969. Remodeled as part of Faneuil Hall Marketplace by Benjamin Thompson & Associates, architects, and Rouse Company, developer, 1976.
Style: Greek Revival
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Church of St. John the Evangelist
35 Bowdoin St, Boston, MA
Built: 1831
Architect: Solomon Willard (attrib.)
Style: Gothic Revival
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Oliver Hastings House
101 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Built: 1844
History: Builder Oliver Hastings was the original owner. William Lawrence, professor and Dean of the Episcopal Theological School and Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts, also lived there and made additions in the rear. The building is now owned by the Episcopal Divinity School.
Style: Greek Revival
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Boston Athenaeum
10 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1847-1849
Architect: Edward Clarke Cabot
History: The building was renovated and expanded, adding the fourth and fifth floors, by Henry Forbes Bigelow in 1913-1914.
Styles: Neoclassical; Renaissance Revival
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Boston Custom House
3 McKinley Square, Boston, MA
Built: 1847-1849
Architect; Ammi Burnham Young
History: The Custom House Tower was added in 1913-1915 (see separate entry).
Styles: Neoclassical; Greek Revival
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The Liberty Hotel (former Charles Street Jail)
215 Charles St., Boston
Built: 1848-1851
Architect: Gridley J.F, Bryant, with advice of prison reformer Rev. Louis Dwight
History: The cupola was removed in 1949. In 1975, a Federal court found that the overcrowding of the jail violated prisoners’ constitutional rights. The jail closed in 1990. In 2007, the jail reopened as a hotel after renovations by Cambridge Seven Associates and Ann Beha Architects. The renovations included: recreating the original cupola; removing the 18-foot prison wall; and building a 16-story guest room addition using contemporary materials.
Style: Boston Granite; Renaissance Revival
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Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church
740 Tremont Street, Boston
Built; 1862
Architect: Hammatt Billings
History: The original Methodist Episcopal congregation left in the late 1960s, when the church became the New Hope Baptist Church. During a 1940 renovation, a large number of stained glass windows were installed. In 2011, the building was sold to private developers, who converted it to housing.
Style: Gothic Revival
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234 Berkeley St (former Natural History Museum)
Back Bay, Boston
Built: 1863-1864
Architect: William Gibbons Preston
History: Built for the Boston Society of Natural History, which operated a natural history museum at the site until 1945, when the Society established the Museum of Science and moved to Science Park, Cambridge. More recent occupants have included: Bonwit Teller (1947-1989), Louis, Boston (1990-2010), and Restoration Hardware (2013-Present), after significant renovations by Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects.
Style: Beaux-Arts; French Academic
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Old City Hall
45 School Street, Boston
Built: 1862-1865
Architects: Gridley J.F. Bryant and A.D. Gilman
History: Built on the site of the Boston Latin School, which operated there from 1704 to 1748, One of the first French Second Empire buildings in the U.S., it housed the Boston City Council from 1865-1969. Architectural Heritage Foundation, Inc. (now AHF Boston) and Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc. renovated the building for private use in 1969-1971. Home of the restaurant Maison Robert from the early 1970s to 2004.
Style: French Second Empire
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Church of the Covenant
67 Newbury Street, Boston
Built: 1865-1867
Architect: Richard M. Upjohn
History: Formerly known as Central Church. In the 1890s the sanctuary was redecorated by Tiffany & Co. with stained-glass windows and mosaics and an electric-light chandelier designed by Jacob Adolphus Holzer.
Style: Gothic Revival
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St. John’s Memorial Chapel
99 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA
Built: 1867-1868
Architects: Ware & Van Brunt
History: Major renovations took place in 1930 and 1966-1967. The building, formerly part of the Episcopal Divinity School, was purchased by Lesley University in 2018.
Style: Gothic Revival
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St. Mary’s Parish
133 School Street, Waltham, MA
Built: 1858-1872
Architect: Unknown
History: The church was enlarged in 1875. The steeple was added between c. 1876-1919.
Style: Romanesque Revival
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Wigglesworth Building
89-93 Franklin Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1873
Architect: Nathaniel Bradlee (Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell)
History: After an 1884 fire, the building was repaired and restored by Peabody & Stearns, who added the top floor in 1885.
Style: Gothic Revival
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Morse Institute Library
14 East Central Street, Natick, MA
Built: 1873
Architect: George B. Thayer
History: Additions were built in 1927 and 1964. These were razed to make way for a new, much larger addition in 1997.
Styles: Gothic Revival; High Victorian Gothic
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Clark’s Block
2 Summer Street, Natick, MA
Built: 1874
Architect: Unknown
History: The original building was built in 1872, but burned in the Great Fire of 1874 and was rebuilt that year in the same style and dimensions. There is a large concert hall on the third floor.
Style: Victorian Italianate
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Old South Church (New Old South Church)
645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1872-1875 (sources differ on completion date: 1873, 1874, or 1875)
Architects: Cummings & Sears
History: Tiffany & Co. redecorated the sanctuary in 1905. In the 1920s, the campanile began to list. In the early 1930s, it was dismantled and rebuilt. The church was expanded by Allen & Collens in 1935–1937. In the early 1950s, the sanctuary was renovated in a minimalist style. A restoration began in 1984 that restored the church to its 1875 appearance.
Style: Venetian Gothic; Gothic Revival
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Our Lady Help of Christians
573 Washington Street, Newton, MA
Built: 1873-1875
Architect: James Murphy
History: The façade was added in 1900.
Style: Gothic Revival
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Joseph K. Manning House
35-37 Forest Street, Medford, MA
Built: 1875
Architect: Unknown
Style: French Second Empire, Stick/Eastlake
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The Bedford Block
99 Bedford Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1875
Architects: Cummings & Sears
History: The building was originally created as a retail shoe center for Henry and Francis Lee. Iron balconets and a short corner tower that faced the intersections of Bedford and Church Green streets were removed during 1983 renovations by the Bay-Bedford Company. Later renovations by The Architectural Team restored original details and design elements while adding a retail atrium.
Style: Venetian Gothic; Ruskinian Gothic
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Modern Theatre
525 Washington Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1876; demolished and rebuilt with original façade, 2010
Architects: Levi Newcomb (original)
History: Originally named the Dobson Building. Clarence Blackall the building’s renovation into a movie theater in 1914. In the 1970s, it was the Mayflower Theater, which showed X-rated films. In 2010, the building was demolished and rebuilt, retaining the original façade. for Suffolk University.
Style: High Victorian Gothic
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First Congregational Church
2 East Central Street, Natick, MA
Built: 1875-1877
Architect: J.B. Goodall (attrib.)
History: The auditorium was completed in 1881. Expanded on the south side in 1891. Renovations to add classroom and office space and make the building accessible to people with disabilities was completed in 2001.
Style: Neo-Gothic; High Victorian Gothic
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Trinity Church
206 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA
Built: 1872-1877
Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson
History: This is the first building designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in the style that would become known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Interior murals and several stained glass windows by John LaFarge. The West Porch, added in 1897, was designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge.
Style: Richardsonian Romanesque
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Memorial Hall
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Built: 1870-1877
Architects: Ware & Van Brunt
History: The building was designed as a memorial to Harvard graduates who died fighting for the Union in the American Civil War. The hall and transept were completed in 1874. Sanders Theatre was completed in 1876. The tower was completed in 1877. The clock tower was added in 1897. The tower was destroyed in a 1956 fire but was rebuilt in 1996 to its 1877–1897 appearance.
Style: Gothic Revival
