{"nrhp_refnum":"07000861","name":"Boston Transit Commission Building","other_names":["Boston School Committee Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15 Beacon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.35834453600006,"lon":-71.06226164199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-08-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Politics/Government","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 10-story Classical Revival office building with Beaux Arts details at 15 Beacon Street in Beacon Hill, Boston, built in 1903-04 for the Beacon Hill Trust and designed by William Gibbons Preston. It is now used as a hotel.","why_significant":"Under Criterion A, it served as the headquarters of the Boston Transit Commission, the first public transportation agency in the U.S., which created the nation's first subway. Under Criterion C, it is a fine example of Classical Revival/Beaux Arts architecture by the noted Boston architect William Gibbons Preston. It later housed the Boston School Committee.","narrative":"Rising ten stories on Beacon Street near the State House, this orange brick building with stone trim, a copper cornice and a cast iron ground floor was built in 1903-04 for the Beacon Hill Trust, a real estate investment group. Boston architect William Gibbons Preston designed it in the Classical Revival style with Beaux Arts features. As soon as it opened, it became the first consolidated office of the Boston Transit Commission, the nation's first public transportation agency, which built the first subway in the country. The City bought the building in 1920, and from 1923 to 1976 it housed the Boston School Committee. The interior was extensively remodelled in 1998-99 for hotel use, but the lobby layout, the central hallway plan and an original marble stairway with an ornate brass railing survive. The building is recognised for its ties to early mass transit and for Preston's architecture.","period_of_significance":"1903-1957","architect_builder":"William Gibbons Preston","architectural_style":"Classical Revival/Beaux Arts","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Converted from office to hotel use in 1998-99; currently used as a hotel, with the first-floor lobby arrangement and the original marble stairway retained.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.773098-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/9/7969/63796909/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/07000861.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000861/d04c9cdd0f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000861/d04c9cdd0f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_Beacon_St,_Boston_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_Beacon_St,_Boston_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796909","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Transit_Commission_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4948157"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/boston-transit-commission-building-07000861/"}