{"nrhp_refnum":"79000368","name":"Bedford Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"89-103 Bedford St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.35301204600006,"lon":-71.05832332999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story plus mansard masonry commercial building at 89-103 Bedford Street in Boston, Massachusetts, erected in 1874 in the Ruskinian Gothic style. It sits at Church Green and Dewey Square, with facades on Bedford, Lincoln and Columbia Streets.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the best surviving Ruskinian Gothic commercial building in Boston's central business district and an outstanding example of post-fire commercial architecture. Its polychromatic facades combine red granite, white Vermont marble and red brick. It also reflects fire-resistant construction adopted after the Great Fire of 1872, including full-height brick party walls.","narrative":"Built in 1874, this four-story masonry building with a mansard roof stands at 89-103 Bedford Street in Boston, near Church Green and Dewey Square. Designed by the firm of Cummings & Sears for the Lee family, a prominent merchant family, it is executed in the Ruskinian Gothic style. Its three facades combine rusticated red granite from New Brunswick, polished white Vermont marble, terra-cotta panels and red brick in varying patterns, with the Bedford Street front the most elaborate. It was erected during the rebuilding that followed the Great Fire of 1872, which began across Lincoln Street. The building used full-height brick party walls to divide interiors into four units, a fire-resistant approach adopted after the blaze. Light manufacturing and storage occupied the upper floors, with display spaces below. It is described as the best of the five or six remaining Ruskinian Gothic commercial buildings in the central business district and the firm's only surviving design of that type in Boston.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1874)","architect_builder":"Charles Amos Cummings; Willard T. Sears (firm of Cummings & Sears)","architectural_style":"Ruskinian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Altered, with the ground floor of the Bedford Street facade fitted with modern storefronts; undergoing renovation at the time of nomination. The form's status section marks it as occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:55.069259-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/59/7967/63796759/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000368.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000368/448999796b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000368/448999796b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bedford_Building_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bedford_Building_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796759","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4879106"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/bedford-building-79000368/"}