{"nrhp_refnum":"79000369","name":"International Trust Company Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"39-47 Milk St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.356447407000076,"lon":-71.05758560799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-09-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Economics","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A nine-story office building at 39-47 Milk Street in Boston's Downtown Financial District, built in two stages in 1893 and 1906 and designed by architect William Gibbons Preston as the home office of the International Trust Company.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a major work of prominent Boston architect William Gibbons Preston and an early example of Beaux-Arts office design. It is also an early Boston example of proto-skeleton frame construction, combining load-bearing masonry with steel and reinforced concrete. Its history reflects the growth of banking and finance in late 19th-century Boston.","narrative":"Rising nine stories on Milk Street in Boston's Downtown Financial District, this office building was constructed in 1893 and enlarged in 1906, both times to designs by William Gibbons Preston. Gooch & Pray built the first portion, reusing parts of the foundation and structure of an earlier five-story Iron Building. The facade is buff Indiana limestone with polished Quincy granite plinths, arcaded windows, Corinthian pilasters, carved cartouches and allegorical figures by sculptor Max Bachman. Its load-bearing masonry walls, steel I-beams and reinforced concrete foundation make it an early Boston example of proto-skeleton frame construction. The design anticipates the spread of Beaux-Arts commercial architecture after the 1893 Chicago exposition. The building was the home office of the International Trust Company, founded in 1879 and by 1893 among New England's largest trust firms, so it also reflects the growth of banking and the downtown business district in late nineteenth-century Boston.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific dates 1893, 1906)","architect_builder":"William Gibbons Preston (architect); Gooch & Pray (builder of the 1893 portion)","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts, described in its time as a combination of Renaissance and Romanesque, or \"Roman Renaissance\"","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked fair and unaltered since the 1906 addition apart from a small rooftop mechanical structure and an entrance canopy; the cornice is missing. Status is marked unoccupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.873941-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7967/63796786/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000369.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000369/06e505008e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000369/06e505008e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pmcyclist","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:International_Trust_Company_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pmcyclist</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:International_Trust_Company_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796786","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Trust_Company_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6054050"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/international-trust-company-building-79000369/"}