60 State Street
Encyclopedia
60 State Street is a modern skyscraper
on historic State Street
in the Government Center
neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Completed in 1977, it is Boston's 13th tallest building, standing 509 feet (155 m) tall, and housing 38 floors http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=60statestreet-boston-ma-usa.
-based firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and developed by Equity Office Properties Trust
, 60 State Street is clad in pink granite
to blend with the red brick of Faneuil Hall
, City Hall Plaza
and other neighboring buildings and spaces. The granite-clad triangular pillars alternate with vertical banks of rectangular floor-to-ceiling windows in a pattern similar to that of Eero Saarinen
's black granite-faced CBS Building
, a.k.a. "Black Rock," in New York City
.
Also like Black Rock, 60 State Street is surrounded by a pedestrian plaza. Only this time the plaza is raised rather than sunken and is accessible at street level from State Street and by two flights of stairs from Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Unlike Black Rock's rectangular solid composition, 60 State Street was given eleven sides and a two-part scheme so that it has the appearance of side-by-side octagonal tubes from a distance. The chamfered corner pillars are similarly octagonal. This theme recalls Boston's historic architectural vernacular of chamfered bay windows on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay.
The private Boston University
Club is located in the building's elegant space on the 33rd floor, the site of the former Bay Tower Room restaurant. The BU Club offers panoramic views of Boston Harbor
, the Financial District, Boston Common
, the Massachusetts State House
, the Charles River
and the Mystic River
. In 2009, the American Idol
Preliminary round for Boston was held here.
A Bank of America
branch is at street level, with ATMs
conveniently located at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street
, where Boston's Financial District begins.
A Hillstone restaurant and bar is under the building's plaza behind a sunken forecourt, facing Faneuil Hall
.
) began. This Great Britain Coffee-House, established in 1713, advertised "superfine bohea, and green tea, chocolate, coffee-powder, etc."
In 1838, Thatcher Magoun Sr., a ship designer, builder and merchant who ran a shipbuilding facility in Medford, established Thatcher Magoun & Son, a counting-house, on the 60 State Street site to manage his business revenue, bookkeeping and correspondence. This helped to establish State Street as one of Boston's financial centers, hence initiate the city's Financial District. His son and grandson, Thatcher Magoun Jr. and Thatcher Magoun III, kept the firm going in the maritime trade until the late 1870s. An abstract from the firm's records reads:
Upon Magoun Sr.'s death at 81 in 1856, the Thatcher Magoun
, a clipper ship built by Hayden & Cudworth in Medford for Thatcher Magoun & Sons, was named and launched in his memory. Author Hall Gleason described the clipper as follows: "Her figurehead was a life-like image of the father of ship building on the Mystic
... She made five passages from Boston
to S.F., the fastest being 113 days and the slowest 152 days; seven from N.Y.
to S.F., fastest 117 and slowest 149; two from Liverpool
in 150 and 115 days. The average of the fourteen is 128.7 days. S.F. to NY. in 96 days in 1869."
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
on historic State Street
State Street (Boston)
State Street is a major street in the financial district in Boston, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest streets in the city. The street is the site of some historic landmarks. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace can also be found nearby...
in the Government Center
Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Government Center is an area in downtown Boston, bounded by Cambridge, Court, Congress, and Sudbury Streets. Formerly the site of Scollay Square, it is now the location of Boston City Hall, two Suffolk County courthouses, two state office buildings, and two federal office buildings, a major MBTA...
neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Completed in 1977, it is Boston's 13th tallest building, standing 509 feet (155 m) tall, and housing 38 floors http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=60statestreet-boston-ma-usa.
Architecture
Designed by the ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and developed by Equity Office Properties Trust
Equity Office Properties Trust
Equity Office Properties Trust, formed in 1976 by Samuel Zell and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, was the largest owner of office buildings in the United States until the Blackstone Group acquired them in February 2007 for $23 billion plus the assumption of $16 billion in debt...
, 60 State Street is clad in pink granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
to blend with the red brick of Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of...
, City Hall Plaza
City Hall Plaza (Boston)
City Hall Plaza in Boston, Massachusetts, is a large, open, unadorned public space in the Government Center area of the city. The architectural firm Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles designed the plaza in 1962 to accompany Boston's new City Hall. The multi-level, irregularly-shaped plaza consists of red...
and other neighboring buildings and spaces. The granite-clad triangular pillars alternate with vertical banks of rectangular floor-to-ceiling windows in a pattern similar to that of Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
's black granite-faced CBS Building
CBS Building
The CBS Building in New York City, also known as Black Rock, is the headquarters of CBS Corporation. The building, opened in 1965, was designed by Eero Saarinen. It is located at 51 West 52nd Street, at the corner of Sixth Avenue . The 38 story building is tall and measures approximately 872,000...
, a.k.a. "Black Rock," in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Also like Black Rock, 60 State Street is surrounded by a pedestrian plaza. Only this time the plaza is raised rather than sunken and is accessible at street level from State Street and by two flights of stairs from Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Unlike Black Rock's rectangular solid composition, 60 State Street was given eleven sides and a two-part scheme so that it has the appearance of side-by-side octagonal tubes from a distance. The chamfered corner pillars are similarly octagonal. This theme recalls Boston's historic architectural vernacular of chamfered bay windows on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay.
Major tenants and uses
The main office of a major international law firm, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, is located at 60 State Street.The private Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
Club is located in the building's elegant space on the 33rd floor, the site of the former Bay Tower Room restaurant. The BU Club offers panoramic views of Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...
, the Financial District, Boston Common
Boston Common
Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street,...
, the Massachusetts State House
Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the "New" State House, is the state capitol and house of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located in Boston in the neighborhood Beacon Hill...
, the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
and the Mystic River
Mystic River
The Mystic River is a river in Massachusetts, in the United States. Its name derives from the Wampanoag word "muhs-uhtuq", which translates to "big river." In an Algonquian language, "Missi-Tuk" means "a great river whose waters are driven by waves", alluding to the natural tidal nature of the...
. In 2009, the American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
Preliminary round for Boston was held here.
A Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
branch is at street level, with ATMs
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
conveniently located at the intersection of Congress Street and State Street
State Street (Boston)
State Street is a major street in the financial district in Boston, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest streets in the city. The street is the site of some historic landmarks. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace can also be found nearby...
, where Boston's Financial District begins.
A Hillstone restaurant and bar is under the building's plaza behind a sunken forecourt, facing Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall
Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of...
.
Site history
Sixty State Street marks the site of one of two colonial taverns named the Great Britain Coffee-House, where Queen Street (now Court Street) ended and King Street (now State StreetState Street (Boston)
State Street is a major street in the financial district in Boston, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest streets in the city. The street is the site of some historic landmarks. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace can also be found nearby...
) began. This Great Britain Coffee-House, established in 1713, advertised "superfine bohea, and green tea, chocolate, coffee-powder, etc."
In 1838, Thatcher Magoun Sr., a ship designer, builder and merchant who ran a shipbuilding facility in Medford, established Thatcher Magoun & Son, a counting-house, on the 60 State Street site to manage his business revenue, bookkeeping and correspondence. This helped to establish State Street as one of Boston's financial centers, hence initiate the city's Financial District. His son and grandson, Thatcher Magoun Jr. and Thatcher Magoun III, kept the firm going in the maritime trade until the late 1870s. An abstract from the firm's records reads:
- Correspondence and business records including bills of lading, receipts, outfitting accounts, and crew lists, relating to the ships ARCHIMEDES, DEUCALION, ELECTRIC SPARK, GREENWICH, HERALD OF THE MORNING, MANLIUS, MEDFORD, PHARSALIA, SWALLOW, TALMA, THATCHER MAGOUN, TIMOLEON, and WITCHCRAFT, built in Magoun's yard in Medford, Mass., and engaged in trade between Boston, New York, San Francisco and foreign ports including Liverpool, Elsinore, Havana, and Hong Kong; and materials not specifically related to Thatcher Magoun & Son business enterprises: i.e. the records of B. Delano and Sons, a mercantile firm at Kingston, Mass., business papers of Daniel Tufts, and estate papers of James Nielson (managed by Thatcher Magoun). Includes correspondence with various shipmasters.
Upon Magoun Sr.'s death at 81 in 1856, the Thatcher Magoun
Thatcher Magoun (clipper)
The Thatcher Magoun, an extreme clipper launched in 1855, was named after Medford's great shipbuilder, Thatcher Magoun, who died the year that she was launched.-Construction:...
, a clipper ship built by Hayden & Cudworth in Medford for Thatcher Magoun & Sons, was named and launched in his memory. Author Hall Gleason described the clipper as follows: "Her figurehead was a life-like image of the father of ship building on the Mystic
Mystic River
The Mystic River is a river in Massachusetts, in the United States. Its name derives from the Wampanoag word "muhs-uhtuq", which translates to "big river." In an Algonquian language, "Missi-Tuk" means "a great river whose waters are driven by waves", alluding to the natural tidal nature of the...
... She made five passages from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
to S.F., the fastest being 113 days and the slowest 152 days; seven from N.Y.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to S.F., fastest 117 and slowest 149; two from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 150 and 115 days. The average of the fourteen is 128.7 days. S.F. to NY. in 96 days in 1869."