Bedford Building
Encyclopedia
The Bedford Block is an historic commercial building at 99 Bedford Street Boston, Massachusetts in an area called Church Green. Built in 1875 in a style promoted by John Ruskin
called Venetian Gothic
. The style may also be referred to as Ruskinian Gothic.
It was designed by Charles Amos Cummings
and Willard T. Sears
for Henry and Francis Lee as a retail shoe center in an area that had been destroyed by the Great Boston Fire of 1872. The building was added to the National Historic Register in 1979. Building was renovated in 1983 in conjunction with the Bay-Bedford Company.
The Bedford Block's exterior is constructed of polychromatic
bands of New Brunswick
red granite
, Tuckahoen
marble, and pressed terra-cotta panels manufactured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. It was the first building after the Great Fire to use New Brunswick
red granite
as a material.
The first floor features rough rustic blocks. Upper floor details include arched bay windows, Viollet-le-Duc inspired iron balconets and flat column pilasters
. Each roof gable is topped with a finial
crown. There is a glazed tile clock is located in a 5-story tower at the corner of Bedford and Summer streets.
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
called Venetian Gothic
Venetian Gothic architecture
Venetian Gothic is a term given to an architectural style combining use of the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Moorish architecture influences. The style originated in 14th century Venice with the confluence of Byzantine styles from Constantinople, Arab influences from Moorish Spain and early...
. The style may also be referred to as Ruskinian Gothic.
It was designed by Charles Amos Cummings
Charles Amos Cummings
Charles Amos Cummings , is a nineteenth century American architect and architectural historian who worked primarily in the Venetian Gothic style. Cummings followed the precepts of British cultural theorist and architectural critic John Ruskin...
and Willard T. Sears
Willard T. Sears
Willard Thomas Sears was a prominent New England architect of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who worked primarily in the Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival styles....
for Henry and Francis Lee as a retail shoe center in an area that had been destroyed by the Great Boston Fire of 1872. The building was added to the National Historic Register in 1979. Building was renovated in 1983 in conjunction with the Bay-Bedford Company.
The Bedford Block's exterior is constructed of polychromatic
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...
bands of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
red 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...
, Tuckahoen
Tuckahoe, New York
Tuckahoe is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New York:*Tuckahoe, Suffolk County, New York*Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York...
marble, and pressed terra-cotta panels manufactured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. It was the first building after the Great Fire to use New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
red 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...
as a material.
The first floor features rough rustic blocks. Upper floor details include arched bay windows, Viollet-le-Duc inspired iron balconets and flat column pilasters
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
. Each roof gable is topped with a finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
crown. There is a glazed tile clock is located in a 5-story tower at the corner of Bedford and Summer streets.