- Landmark Center
:"For the building in
St. Paul, Minnesota , seeLandmark Center (St. Paul) ."Infobox_nrhp | name =Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store
nrhp_type =
caption =
location=Boston, Massachusetts
lat_degrees = 42 | lat_minutes = 20 | lat_seconds = 41.26 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71 | long_minutes = 6 | long_seconds = 11.65 | long_direction = W
locmapin=Massachusetts
area =
built =1928
architect= Nimmons,Carr & Wright; Et al.
architecture= Art Deco
added =January 15 ,1991
governing_body = Private
refnum=90001992 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2006-03-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]Landmark Center in
Boston, Massachusetts is a commercial center situated in anart deco building built in 1929 forSears, Roebuck and Company . It features a 200-foot tall tower and is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places .Derelict for a time before being reopened in fall 2000, the restorations and modifications made to this
limestone andbrick structure have received critical acclaim.Landmark Center now houses retail stores (including
Best Buy ,REI and Staples), a 13-screenmovie theater , a 1,700-space parking garage, a sports complex and aday care center.Much of the rest is premium office space, a good deal of it occupied by tenants related to the medical field and the nearby
Longwood Medical and Academic Area . Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is the building's anchor and occupies the majority of its office space. Most of the additional offices are rented byHarvard Medical School and theHarvard School of Public Health . The building is located at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Ave at juncture ofthe Riverway and theBack Bay Fens , two links of theEmerald Necklace park system designed in the 19th century byFrederick Law Olmsted . As it is the tallest building in its vicinity, some areas within Landmark Center provide panoramic views of vistas such as theCharles River and adjacent Cambridge or theGreat Blue Hill in Milton.History
The Landmark Center building was designed by
George C. Nimmons in 1928. For over fifty years it served as a warehouse and distribution center for Sears, Roebuck and Company and offered local bargain-hunters an opportunity to obtain merchandise at below-catalog prices.Sears closed in 1980 and the building became vacant. Various developers investigated new uses for the property and it came close to being demolished several times.
Trivia
The Landmark Center has a sister building in
Minneapolis, Minnesota that has recently been converted into a bustling urban center called theMidtown Exchange . TheMidtown Exchange also has an international bazaar and food court known as the Midtown Global Market. Like the Landmark Center, theMidtown Exchange has a large medical group as a cornerstone in the building.Restoration
After purchasing the former Sears property, The Abbey Group (a Boston-based real estate concern) contracted the architectural firm of Bruner/Cott & Associates to transform it into a profitable rental space.
Bruner/Cott executed this transformation with a special consideration for the original character of the building while adding such distinctive features as a seven-story tall interior space lit by colossal
skylight s that deliver natural light to interior office spaces. Their results have been recognized with awards including the following:
*2001 Preservation Achievement Award, Boston Preservation Alliance
*2001 Reconstruction Award, Building Design & Construction
*2002 Preservation Award, Massachusetts Historical Commissionee also
*
Midtown Exchange
*Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building References
* [http://www.brunercott.com/library/landmark/landmark.htm Bruner/Cott]
* [http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2002/09/23/newscolumn3.html Boston Business Journal]
* [http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/19981120_ruplandmark.htm Realty Times]
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