The Architects’ Building—Arriving and departing

Like a robust hermit crab, the BSA is abandoning its shell and, with it, another era in its evolution.

The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) had emphatically overgrown the rented upper floors of the row house on Hereford Street when members began to look about for a new headquarters. Hereford Street had been a cozy and convivial outpost and had the very significant virtue of being across the street from its professional progeny, the Boston Architectural College (BAC). Shortly after the BSA was established, it, in turn, had established the BAC—first a club, then a center and now a college. As the two institutions grew, the identification—and often, confusion—of one with the other was perceived as a problem. The economy was strong, and the BSA board wanted to join the business world. A move downtown and away from the student culture of upper Newbury Street would confirm the BSA as a professional association. In addition, the BSA would own the building.

At the corner of Milk Street and Broad Street, 50-52 Broad Street was the choice: a sturdily energetic mid-19th-century granite building designed by Charles Edward Parker with space for the BSA to grow. The street-level commercial space with handsome arched windows on two sides would provide an attractive street presence. An architectural bookstore/cafe would let the world know that architects had arrived!

The leadership of Boston’s largest firms made the initiation of the project feasible. BSA members and member firms donated services and called on their associates in the trades and manufacturing to step forward with donations. The BSA staff went to great lengths to lead and to support the effort—with its usual dry wit: Alexandra Lee, then BSA’s director of special projects, came up with a geographical slogan for a T-shirt to be proudly worn by donors: “I was Milked for Broad.”

After many months of committee meetings, soliciting of donations in kind, coordinating of donated services, Shawmut Building and Design was chosen to carry out the construction of the Architects’ Building. Through all this, the fact that Richard Fitzgerald, then BSA executive director, could not quite stand up in his own garret office and that there were various other oddities of the building were gracefully absorbed.

The goals of the move, in addition to creating a visible public presence for the BSA, were to stimulate existing activities and seed new initiatives. The many committee meetings that had for years been accommodated in the conference rooms of member firms could take place in the new space—with our own coffee and orange juice!

A new tradition, the black-tie Conversations established by Peter Forbes, then BSA president, flourished in the main fifth floor conference room. His space, defined by sloped wooden timbers, rough granite and deeply recessed windows, was at once intimate, imposing and slightly mysterious: a perfect setting for the intensity of the discussions.

The bookstore was everything a book-buying architectural fanatic could want—unfortunately without the cafe—and its failure was an early indication of an economic decline. It was replaced by rent-paying businesses, more or less related to architecture, which made it possible for the BSA to weather declines in revenues while increasingly being called on to support and encourage a struggling profession. In the last few years, the space has been occupied by an excellent coffee shop, which has surely been the setting for many hundreds of discussions of the present and future of our profession.

As members’ workloads decreased through the growing recession, the Architects’ Building increased the visibility of the profession through exhibits, a resource library, talks and symposia, consistently reminding the public of the central role that architecture can and does play in shaping our lives—both civic and private. The location of the building a couple of blocks away from the Central Artery work that has transformed Boston provided a further measure of visibility and relevance.

The Big Dig and the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway are now complete. The BSA’s move to a new and larger shell on Russia Wharf is a natural part of the reimaging of the shape of our city. The BSA began as an association, a club of architects, and has evolved into one of the largest, most active and certainly the most affable, agreeable and amiable local chapters of the AIA. These new headquarters will support what is already great about our organization and will open doors to new initiatives that will inspire our community and keep the public eye on our profession and its central role in artistic and civic life.

Brigid Williams AIA is principal of Hickox Williams Architects. A Yale University MArch graduate, her publication credits include Boston Globe, Design New England, Metropolitan Home and New England Home.

Above photo by Peter Vanderwarker.