Dedicated to cataloguing and preserving Modern Architecture in the Western suburbs of Boston.
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Henry Whittemore Library
Framingham, MA 1963-1969 by Desmond and Lord In the 1960s, Framingham State saw unprecedented growth for what had begun as the first of the commonwealth’s public schools for teachers in 1839. The beginning of the decade saw the introduction of liberal arts degrees and masters programs as the school was renamed from Framingham State Teachers
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Framingham Public Library
Framingham, MA, 1974-1979 by Huygens and tappé In the 1960s, Framingham realized its library system had a problem. Since its humble beginnings with the Edgell Public Library (now the Framingham History Center) built in 1876, the system had grown into a number of branch libraries scattered throughout the city with no unifying central location for
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Natick Redevelopment Authority plan for Natick Center
Natick, MA, 1974 by CBT Architects Post World War II, the United States embraced a now controversial strategy known as Urban Renewal to forcibly redevelop large swathes of cities and towns that the government deemed unsavory or underutilized. The result is that many of our county’s largest and most unified modernist buildings sit on a
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Wellesley Green Condominiums
Wellesley, MA, 1970-72 by Samuel Glaser Associates Designed as a development for the Spaulding and Slye Corporation, these four story condominium buildings sit along the serene Fuller Brook Park in Wellesley. To fit in with this natural setting, architect Samuel Glaser kept the buildings dense and separate, fitting 170 units into just 25% of the
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47 Church St, 1 Abbott St, & 34 Central St
Wellesley, MA, 1961, by Mary Ellen (Marilyn) Fraser, AIA In many ways, Wellesley Square is a prototypical New England downtown -a tight street lined with shoppers and restaurants and sprinkled with churches and municipal hubs. Most of the town’s modern and contemporary architecture has been carefully locked behind the gates of Wellesley College. But tucked
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Carling Brewery/Prime Computer Headquarters
Natick, MA 1954, by Canadian Breweries, Engineering Division, renovated 1982 by Beckstoffer, Hunter & Associates When Carling Brewery opened on the shores of Lake Cochituate, it was hailed as “America’s Most Modern Brewery. The plant employed 250 union employees to create their signature Black Label beer using water from the nearby lake. After twenty years
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Metrowest Place
Framingham, MA, 1969 by Fletcher Thompson Spend any amount of time admiring modern architecture and you’re sure to notice that many iconic designs are coated in the iconic orange of the truck rental company UHaul. The company prides itself on buying underutilized, often oversized buildings and converting them into facilities for storage or truck pickup.
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RCA ‘Tower Building’
Marlborough, MA 1970, by Vincent Kling In a world dominated by the technology hub of Silicon Valley, it can be difficult to remember just how influential the Massachusetts tech scene was throughout the 20th century. In the 50s and 60s, the Route 128 highway encircling Boston saw the development of massive technology companies which themselves
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Natick Village Mall and Hilton Inn
Natick, MA, 1979, by Richard L. Bowen and Associates When construction began on this combination strip mall and hotel along Route 9, the small factory town of Natick was beginning to see some big changes. While the site was still filled with the scent of fresh bread from the nearby Wonderbread Factory, on its other
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The Ewen Knight Corporation Headquarters
Natick, MA, 1960, By Samuel Glaser The Ewen Knight Corporation was founded in 1952 to develop radio technology for Harvard University’s Oak Ridge Observatory in Harvard, Massachusetts and would go on to become a major radio equipment distributor for observatories including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. The building was designed by noted Architect Samuel Glaser