The Bedford Building
Downtown Crossing, Boston, MA
The Bedford Block is an 86,241 square foot historic commercial building at 99 Bedford Street Boston, MA 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. The 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.[2] Each roof gable is topped with a final crown. There is a glazed tile clock is located in a 5-story tower at the corner of Bedford and Summer streets.
