| 60 State Street | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of 60 State Street | |
| General information | |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 60 State Street,Boston,Massachusetts |
| Coordinates | 42°21′33″N71°03′23″W / 42.35903°N 71.05646°W /42.35903; -71.05646 |
| Completed | 1977 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 509 ft (155 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 38 |
| Floor area | 823,009 sq ft (76,460.0 m2)[1] |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill |
| Developer | EQ Office |
60 State Street is a modernskyscraper on historicState Street in theGovernment Center neighborhood ofBoston, Massachusetts. Completed in 1977, it is Boston's19th tallest building, standing 509 feet (155 m) tall, and housing 38 floors.[2]
Sixty State Street marks the site of one of two colonial taverns named the Great Britain Coffee-House, where Queen Street (now Court Street) ended and King Street (nowState Street) began. This Great Britain Coffee-House, established in 1713, advertised "superfine bohea, and green tea, chocolate, coffee-powder, etc."[3]
In 1838,Thatcher Magoun Sr., a ship designer, builder and merchant who ran a shipbuilding facility inMedford, established Thatcher Magoun & Son, a counting-house, on the 60 State Street site to manage his business revenue, bookkeeping and correspondence.[4] This helped to establish State Street as one of Boston's financial centers, thus initiating the city'sFinancial District. His son and grandson, Thatcher Magoun Jr. and Thatcher Magoun III, kept the firm going in the maritime trade until the late 1870s. An abstract from the firm's records reads:
Upon Magoun Sr.'s death at 81 in 1856, theThatcher Magoun, a clipper ship built by Hayden & Cudworth in Medford for Thatcher Magoun & Sons, was named and launched in his memory. Author Hall Gleason described the clipper as follows: "Herfigurehead was a life-like image of the father of ship building on theMystic... She made five passages fromBoston toS.F., the fastest being 113 days and the slowest 152 days; seven fromN.Y. to S.F., fastest 117 and slowest 149; two fromLiverpool in 150 and 115 days. The average of the fourteen is 128.7 days. S.F. to NY. in 96 days in 1869."[6]
Designed by theChicago-based firm ofSkidmore, Owings & Merrill and developed byCabot, Cabot & Forbes, 60 State Street is clad in pinkgranite to blend in with the red brick ofFaneuil Hall,City Hall Plaza and other neighboring buildings and spaces. The granite-clad triangular pillars alternate with vertical banks of rectangular floor-to-ceiling windows in a pattern similar to that ofEero Saarinen's black granite-facedCBS Building, a.k.a. "Black Rock," inNew York City.[7]
Also like Black Rock, 60 State Street is surrounded by a pedestrian plaza; the plaza is raised rather than sunken and is accessible at street level from State Street and by two flights of stairs fromFaneuil Hall Marketplace.
Unlike Black Rock's rectangular solid composition, 60 State Street was given eleven sides and a two-part scheme so that it has the appearance of side-by-side octagonal tubes from a distance.[8] The chamfered corner pillars are similarly octagonal. This theme recalls Boston's historic architectural motif of chamferedbay windows onBeacon Hill and in theBack Bay.
The main office of a major international law firm,WilmerHale, is located at 60 State Street. Also located in the same building isLewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith.[9]
The building is shared with Good Measures and is the corporate headquarters for the company. The building also served as the corporate headquarters of the Sheraton Hotel group from 1978 until they were acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 1998.
The State Room is located in the building's elegant space on the 33rd floor, the site of the former Bay Tower Room restaurant. The State Room run byLongwood Venues hosts private functions (such as weddings, corporate events) and offers panoramic views ofBoston Harbor, theFinancial District,Boston Common, theMassachusetts State House, theCharles River and theMystic River.[10] In 2009, theAmerican Idol Preliminary round for Boston was held here.
ABank of America branch is at street level, withATMs located at the intersection of Congress Street andState Street, where Boston'sFinancial District begins. Next to Bank of America, there is a Headhouse for Blue and Orange Line.Berkshire Bank announced 60 State Street as their new corporate headquarters in late 2017.[11]
To the rear of 60 State facing Congress Street, adjacent to theFaneuil Hall building and statue ofSamuel Adams sits a Samuel Adams BeerTap room on the building's ground level.[12]
