28 State Street Building

The 28 State Street Building is a Modern Style skyscraper designed by Emery Roth & Sons, in association with Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates, and built between 1968 and 1970 in Boston, MA.

28 State Street Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• New England Merchants Bank Building between 1970 and 1982.
• Bank of New England Building between 1982 and 1991.
• 28 State Street Building from 1991 until this day.

Its precise street address is 28 State Street, Boston, MA. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration in 1997.

Emery Roth & Sons was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the 28 State Street Building a reality:

• Weidlinger Associates in charge of Structural Engineering
• Aberthaw Construction Company as the Main Contractor
• Cabot, Cabot & Forbes as the Main Developer

The 28 State Street Building can be categorized as a Modern Style building.

By their own nature, the Modern and International Styles can still look current, even in contemporary buildings. So that's not to say the 28 State Street Building appeared old or outdated when it was completed, but Emery Roth & Sons certainly did not take many risks when it came to choosing the design style. This made the building look more "classic" and integrated within the city's architecture.

The 28 State Street Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and reinforced concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade of the building however, is load bearing. This doesn't imply that it is a traditional load-bearing wall. Rather, it means that the structure's exterior pillars have been pushed to the very edges, becoming integrated with the facade, and therefore, technically, a part of it.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a panelized curtain wall system made of granite and reflective glass with aluminum framing. The granite and glass alternate in horizontal stripes.

Towards the top the building divides into two sections, one slightly higher than the other, creating a stepped crowning where granite takes over and there's very little glass.