The building focuses on its function, specifically the skylit research room providing access to the state archives, such as maps, charters, historic documents, records of state agencies, and genealogical data. Although beautifully sited overlooking the bay and providing excellent workspaces, the building's aesthetic components disappoint, the whole being marked by a surfeit of materials. A rough stone bastion on the exterior, composed of diversely surfaced granite, the building rises from a concrete pavement relieved by a too modest Vietnam War Memorial located before the entrance. For students of Massachusetts architecture, the survey and National Register files of the Massachusetts Historical Commission here provide wonderful riches.