Boston Design Center

Boston Design Center

Boston Design Center Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith

Boston Design Center

1918, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; 1988, Earl R. Flansburgh and Associates; 1996, Stubbins Associates/Interior Design Group. 1 Design Center Pl.

Once a gigantic military warehouse, designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the structure has been rehabilitated as the center for the design and furnishing industry of New England. Part of the renewal plan of the waterfront, the building dominates the Boston Marine Industrial Park. From a stylistic perspective, the huge structure incorporates every postmodern cliché—from the colossal Doric pilasters to the semi-circular lunette within the split triangular pediment. The interior reception spaces continue this luxurious decoration—a composite of Art Deco and Beaux-Arts—but the long exterior facades still bear the gridded brick masonry of the original warehouse.

Writing Credits