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 International
Trust Company Building - 45 Milk St.
William Preston, 1893
Enlarged 1906
In today's world of steel and glass office
buildings, this structure at 45 Milk St. in Boston is a reminder of what
an office building using classic architectural elements is like. It also
shows the limits of classical style.
Besides using classical elements such as arches and architectural carvings,
the International Trust Company Building is classically structured. It has
an obvious base, middle and top sections unlike the sky scraper pictured
behind it.
The third, seventh and eight floors are horizontally defined by a series
of arched windows. This helps define the building's visual center, floors
four through six, which are framed by engaged columns into vertical thirds.
Within this frame each side has a three-floor inset bay window which defines
vertical strips up center.
 Architectural carvings
by Max Bachman enliven the facade, and help establish the structure's base
and ornamented entry way to 45 Milk St.
While the intricacies of classical style work well on smaller buildings,
today's far larger structures use simpler geometric repetition which emphasize
their more expansive surfaces. A good example of this is the John
Hancock Tower.
Unlike the International Trust Company Building with its ornate and well
defined entrance, larger modern structures often struggle with creating
human-sized openings in sleek monoliths.
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From the writers of iBoston.org |
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