National Register of Historic Places
George Close Company Building
Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
The record
- Listed
- March 19, 2019
- Type
- Building
- Address
- 243 Broadway, Cambridge
- County
- Middlesex
- State
- Massachusetts
- Contributing resources
- 1 building
- Coordinates
- 42.36744, -71.09564
- Reference number
- 100003472
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The George Close Company Building is a Classical Revival building at 243 Broadway in Cambridge, built in 1910 as a candy factory. The nomination names Densmore and LeClear as architects.
Why it's listed
It was listed in the National Register in 2019 under criterion A, with local-level significance in architecture and industry.
Physical character
The walls are red brick laid in common bond on a concrete foundation, with cast-stone stringcourses, window sills and a cornice above the fifth story. The interior is mill construction, with heavy pine columns and girders and thick pine plank floors. In 1976 the windows were replaced, a new main entrance and residential lobby were made in the loading docks, and the original main entrance became a window.
Historical context
The George Close Company was founded in 1872, and it operated from the 1910 building until it declared bankruptcy in 1939. The building was sold in 1941 to the Macalaster Bicknell Company, a maker of laboratory glassware, which occupied it until 1971, when the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority acquired it through eminent domain. Close Building Associates bought it in 1976, the year it was converted to affordable housing and Gelardin/Bruner/Cott won the design competition.