Old Corner Bookstore and Cunningham House Study Report

The Boston Landmarks Commission has posted a study report on the proposed designation of the Old Corner Bookstore and Cunningham House in downtown Boston as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as amended.

The Old Corner Bookstore at 283 Washington Street is locally significant as the oldest extant commercial building in Boston, and nationally significant as the former home of Ticknor and Fields, a prominent nineteenth-century book publisher that published the work of nearly every great American and British writer at the time, including Tennyson, Dickens, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe, among many others. The business practices of Ticknor and Fields also revolutionized the publishing industry at the time with new models of compensation for authors

More generally, the corner of Washington and School Streets was a highly significant literary hub of Boston for decades. The Old Corner Bookstore was occupied by booksellers and publishers from 1828 to 1903, while the adjacent Cunningham House at 277 Washington Street was occupied by booksellers and publishers from 1828 to the 1880s.

The Old Corner Bookstore and Andrew Cunningham House are also architecturally significant as rare surviving examples of residential Georgian architecture in downtown Boston. Although Georgian architecture was the dominant style of the English colonies between 1700-1780, very few examples remain in colonial cities such as Boston that grew rapidly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Old Corner Bookstore and Cunningham House are among the oldest brick buildings in Boston. Although the buildings have undergone numerous changes to accommodate changing styles and uses, they still display many character-defining features of the Georgian style. 

If designated, the Standards and Criteria in the study report will serve as guidelines for the Commission’s review of proposed changes to the property, with the goal of protecting the historic integrity of the landmark and its setting.

Read the Old Corner Bookstore and Cunningham House Study Report

There are two ways to provide feedback on this potential Landmark designation:

1. Written feedback can be provided by visiting this link: feedback form.
2. The study report will be discussed at a public hearing on May 13, 2025. Members of the public are invited to attend this hearing and provide comments there as well. Please look for the hearing notice in the public notices section of our website. Hearing notices are posted no later than ten days in advance of the hearing.