Downtown Crossing

Downtown Crossing is a shopping district in the city center of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. It is located just east of Boston Common and west of the Financial District. In Downtown Crossing, there are many department stores with extensive retail space, as well as restaurants, gift shops, retailers and street vendors. The Washington Street area between the streets Temple and Bromfield, like parts of the Winter and Summer Street closed to traffic so that pedestrians can move around freely.

The "ladder district "

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area along the streets of Washington and Tremont from the School Street to Beach Street as Ladder District ( District Head ) was called. The name comes not from goods produced there, but by the course of the side streets that look between the two major thoroughfares like the rungs of a ladder, when viewed on a map.

Historical Background

In the late 18th and early 19th century, the district was very high priced along Summer Street and marked by Charles Bulfinch and another famous architect designed townhouses. The fire in Boston in 1872 destroyed a large part of the district, particularly in the area between the buzzer, Washington and Milk Street.

Department Stores

Between 1895 and 1917 Downtown Crossing Boston was the center for purchases in department stores. In 1841, Eben Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh opened the first Jordan Marsh wholesale, which was later converted to a department store. 1881 came with the Filene's added another big retailer, later followed by a Gilchrist and Kennedy's. These stores attracted more visitors from the middle class as well as other businesses such as grocers and restaurants.

Throughout the United States, the department stores had to fight in the city centers after the Second World War with the challenges of suburbanization and additional competition from large hypermarkets. The Filene's, the sub- divided in the basement from when Filene 's Basement and became an independent department store chain, whose flagship store is still found in the basement of the former Filene's. In 1988, both companies had the same owner before formally and organizationally separated. The building, which houses both businesses was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

In 1996, the former department store Jordan Marsh was acquired by Macy's, and in the spring of 2006 closed the flagship store of Filene's. In the same year, the company Vornado Realty Trust announced that it had purchased the former site of Filene's for 100 million U.S. dollars. The goal is a comprehensive modification of the land, which is expected to cost about 620 million U.S. dollars and includes the construction of exclusive shopping, commercial properties and residential units. The plan also includes a new high-rise building with 38 storeys and 495 ft ( 150.88 m) in height. Filene 's Basement was closed during construction and not yet reopened.

Filene 's Basement applied on 4 May 2009 bankruptcy. The New York-based company Crown Acquisitions were together with the Chetrit Group is an offer for sale of 17 of the 25 sites from Filene's from, including the store in Downtown Crossing, which after all, generated 13 % of sales of the entire company: Vornado Realty Trust was a monthly average 500,000 U.S. dollars at Filene's paid as compensation for the closure of the store in Downtown Crossing. These payments, however, were discontinued without notice in January 2009.

Extensions of Suffolk University

In 2007, the Suffolk University bought a building on West Street and transformed it in the course of a renovation in apartments that are now inhabited by about 270 students. In 2010, the university restored the historic Modern Theatre and erected on top of a ten -story dormitory, which now live another 200 students.

Others

The Station Downtown Crossing MBTA binds the district directly to the city's subway network. Also within easy reach are the stations of State Street and Park Street and the bus routes of the Silver Line.

A small shopping center called Lafayette Place Mall was attached to the department store Jordan Marsh in 1985, but closed again in 1992 and converted into office space. In the Corner Mall, there are many restaurants and some smaller retailers.

Before the former Borders Book Store on the corner of School and Washington Street Boston Irish Famine Memorial, the is.

Gallery

Kiosk of the Boston Police Department in Downtown Crossing

Business of a soothsayer in Downtown Crossing

Interior of the Park Street Church in Downtown Crossing

Former headquarters of the Boston Casualty Company in Downtown Crossing