Landmark Center (Boston)
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Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store
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| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°20′41.26″N 71°6′11.65″W / 42.3447944°N 71.1032361°WCoordinates: 42°20′41.26″N 71°6′11.65″W / 42.3447944°N 71.1032361°W |
| Built | 1928 |
| Architect | Nimmons,Carr & Wright; Et al. |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| NRHP Reference # | 90001992 |
| Added to NRHP | January 15, 1991 |
The Landmark Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a commercial center situated in a limestone and brick art deco building built in 1929 for Sears, Roebuck and Company. It features a 200-foot-tall (61 m) tower and, as Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Boston Landmark.
The building is located at the intersection of Park Drive and Brookline Avenue; also the meeting point of the Riverway and the Back Bay Fens, two links of the Emerald Necklace park system designed in the 19th century by Frederick Law Olmsted. It is one of the tallest buildings in its vicinity, and viewers on top of the tower can see the Charles River, Cambridge, and the Great Blue Hill in Milton.
The Landmark Center building was the last of a series of Sears distribution centers designed by George C. Nimmons, and was completed in 1928. For nearly sixty years it served as a warehouse and distribution center for Sears, Roebuck and Company and offered local bargain-hunters an opportunity to obtain merchandise at below-catalog prices.
Sears closed the distribution center in January, 1988, and the building became vacant. Various developers investigated new uses for the property and it came close to being demolished several times.
The Landmark Center has a sister building, which was also originally designed for Sears, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Sears, Roebuck and Company Mail-Order Warehouse and Retail Store. In 2005, it was converted into the Midtown Exchange, including an international bazaar and food court known as the Midtown Global Market. Like the Landmark Center, the Midtown Exchange has a large medical group as a cornerstone in the building.
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