The Studio Building (1861–1906) on Tremont Street (corner of Bromfield Street) in Boston, Massachusetts, housed artists' studios, theater companies and other businesses in the 19th century.The Crayon, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Feb., 1861)Studio Building, no.112 Tremont St.; cf. Boston Directory. 1862Studio Building no.110 Tremont St; cf. Boston Almanac, 1865, 1894Mann. Walks & talks about historic Boston. The Mann publishing co., 1917 It "held the true Bohemia of Boston, where artists and literati delighted to gather."New England Magazine, Feb. 1907 Among the tenants were portraitist E.T. Billings, architect George Snell, sculptor Martin Milmore, artists William Morris Hunt, William Rimmer, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Phoebe Jenks; gallerist Seth Morton Vose, and many others.

Jonas Gilman Clark was an owner of the building from 1864 to 1872.

History Artists' studios From 1861 the Studio Building stood adjacent to the Horticultural Hall, on the opposite side of Bromfield St. The building consisted of "a massive range of brick, four stories high, — the whole surmounted by a French roof; a handsome and imposing structure, in the lower story of which are six fine large stores, occupied [in 1869] by the Leavitt and Parker Sewing-Machine Cos., California Wine Agency, the Howard Clock Co., &c.; and, above-stairs, by numerous artists, painters, engravers, draughtsmen, &c."Stranger's new guide through Boston and vicinity. Boston: A. Williams, 1869. Google books

"The Studio Building ... is a perfect hive of artists. This building, indeed, is the headquarters of the artists of Boston. ... There are delightful artists' receptions here, to which the general public is invited. Besides the devotees of art, there are many private teachers of music and the languages in the Studio Building, and not a few of the rooms are occupied as bachelors' apartments."Boston Illustrated. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1872 Visitors included Sophia Peabody Hawthorne in 1863: "5 June, Thursday. Finest day - cool. We went out after breakfast with Annie. We visited Studio gallery - & saw good statue of Judge Shaw. Hunt's portrait by himself. Healy's Longfellow. Ames' Rachel. Gay's seashore & a pearly silvery sky of wondrous truth."Thomas Woodson, James A. Rubino, Jamie Barlowe Kayes. With Hawthorne in Wartime Concord: Sophia Hawthorne's 1862 Diary. Studies in the American Renaissance, (1988)

Beginning in November 1861, artist William Rimmer gave anatomy "lectures in Room 55 of the Studio Building. He was an inspiring teacher; John LaFarge ... Daniel Chester French, Frederick Vinton, Frank Benson and many others testified to it. ... He represented the first thorough art instruction based on the human figure to be given in Boston, and indeed in the entire United States. ... Rimmer's lectures were never mere dry analyses of muscles and their attachments. He drew brilliantly on the blackboard, combining technical diagrams with fantastic embellishments. His figures sprouted wings, were set off by elegant draperies, sat beside elaborate urns, were clad in fanciful armor, brandished trumpets and daggers."Lincoln Kirstein. William Rimmer: His Life and Art. Massachusetts Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Summer, 1961) One of his students was May Alcott, who "studied sculpture with William Rimmer and painting with William Hunt at the new Studio Building in Boston, on the corner of Tremont and Broomfield streets."April F. Masten. Art Work: Women Artists and Democracy in mid-Nineteenth-Century New York. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008; p.283

The "studio and gallery" of William Morris Hunt "were the great attractions to visitors who came to the 'receptions' given by the artists in the building. The stirring picture, The Bugle Call, painted in Newport, was exhibited here; the drawing of The Drummer Boy, which attracted great crowds while on exhibition in Messrs. Williams & Everett's window, was conceived and executed here. Its motto, 'To arms! To arms!' found a response in the mood of the citizens, who were burning with patriotic ardor. I think this was just after the firing upon Fort Sumter, in 1861."Frederic P. Vinton. William Morris Hunt: Personal Reminiscences. American Art Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Dec., 1879) According to one historian, however, Hunt himself probably found Boston "a far cry from the carefree vie de Boheme of Paris, and the life centering around the Studio Building on Tremont Street but a pale replica of the Latin Quarter -like a plaster cast, almost like a death mask, one might say, of the lively original."Albert Ten Eyck Gardner. A Rebel in Patagonia. Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 9 (May, 1945)

Tremont Theatre "The new Tremont Theatre, in the Studio Building, on Tremont street, was remodelled from Allston Hall, and opened as a theatre on Feb. 9, 1863, under the management of Mrs. Jane English, with a ballet and pantomime troupe. ... For a brief period K. L. Davenport and J. W. Wallack were managers of the house, but notwithstanding the high character of the dramatic work done here, it was not a prosperous theatre. It was finally converted into a hall for pedestrian matches, and [by 1892 was] used for a retail carpet-store."Bacon. Boston of to-day: a glance at its history and characteristics. Post Publishing Company, 1892

Performances included: "Le Rue's great war show! The wonderful strato-pateticon, or walking-army"Hartford Daily Courant, May 5, 1864 Theatre Francais, directed by Paul Juignet, 1864-1865American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series 1 Tom Taylor's The Ticket-of-Leave Man, 1865 Holman Opera Troupe -Mr. George Holman, his wife, his daughter Sallie Holman (soprano/principal singer) and another daughter, and two sons, with some others, including William H. Crane and Sallie`s husband Mr. J. T. Dalton, which toured throughout Canada for many years. Morris Brothers, Pell & Trowbridge's Minstrels Cotton & Murphy MinstrelsWinsor. The memorial history of Boston: including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Volume 4. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1886. Google books

Fire in 1906 In December 1906 a fire "caused heavy damage in the block bounded by Tremont, Bromfield, Washington and Winter streets. ... The flames were confined ... to one structure, the Studio building."Fire loss at Boston, business heart of the city threatened for a time; loss $150,000. Ft. Worth Telegram, Dec. 19, 1906Artists robbed after fire: some pictures stolen, others perforated, in Boston Studios. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1906Heavy damage by fire in Boston: great destruction on Tremont Street was threatened. Columbus Enquirer Sun (Georgia), 1906

Images

Tenants

American Art GalleryNew York Times, March 22, 1880 Joseph Ames Miss M.K. Baker, artistBoston Almanac. 1875, 1888 E.M. Bannister, artist E.T. Billings, artistBoston Almanac. 1865, 1875, 1888, 1889 Edward Brackett Miss M.A. Bradford, artistBoston Almanac. 1888, 1889, 1894 Mrs. E.H. Brainard, artistBoston Almanac. 1888, 1889 Miss H.L. Brown, artist J. Appleton Brown, artistFrank Torrey Robinson. Living New England artists: biographical sketches, reproductions of original drawings and paintings by each artist. Boston: S. E. Cassino, 1888 E.C. Cabot, architect Edward G. Caldwell, architect Miss E.M. Carpenter, artist William Carl, artist Miss A.E. Chandler, artist F. Myron ClarkNew York Times, Dec. 21, 1906 J.G. Cloudman, artist George A. Clough, architect Darius Cobb, artist Theodore E. Colburn, architect Henry Cook, artist Charles Copeland, artist J.C. Crossman, artist George L. Crosby, artist Cummings & Sears, architectsBoston commercial directory for 1869 Cyrus E. Dallin, artistWilliam Howe Downs. Cyrus E. Dallin, Sculptor. Brush and Pencil, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Oct., 1899) Thomas W. Dewing, artistSusan Hobbs. Thomas Wilmer Dewing: The Early Years, 1851-1885. American Art Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring, 1981) T.C. Doane John Donoghue, artistBoston Almanac. 1888 Morris Dorr, architect Grace Dow, artist Frank Duveneck, artist B.F. Dwight, architect Educational Committee for Freedmen L.D. Eldred, artist William R. Emerson, architect Miss M.M. Emery, artist Fabronius, artist A.C. Fenety, artist F.M. Fenety, artist Beatrice V. Folsom, artist Bradford Freeman, artistNew Hampshire Historical Society Francis Seth FrostBoston Directory. 1864 Edmund H. Garrett, artist8th Annual exhibition of paintings by prominent artists at the Poland Spring Art Gallery. Maine: H. Ricker & sons, 1902 Ignaz Gaugengigl, artistCatalogue of the third annual exhibition of the Paint and Clay Club: held at the Gallery of the Boston Art Club, March 1884. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1884Robinson. 1888Boston Almanac. 1889, 1894 S.L. Gerry Ellen L. Gilbert, artist, educatorAmerican Art Notes. American Art Illustrated, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Oct., 1886)Boston Almanac. 1889 James Gilbert, artist Abbott Graves James R. Gregerson, architect S.W. Griggs, artist Louis K. Harlow, artist George F. Higgins, artist S.P. Hodgdon, artist Mrs. Horton, artist William Morris Hunt Phoebe A. Jenks, artist"Phoebe Pickering Jenks." Robinson. 1888 N.T. Johnson, artist D.C. Johnston and T.M.J. Johnston, artists Earnest Kuhn, artist Walter F. Lansil, artist A.W. Latham, artist Edmonia Lewis L.K. Long, artist W.P.P. Longfellow, architect G.A. Loring, artist Miss E.P. Mann, artist Marshall & Co., photographs Mrs. M.C. McGurk, artist H.W. Merrill, artist Samuel S. Miles, artist Martin Millmore, sculptorLetter from Wendell Phillips to W.R. Emerson, Sept. 8, 1872; cf. Irving H. Bartlett and Emerson. The Philosopher and the Activist: New Letters from Emerson to Wendell Phillips. New England Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Jun., 1989)Boston Directory. 1873 B.R. Morse, artist George C. Munzig, artist P. Nefflen, artist New England Loyal Publication Society (related to the Loyal Publication SocietyWilliam Endicott. Tribute to Professor Norton. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 2, 1908 Jessie Noa, artist F. Evelyn Nute, artist Alfred Ordway, artistBoston Almanac. 1865, 1889, 1894 H. Winthrop Peirce, artist S.E. Perkins, artistBoston Almanac. 1875, 1889, 1894 Miss M.A. Platt, artist B.C. Porter, artist C.W. Reed, artist Miss H. Reed, artist Mrs. E.S. Remick, artist J.F. Reynolds William Rimmer, sculptor Thomas Robinson, artist S.W. Rowse, artist L.A. Schirmer, artist G.W. Seavey, artist Frank Henry Shapleigh, artist Anna H. Silloway, artist T.S. Slafter, artist H.G. Smith, photographer, publisherAdvertisement detail of: "Nanitz' great mercantile map of Boston" (Boston: B.B. Russell, 1869)Illuminated business directory of Boston, 1870 George Snell, architectObituary notes. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1893Maud Howe Elliott. Artists I Have Known through Eighty Years. North American Review, Vol. 248, No. 2 (Winter, 1939/1940) Miss Southwick, artist Charles E. Stetfield, artist Miss S.C. Stetson, artist Frederick T. Stuart, artist, c. 1902 Miss F.W. Tewskbury, artist Jerome Thompson, painterBoston Daily Evening Transcript - Aug 19, 1868 John D. Towle & Son, architects Henry Van Brunt and William Robert Ware, architects Herman Vogel, artist Seth Morton Vose, galleristObituary: Seth Morton Vose. American Art News, Vol. 8, No. 26 (Apr. 9, 1910), p. 7Robert C. Vose, Jr. and Robert F. Brown. Boston's Vose Galleries: A Family Affair. Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1981) Lilian Walker, artist Florence I. Webber, artist George A. Weeden, artist Fred D. Williams, artist Joseph P. Woodbury, "inventor" Elizabeth Wyer, artist

References

External links

Flickr. Portrait of Theadoria Caffrain Homes, 1860s; by Marshall, photographer, Studio Building, Cor. Tremont & Bromfield Sts., Boston Historic New England. Drawing of Studio Building Boston Athenaeum. James Wells Champney's "Sketch from Studio Building, Boston, during fire. 4 o’clock morning Nov. 10th, 1872"