It was situated close to the elegant homes on Commonwealth Avenue and one block from the rising commercial district led by the construction of the Prudential Center in the 1960s.

Other advantages of the site include its short distance from the Hynes Convention Center station and to the city's art museums, galleries, architectural firm offices, and universities.

The design uses cantilevered, suspended masonry masses and accentuated vertical "slits" in the exterior by which some of the building's core functions can be seen from the outside.

The "extra floors" were never rented, and the expanding student body and staff needed to support them quickly placed demands on all existing space.

[1] The west elevation of the building has a relatively featureless party wall with a concrete frame and brick infilling.

It was described in the February 1978 AIA Journal as a "a kind of madman's fantasy of an 1800-vintage French neocolonial palace" and it was featured on the cover of that month's issue.

One piece of the BAC's prior space was transferred to the Brutalist building: an oak-paneled library with rare books and a plaster ceiling.

The winning entry, chosen in January 1964, was a Brutalist structure designed by the recently-established firm of Ashley, Myer & Associates.

The work earned the top vote of six of seven jurors, who praised its organized interior, cost efficiency of its prefabricated elements, and appropriate overall scale.

[4] In 1987, to accommodate its growth, the BAC purchased the adjoining building at 322 Newbury Street, a former carriage house built in 1899.

The journal called it an "aggressively prominent building" and a "good first lesson" to its students, architects, and the public.