Built in 1875 to a design by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, it is a rare local example of a style promoted by John Ruskin called Venetian Gothic.

The Bedford Block's exterior is constructed of polychromatic bands of New Brunswick red granite, Tuckahoen marble, and pressed terra-cotta panels manufactured in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[2][3] It was the first building after the Great Fire to use New Brunswick red granite as a material.

Upper floor details include arched bay windows, Viollet-le-Duc inspired iron balconets[4] and flat column pilasters.

The building was designed by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears for Henry and Francis Lee [5] as a retail shoe center in an area that had been destroyed by the Great Boston Fire of 1872.