The nine-story masonry-clad building was built in 1892–93 to a design by William Gibbons Preston, a prominent local architect.

It is nine stories in height, with a frame of load-bearing concrete piers and floors supported by steel I-beams.

Its exterior is finished in Indiana limestone and Quincy granite, and features a variety of elaborate details typical of the Beaux Arts style.

[3] Originally housed in a five-story building on this site, it hired Boston architect William Gibbons Preston to design a substantial enlargement.

Continued growth prompted to company to again hire Preston to enlarge it in 1906, resulting in the present appearance with the main facade facing Milk Street.