R. H. White had occupied an ornate six-floor emporium there from 1876 until going out of business in 1957, after which the building was occupied by the Citymart department store (1962–1966) and Raymond's department store (1966–1972), after which the building was torn down and replaced with a parking lot and then LaFayette Place Mall in 1984.
It closed as a mall in 1989, ownership devolved to Chemical Bank,[2] and the retail space remained empty for some years.
Around a safe, clean interior Mitchell/Giurgola architects mounted a brutal gray bunker, its ashen-gray walls serving as an unadorned defensive perimeter against dangerous Combat Zone streets.
But Boston's recovery would soon help alter an entire city's view of its streets ... Lafayette Place proves how a building with about the worst approach to its street fronts in the city will be punished by a citizenry that has come to expect more.Homart Development Company worked on redeveloping the property and reopening the mall in 1990s.
Two stories were added and the complex was redeveloped as primarily office space, under the name Lafayette Corporate Center.