Old Corner Bookstore

Wickedmedia

The site, situated on what was then part of Cornhill, was formerly the home of Anne Hutchinson, who was expelled from Massachusetts in 1638 for heresy Thomas Crease purchased the home in 1708, though it burned down in the Great Boston Fire on October 2, 1711. Crease constructed a new building on the site in 1718 as a residence and apothecary shop. For generations, various pharmacists used the site for the same purpose: the first floor was for commercial use and the upper floors were residential. In 1817, Dr. Samuel Clarke, father of future minister James Freeman Clarke, bought the building.

The building's first use as a bookstore dates to 1828, when Timothy Harrington Carter leased the space, whose address had now changed to 135 Washington Street, from a man named George Brimmer. Carter spent $7,000 renovating the building's commercial space, including the addition of projecting, small-paned windows on the ground floor. Two three-storey buildings added beside the School Street elevation around the same time.

Historic Boston Incorporated

Old Corner Bookstore to be considered for Landmark designation - Historic Boston Inc (HBI)