History: Out of the ashes
Boston’s commercial district was thriving on Saturday, Nov, 9, 1872. The next day it lay in smoldering ruins after an overnight conflagration. The Great Boston Fire claimed 30 lives and destroyed nearly 1,000 buildings. Damages were estimated at $75 million -- more than $1.3 billion in today’s dollars.
Private commercial holdings and insurance funded a massive rebuilding effort after the 1872 fire.
Well-respected Boston architects Levi Newcomb & Son designed a warehouse in the era’s High Victorian style at 323 Washington St., an area that also housed theaters. Decades later the warehouse was converted into the Modern Theatre.