Date: 1713
Architect: Robert Twelves; alterations by Isaiah Rogers (1830)

An exquisite colonial building almost lost among downtown Boston's skyscrapers, the Old State House has witnessed much history in its 300 years of existence. The Boston Massacre occurred in front of the building's east end in 1770, and six years later the Declaration of Independence was read to the crowd from the east balcony. It was the seat of Massachusetts' state government until 1798, and then served as City Hall for 11 years after that.

The Old State House's survival is something of a miracle. In December 1747, fire gutted the interior of the building, including "a great quantity of wine and other liquors," according to one account. It was slated for demolition twice in the 19th century, during which time it was rented out to businesses, covered with ads and wrapped in porches and stairways. The Bostonian Society—a historical preservation group—finally rescued the place from oblivion in 1881.

The long sides of the modestly scaled building present fairly typical two-story Georgian era frontages, with brick belt courses separating the floors and teeth-like dentils leering from under the eaves of the gambrel roof. More unusual are the raised, mismatched gable ends. Carved figures of a lion and a unicorn, symbols of the British monarchy, fill the steps in the parapet of the gable on the east end, while the west end has a pedimented entryway and a golden eagle beneath the uppermost window. Both ends are punctured by pairs of bull's eye windows. The east end features an 1831 Simon Willard clock; the west, a representation of the state seal of Massachusetts.

Also notable is the tower that rises up from the center of the building's roof line. At one time, the tower's arched windows offered a sweeping view of the ships in the harbor. That view is gone now, obstructed by skyscrapers and other buildings—many of them resting on the landfill that pushed Boston's shoreline eastward and left the Old State House to be swallowed up into the belly of the city.