Building 107

Building 107 served the workers of the Navy Yard and continues to serve the National Park Service.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Third Avenue, Charlestown Navy Yard

Significance:

Supported shipbuilding at Charlestown Navy Yard

Designation:

National Historic Landmark, National Historical Park National Register District

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

Building 107: A Building of the Future

Building 107, a long, rectangular brick building, stands on Third Avenue in the Charlestown Navy Yard, also known as the Boston Naval Shipyard. The US Navy operated the Charlestown Navy Yard from 1800 to 1974. Currently, the National Parks of Boston, part of the National Park Service, has workspaces in Building 107. With funds provided by the Great American Outdoors Act, the National Parks of Boston (NPB) is revitalizing Building 107 to become the NPB's new headquarters.

Building 107 is significant for its role in US naval history and in the history of American architecture and engineering. Building 107 has two national designations. It is a National Historic Landmark as part of the Boston Naval Shipyard (1966) and it is part of the Boston National Historical Park National Register District (2014). Building 107 is also listed with MACRIS, a database of the Massachusetts Historical Commission of significant structures.

The New Navy

In 1904, the US Navy hired L.L. Leach and Sons to build Building 107 as part of an effort to expand the Yard. The Navy built over ten buildings in the Charlestown Navy Yard about the same time. This construction boom was part of the US Navy's effort to modernize the Navy between 1890 to 1910. US naval historians refer to this era as the "New Navy." The "New Navy" was the first expansion of the US Navy since the Civil War. During the "New Navy" period, the US Navy grew to become the world's second largest navy after being only the 12^th largest in 1881.

Naval architects also introduced a new building concept in the "New Navy" period. Building 107 and most Charlestown Navy Yard buildings constructed at this time were brick buildings supported by steel frames. By using steel frames, architects could create buildings with more interior space, unobstructed by support columns.

The Fixers

The US Navy built Building 107 for the Public Works Department, the maintenance division of the Charlestown Navy Yard.

The versatile staff of the Public Works Department repaired the yard's buildings, piers, wharves, dry docks, roads, and railways. They also maintained the electrical and plumbing systems of the Navy Yard and much more. During World War II, when the Navy Yard had over 50,000 employees, the Public Works Department employed about 1,000 workers.

Before Building 107 existed, the Public Works Department's staff did not have a central workplace in the Navy Yard. Building 107 accommodated the diverse needs of the Public Works Department; it had offices, large workshops, and storage areas.

Inside and Out

Building 107 is about 340 feet long, 60 feet wide and about 50 feet tall. It has 61,000 square feet of space, about the same size as an American football field, divided into three equal parts.

Building 107 has two floors, along with a large attic space. The first two floors have parallel rows of windows on three sides of the building, maximizing natural light entering the interior. The top floor attic space has skylights that run along the peak of the pitched roof. Like other industrial buildings in the Navy Yard, Building 107 has large metal, mushroom-shaped projections on the roof for ventilation.

Navy designers built Building 107 in a Classical Revival style and included some decorative features in its brick façade. The most notable feature is an elaborate extension of bricks forming the cornice along the roof of the building.

Another distinctive feature of Building 107 is a large dormer window and platform at the west end of the building. Navy Yard engineers laid out specially coated paper on this platform. Sunlight hitting this paper created "blueprints." Blueprinting was a turn-of-the-century method of making copies of architectural drawings.

Historic Spaces

When the US Navy closed the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1974, federal and local officials established the Historic Monument Area.¹ The Historic Monument Area is one of four sections that officials created out of the Charlestown Navy Yard. Building 107 stands within the Historic Monument Area (HMA). This area represents the industrial history of the Navy Yard.

Private companies have leased most of the buildings in the HMA. The City of Boston maintains ownership of this area. Building 107 stands as an exception; the National Park Service (NPS) became the steward of Building 107 after the closure of the Navy Yard. Since the 1980s, staff of the NPS have used Building 107 as a maintenance shop, just as the Navy did. In 1988, a curatorial division of NPS also moved into Building 107.

In 2025, the National Park Service will begin to renovate Building 107. With funds provided by the US Congress in the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020, the National Park Service is working with an architectural firm to transform Building 107 into the headquarters for the National Parks of Boston (NPB). NPB is made up of Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site, and Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. With the rehabilitation of this building, staff of NPB will be together under one roof for the first time. This arrangement will make collaboration easier among NPB staff, consolidate office space, and reduce operating expenses.

The National Parks of Boston's administrative, maintenance, stewardship, interpretation, and curatorial teams will reside in the newly renovated Building 107. These individuals include park rangers who prepare and conduct historical programs, create digital media, organize outdoor nature activities, provide educational programs, and perform the administrative tasks of NPB.

New Day

Building 107 is a significant part of the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard and within the Historic Monument Area. In the coming years, Building 107 will be readied to serve as the new headquarters of the National Parks of Boston, helping to reenergize this historic part of the Charlestown Navy Yard.

NPB staff will use Building 107 like the Navy used it over a century earlier. This building will have office space, workshops, and storage areas with plenty of natural light.

In the early 1900s, Building 107 was part of a revitalized US Navy. Now, a renovated Building 107 will help launch a new era for the National Parks of Boston and the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Footnotes

1. Federal and local officials created three other areas out of the Charlestown Navy Yard beside the Historic Monument Area. Officials refer to these other areas as the Public Park Area, the New Development Area, and the Boston National Historical Park. Authorities had three goals when they created these four sections out of the 130 acres of the Charlestown Navy Yard: preserve the history of the Charlestown Navy Yard, reserve some space for an urban park and open the Navy Yard to development. Federal officials transferred most of the Charlestown Navy Yard, about 100 acres, to the City of Boston. Thirty acres became the Boston National Historical Park.

Sources

Adams, Virginia, H., Pineo, Gretchen, and Whitehill, Kathryn. Building 107, Boston National Historical Park, Historic Structure Report. PAL Publications, Pawtucket, RI, 2023.

Black, Frederick R. Charlestown Navy Yard: 1890-1973, Volume 1-2. Boston, Massachusetts: Division of Cultural Resources, Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1988.

Carlson, Stephen P. Charlestown Navy Yard Historic Resource Study, Vol 1-3. Boston, MA: Division of Cultural Resources, Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2010.

Dean, Sidney E.. "New Navy, New Power." Naval History, Volume 27 (1), January 2013. Accessed December 2025. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2013/january/new-navy-new-power.

"Foundation Document, Boston African American National Historic Site." Accessed December 11, 2024. https://npshistory.com/publications/foundation-documents/boaf-fd-2015.pdf

"Foundation Document Overview, Boston National Historical Park." Accessed December 11, 2024. https://npshistory.com/publications/foundation-documents/bost-fd-overview.pdf

Massachusetts Historical Commission. "Historic Building Detail: BOS.5119 Charlestown Navy Yard - Building 107 – Maintenance." MACRIS Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System. Accessed January 23, 2025.

McGinley Hart & Associates. Charlestown Navy Yard, Peninsula at confluence of Charles & Mystic Rivers in Boston's Inner Harbor, Boston, Suffolk County, MA. Historic American Engineering Record, Charlestown Navy Yard. National Park Service, Atlantic Regional Office U.S. Department of the Interior, Philadelphia, PA. Accessed through Library of Congress.

"Park Laws, Boston Harbor Islands Enabling Legislation." Accessed December 11, 2024. https://www.nps.gov/boha/learn/management/lawsandpolicies.htm

"Space Utilization." The American Institute of Steel Construction. Accessed December 10, 2024.

Stevens, Christopher, Margie Coffin Brown, Ryan Reedy, and Patrick Eleey. Cultural Landscape Report for Charlestown Navy Yard. Olmstead Center for Landscape Preservation, Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service, 2005.