784 Memorial Drive
Address784, Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02139
Alternate Address780, Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number01208
Alternate Names
Polaroid Building,
Boston Blacking Chemical Company,
BB Chemical Company
Building Root Number
01208
Architect (Original)
Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott
Constructed
1937
Lease Started 2017
Lease Started 2017
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named after its address.Historical NotesThis building on this site was built in 1937 for the Boston Blacking (B.B.) Chemical Company and was once the world headquarters of the Polaroid Corporation. It was designed to house offices, laboratories, and an "experimental factory". Additional Information
Nakada, Madeleine R. “University IT Upgrades to New Office.” The Harvard Crimson, 4 Oct. 2017, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/10/4/new-huit-building/.
Cambridge Historical Commission. Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge. Cambridge, Distributed by the M.I.T. Press, 1965
Heskel, Julia. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott : Past to Present. Boston, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, 1999.
Shand-Tucci, Douglass. Built in Boston : City and Suburb, 1800-2000. Rev. and expanded ed., Amherst, Ma., University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places April 13, 1982. National Register Information System ID: 82001918