1970Boston, MassachusettsCommercial

New England Telephone Building — 185 Franklin Street

A period photograph survives of the New England Telephone Building at 185 Franklin Street from around Joseph’s 1970 work year.

The New England Telephone building at 185 Franklin Street, Boston, photographed in 2023.

Current view · 2023 · Photo: CaribDigita · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

01The story

Why this project matters

Project identity: Very strong
Kelly connection: Family source
Masonry scope: Probable

Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: Telephone Building - Boston — 1970

Transcription: Telephone Building - Boston — 1970

Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record

Entry

KM-077

Sheet

1 of two

As written

“Telephone Building - Boston — 1970”

Tufts preserves a ca. 1970 photograph of the New England Telephone Building at 185 Franklin Street, exactly matching the family job year.

Why it matters

A strong period visual survives even though the precise 1970 alteration or facilities phase remains unidentified.

02What Kelly did

What Kelly did here

Kelly connection

Family source

Scope confidence

Probable

Likely: selective masonry alteration: likely CMU/block partitions and fire-rated walls, infill or enlargement of openings, patching/rebuilding of existing masonry, and localized brick/stone work rather than the building's original structural frame.

This scope is recorded as probable, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.

03Who built it