corporate buildings - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

daggett chocolate ad

In honor of June as Candy Month, we look at one of Cambridge’s largest chocolate makers from the early to mid twentieth century. Candy making was a major industry in Cambridge, with over 66 confectionery manufacturers listed in the city directory at its peak in 1946.

Fred L. Daggett first started his company as a small candy store in Chelsea in 1891. By 1921 he was overseeing manufacturing in seven different buildings throughout the city. In 1925, in order to concentrate production and distribution and to secure more manufacturing area, Daggett built his Cambridge plant at 40 and 50 Ames Street and 400 Main Street. Completed by 1928, the buildings were designed by architect/engineer Mark Linenthal who would later specialize in racetrack and stadium architecture.

daggett ad

Daggett Chocolates acquired other companies, resulting in the production of more than 40 brands of chocolates. By 1930, Daggett employed over 400 people and produced 24,000 boxes of chocolate-coated candies a day. The company sold brands including Daggett, Page & Shaw, Durand, Lowney’s, and Apollo. Daggett not only produced candy, but also the boxes the candy came in. The factory had three separate unions: one for the confectionery workers, one for the box makers, and one for the printers.

The company also had a special fruit department. Daggett owned and operated a strawberry plant in Virginia where strawberries were preserved in sugar to make fillings for their chocolates. Because of this venture, Daggett also had an impact on ice cream and soda fountain business in the area. They supplied thousands of gallons of syrups and crushed fruits to druggists and ice cream manufacturers.

daggett building today — View from corner of Main and Ames Streets

Fred L. Daggett died in 1958. The company continued for only a few more years. In 1961, the company sold the recipes to New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), and sold the buildings to MIT.

Sources:

Cambridge Chronicle, March 27, 1926; October 23, 1958

Cambridge Historical Society, https://cambridgehistory.org/candy/daggett.html

MIT Architecture Inventory Form, November 2016

Today, we are highlighting a building from our recently opened Building and Structure Documentation Collection. This collection documents buildings and structures in Cambridge that were either demolished or significantly altered. In this case the materials were compiled as a condition of approval by the Cambridge Planning Board for a proposed replacement project.

Aug132018_9169 — 55 Wheeler Street: interior view of reception area

For each building or structure, the corresponding box often includes an architectural description of the building or buildings, a narrative history, and archival photographs, negatives, photograph key(s), and/or electronic copies of the files and photographs.

Documented structures in this collection include buildings from the former Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Company, and the Fogg Museum from the Harvard Art Museum Restoration and Expansion Project. Today we are featuring the documentation of the Abt Associates office complex at 55 Wheeler Street.

Aug132018_9118 — 55 Wheeler Street: exterior facade

The Abt Associates Office Complex, much of which is less than 50 years old as of 2018, is located at 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, Mass. Abt Associates – which relocated to other offices in Cambridge in 2017 – is “a consulting firm that specializes in combining social sciences, computer forecasting, operations analysis and systems engineering to address technological advances and social change.” (Historical Narrative, Westbrook Properties Documentation). The firm grew rapidly in the 1960s and ‘70s, and the complex was repeatedly enlarged to enclose a series of beautifully landscaped quadrangles; almost every occupant enjoyed an exterior view.

The internationally renowned architect and urban planner Imre Halasz (1925-2003) was one of the most important designers associated with the complex. Halasz came to the US from Hungary in 1957 and taught at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning for forty years. His firm, Imre & Anthony Halasz Inc., operated from 1957 to 1991. Halasz was also responsible for the master plan of the NASA Electronics Research Center (later the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center) in Kendall Square.

Abt Associates was formed in Cambridge in 1965 by Dr. Clark C. Abt. The company’s Cambridge location is significant for its associations with an “iconic social sciences research and consulting firm that was forward-thinking for its time, providing child care, a restaurant and recreational facilities for employees.” (Memo, Liza Paden, June 28, 2017).

55 Wheeler Street: pool, looking southwest

Look for more building and structure documentation in future posts!

Tag: corporate buildings

Daggett Chocolate Company

Building and Structure Documentation Collection: 55 Wheeler Street