One of the last major 19thcentury buildings erected in Bostons Leather District is also one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the city.This is the Albany Building, built in 1899, and fills an entire city block. The Albany Building was designed byPeabody and Stearnsand built byNorcross Brothersas theoffices for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Its two-story base is adorned with swags and cartouches and its fifth floor is topped with a complex cornice. The use of beveled corners and ornate detailing break up the massing of the building which otherwise, would read like a box. The building today serves as an important visual gateway into the Leather District and its context of late 19thcentury commercial blocks centered around the leather and shoe manufacturing businesses.