At the center of the view from 53 State Street is the Old State House and its balcony from which the Declaration of Independence was first read in Boston. The taller Ames Building, in view up Court Street, was the second tallest mason bearing-wall structure in the world (after the Monadnock Building in Chicago). The Ames was designed by Boston architects Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. The building directly in front of the Old State House, on Washington Street, is the Sears Building with the Rogers Building to the left of it. The building to the left of the Old State House is the First National Bank Building.
