The original Design Research store was in a 19th-century wood frame
mansard house at 57
Brattle Street, in
Harvard Square, Cambridge. D/R later added stores in
Hyannis Port, Massachusetts;
Lexington Avenue (1961) and East 57th Street (1964) in
New York City; and
Ghirardelli Square in
San Francisco (1965).
Harvard University bought the original Brattle Street store and demolished it in 1969 to build the
Gutman Library of its
School of Education. In 1969, Thompson opened a new, much larger, Cambridge store in his
revolutionary new building on Brattle Street with entirely glass walls. Until 1969, D/R stores were all located in urban areas, but under new management, D/R opened stores in suburban
shopping malls, which Thompson disapproved of:
South Shore Plaza in
Braintree, Massachusetts (1972);
South Coast Plaza in
Costa Mesa, California (1972); and
The Mall at Chestnut Hill in
Newton, Massachusetts (1974). The company also opened urban stores at the
Embarcadero Center in
San Francisco (1973), and in downtown
Philadelphia in
Rittenhouse Square (1975).
The Brattle Street store In 1969, Thompson moved the original Cambridge store to a revolutionary new building designed by his firm, Benjamin Thompson and Associates, at 48 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, on a block that came to be known as "Architects' Corner". The 5-story building consists of flat
concrete slabs supported by interior columns, and enclosed by frameless
tempered glass walls. The use of butted glass with no frame or mullions was unprecedented, and "allowed D/R to be a building almost 'without architecture'". It immediately received favorable reviews: "points the way to a method of glass building that could create a warmer city, adding color and light and optimism to the life of the streets". The building won many awards over the years: • 1970: New England AIA Honor Award, New England Chapter of the
American Institute of Architects • 1971:
Harleston Parker Medal for Outstanding Architecture,
Boston Society of Architects • 1971: National Honor Award, American Institute of Architects • 2003: AIA
Twenty-five Year Award for "architecture of enduring significance"
Later tenants Since D/R closed in 1979, the Brattle Street building has had various tenants: • from 1979-January 2009, a
Crate & Barrel store; • from October 2009 to April 2010, a temporary installation of D/R goods, visible from the street but not open to the public; • from August 2010 to January 2025, an
Anthropologie store; • from November 2025, a
Muji store. ==Corporate history==