One Palace Road, 2002-Current

Files

APC001_06499.jpg

Citation

“One Palace Road, 2002-Current,” Buildings@Simmons, accessed March 15, 2026, https://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/buildings/items/show/150.

Geolocation

Title

One Palace Road, 2002-Current

Subject

One Palace Road (Boston, Mass.)

Description

The College began construction of One Palace Road, and an accompanying underground parking lot, in 2001. The new building was, in part, driven by the pressing need to integrate the Graduate School of Social Work on the Academic Campus, which had been located on 51 Commonwealth Avenue since 1945.

In the 57 years the program had been based on Commonwealth Avenue, the building had never been renovated and was deteriorating. As the lack of accessibility in the classrooms and building violated the Council on Social Work Education's accreditation guidelines, the School was also at risk of losing its accreditation.

One Palace Road was completed in 2002. Designed by the architectural firm Goody Clancy and Associates, the building was meant to be “representative of its period” with the use of metal and glass to achieve a modern look and feel. Traditional building materials, such as buff-colored brick and cast stone, were also intended to reinforce the building’s ties to the Peabody and Sterns MCB.

The 60,000 square-foot building had four floors of academic classrooms and offices. The Graduate School of Library Science, Academic Technology, Career Resource Center, Media Center, and Counseling Center also moved to the new building along with the Graduate School of Social Work (SSW). The SSW would remain in One Palace Road until circa 2020, when it moved to Helen G. Drinan Hall (formerly named School of Management building).

Date

2002-Current

Identifier

APC001_06499