David C. Dent designed the Judge Building for Mary Judge in 1907, and it opened the next year with nearly every office already rented. Designed by David C. Dent and constructed for Mary Judge in 1907, this seven‑story structure opened in 1908 with almost all its offices already rented. Imagine the bustle: seven railway companies had leased space even before completion, a number that later grew to twenty‑two, earning the building its Railway Exchange nickname.
Notice how the facade reads like a carefully dressed ledger: masonry piers rise beside windows, capped by terracotta floral designs and small canine heads that segment the sixth‑floor lintel. Above them a parapet decorated with circles and inverted triangles crowns the elevation, sitting just below the warm gleam of a copper, denticulated cornice. The building’s civic importance was later affirmed when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Stand here and let the layers of commerce and design settle in: the architect’s hand, Mary Judge’s patronage, the early railway tenants — all of it written in brick, terracotta, and copper. Twenty-two railway companies eventually leased space here, which is how the Railway Exchange name stuck.