The Concept of the "Guild"
The Boardroom Office Suites are located within a larger building known as The Guild Building. This name was given to the building after much consideration. The intent of the owners was to create a place where various businesses could work together in a community of mutual benefit. As one of four buildings in an office park setting, The Guild Building is designed to set a higher standard for our city.
Some of the spaces within the Guild Building are designed for General Leasing to those who wanted a more traditional space in which to operate their company. Other areas are set aside for a shared business experience. These are the areas in which The Boardroom is designed to operate.
The name The Guild seemed to best epitomize what was intended for this building to accomplish. According to Webster's Dictionary a Guild is defined as
An association of persons of similar trades, pursuits or interests, formed for their mutual aid and protection and the maintenance of standards; in the Middle Ages a guild was a society of merchants or artisans.
Historical Background
In the Early Middle Ages most of the Roman craft organizations, originally formed as religious fraternities, had disappeared, with the exception of stonecutters and perhaps glassmakers. Early egalitarian communities formed what became known as guilds, named for the gold deposited in their common funds. These early guild communities were denounced by Catholic clergy for their binding oaths sworn among artisans to support one another in adversity and back one another in feuds or in business ventures.
By about 1100 European guilds began their medieval evolution into an approximate equivalent to modern-day business organizations such as institutes or consortiums. The guilds were termed corps de metiers in France, where the more familiar term corporations did not appear until the Le Chapelier Law of 1791. The guild system reached a mature state in Germany in the 14th century and held on in the German cities well into the 19th century.
Not all city economies were controlled by guilds; some cities were 'free'. Where guilds were present they shaped labor, production and trade; they had strong controls over capital, and the modern concepts of a lifetime progression of apprentice to craftsman, journeyer, and master began to emerge under the influence of the guilds. The appearance of the European guilds was tied to the emergent money economy, and to urbanization. Before this time it was not possible to run a money-driven organization, as commodity money was the normal way of doing business.
A center of urban government: the Guildhall, London (engraving, ca 1805)
The guild was at the center of European handicraft organization into the sixteenth century. The guilds were identified with organizations enjoying certain privileges (letters patent), usually issued by the king or state and overseen by local town business authorities (some kind of chamber of commerce). These were the predecessors of the modern patent and trademark system. The guilds also maintained funds in order to support infirm or elderly members, as well as widows and orphans of guild members, funeral benefits, and a 'tramping' allowance for those needing to travel to find work.
During the 20th century a sense of individualism and independence took precedence in modern cultures, especially in the developed western civilizations of Europe and the United States. Although unions became a fixture of American business life starting in the 19th century, they did not capture many of the positive elements of the guild movements of prior centuries. Although the guilds of earlier centuries had their problems, there were good things that occurred as well.
The developers of the Guild Building and The Boardroom have attempted to capture in the design and operation of this modern office building positive elements of the guilds of past centuries. We believe that if people are able to come together for a common purpose and are given an environment where it is easy to engage in mutually beneficial activities the results will be better than when people work in isolation.
People were meant to work in community, to be part of something bigger than themselves. None of us have all the gifts it takes to do anything of lasting significance. By creating an environment where many small and medium size businesses can have their own space but share common areas such as conference, reception, and support areas as well as administrative staff and equipment, the cost and effectiveness of doing business is greatly increased. And in addition, when those businesses are able to work synergistically with other complementary businesses in a community of like-minded professionals, the sky's the limit on what can be accomplished.
You have chosen to be part of an exciting adventure in doing business outside the box. We are convinced that your choice to become part of The Boardroom will prove to be one of the best business decisions you've ever made. Let's enjoy this adventure together.
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