Lannan Ship Model Gallery

Very, very unusual store in what felt like a strange location (it’s basically in the financial district), but then again it is near the waterfront.
I found some interesting and rarely found items here and I am glad I happened upon it one day at lunch. The location is strange enough that I’m not sure people would venture in there without being in the area anyway. But if you find yourself in the area, then obviously take a look.

This place is as good as it gets because I’ve never seen another store like it.
As the previous reviewer notes, the gallery is full of authentic pieces — some of them just super awesome — like starboard/​port engine controls, a la Titanic, soo cool. I’d love to have pieces like this in my home — someday I’ll patronize this store with a vengeance!
Yes, some of the items are expensive (like a $ 25,000 cannon), but some other stuff I thought completely reasonable — like a painting of an old ship weathering a squall, on sale for $ 50.
Whether you’re looking for a model ship or simply some nautical furniture, bookends, compass, map, or some other random yacht antique, this is the place to go. Perfect for high-​end gifts for the discerning yachtsman.
Add in the proprietor’s penchant for New England, and you’ve got the quintessential Boston yacht store, which this is. You can even buy an authentic model of the Nantucket lightship.
A little unorganized, but I thought that added to the appeal of the whole place — felt like rummaging through a collector’s treasures — an experience to be sure!

I thought that this was the most appropriate article for Sept 19^th, the International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Boston’s Financial District, an urban jungle of financial institutions and restaurants is the most unlikely place for an antique store, especially a Ship Model Gallery. However, this is where Lannan Ship Model Gallery is located, and seems to hold fort with its offerings. If one were to look into into windows, one would see a lot of its ‘Ship’ paraphernalia but also a dearth of customers, most of the time.
The store owners do not seem to be too concerned. The sign on the door says that they are open by appointment only. However, as I walked into the store, the sales person was quite amicable and let me in to take a look. My guess is that Lannan has a debonair clientele that makes appointments ahead of time and knows what it wants from the store.
Inside the store are a lot of models of ships, paintings, compasses, scopes and ‘nautical’ items’, all steeply priced. The sales person told me that they are brought in from several places. Most objects looked clean and well maintained, and exquisite. This is a great place to window shop, while on a lunch break.

The place is billed as a «ship model gallery» but it felt more like a «nautical antique store with some ship models on the side.» It’s just up the street from South Station, and the big windows with beautiful models enticed me to walk in. All the pieces housed in this gallery are authentic, though most of them are ships’ wheels, scopes, compasses/​barometers, and yacht decorations that you’d expect to find from ships in the early 1900s and beyond. I didn’t see anything that was older than that, though I stuck mostly to the front of the store because it was so packed it was hard for me to move around without fear of breaking something. The price tags on most of these things weren’t cheap, either.
The models, which are in their own little cranny to the far righthand side of the store, are beautiful. There was a very detailed one of the U.S.S. Constitution in a glass case… again, much too expensive for me to even dream of owning. I guess my biggest qualm with this store is that for a place that sells such high-​end goods, I’d expect it to be better organized.