The Liberty Hotel,
Boston, MA.
By Greta Ridley
Let’s talk innovation, preservation, renovation and
reinvention. In the heart of Boston,
Massachusetts, sits a national historic landmark at the base of Beacon
Hill. This building, located at 215
Charles St., has been an architectural gem from its conception in 1848 as the
Charles Street Jail to its modern-day transformation into the four-star luxury retreat,
The Liberty Hotel.
PHOTO #1 – Charles Street Jail, 1932
PHOTO #2 – The Liberty
Hotel, 2010 – visible in this photo, left and rear of the jailhouse, is the
16-story modern redbrick-faced addition that houses the majority of guest rooms
and some amenities
PHOTO #4 – The Liberty Hotel, 2009
G. J. F. Bryant was widely considered Boston’s most
accomplished architect of the time.
Bryant was a champion of Boston’s “Granite Style” and built the Charles
Street Jail with Quincy granite from Quincy, Mass., the site of the first
railroad in the United States. Bryant
was an innovator. Shown above is a
sampling of the 30 wrought-iron latticed arched windows, each 3-stories-high
and crowned with jointed wedge-shaped stone voussoirs (vaults popular in French
design). These windows were said at the
time to yield light “four times as great as that in any prison yet
constructed.” And below you can see two
of the four circular wood ‘ocular’ windows housed in the octagonal atrium of
the lobby or central building.
PHOTO #5 – The Liberty
Hotel, 2010
As a pinnacle, Bryant’s original design also called for a dramatic
cupola (essentially a weatherproof oculus) at the top of the 90-foot-tall
atrium to allow further light and ventilation into the cruciform-shaped jail. Unfortunately, to save time and money when
the jail was initially built, the cupola was severely reduced in size and later
removed altogether in 1949. Which brings
us to the modern-day renovation, in 2007, when the team of restorers decided to
rebuild Bryant’s original vision. The
new cupola, a series of wood tresses and steel beams is a work of art.
PHOTO
#6 – Looking upward at the cupola
PHOTO #7 – The Liberty
Hotel Atrium, 2010 – showing the rebuilt cupola, an ocular window, a 3-story
iron-latticed window, newly designed catwalks, refurbished interior brickwork,
and 4-star luxury interior with wrought iron chandeliers and naturalistic
murals
So who is responsible for this transformation? The $150-million refurbishment was a
collaborative team effort by multiple Massachusetts-based firms. Developer Carpenter & Company has been a
developer, owner, and manager of real estate since 1898 and holds a resume of
many diverse projects. Architect
Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc., or C7A, was founded in 1962 and has since
been producing buildings that educate about conservation and respect for the
environment through scheme and content.
C7A has an extensive portfolio of aquariums, museums, educational
buildings and exhibits, hospitality locations, hospitals and government
buildings. With LEED-accredited
professionals on their team, C7A strives to lead in green design and total
building system integration, and sustainable projects. C7A won 13 awards for The Liberty Hotel
project alone. Also fundamental in the
reinvention of the Charles Street Jail was preservation professional Ann Beha
Architects. ABA seeks “a dynamic
discourse between heritage and the future” and has become over the last 30
years a leader in preservation projects throughout the United States and
abroad. The large-scale development at
Charles Street also required extensive cooperation with the Massachusetts
Historical Commission, the Boston Landmarks Commission, the National Park
Service, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
PHOTO #8 – “The Clink”
PHOTO #9 – The arrivals
lobby at The Liberty Hotel
PHOTO #10 – Close-up of
tile mural between up and down escalators; lobby/atrium
PHOTO #11 – A tile mural
by Coral Bourgeois within The Alibi Bar
Other contemporary elements include striped carpet inserts
throughout the elevator lobbies and guest corridors in a burgundy and black
color scheme that correlates to the main hotel atrium. The hallway wall-coverings are intermittent
vertical segments of an organic form similar to dandelion or thistle; creeping
and weaving around itself, as ivy, from floor to ceiling, these artistic pieces
in black on a creamy background are suggestive of an austere yet elegant
jailhouse tattoo.
PHOTO #12 & 13 – Carpet and
wallcovering in corridors
PHOTO #14 – Wallcovering detail
The guestrooms in both the tower addition and the original
prison building are all decorated to continue the marriage of contemporary and
traditional. The color palette
throughout lightly varies with pale rose, taupe, and off-whites with bold
burgundy, smoky gray and black accents delicately placed. Furnished in dark mahogany woods with chrome
fittings and fixtures, sepia-toned artwork and the chance frosted glass accent
piece, every room is outfitted with up-to-date technology including LCD HD TVs,
VoIP telephones, and mp3 docks. The
bathrooms are all streamlined granite and glass with separate stall showers and
soaker tubs; supplied with chic Molton Brown toiletries, luxurious towels and
robes sporting the signature ocular window branding.
PHOTO #15 – Guestroom in
original prison building
PHOTO #16 – Liberty Hotel
Ocular Logo
Perhaps my favorite feature of this entire jail-to-hotel
transformation is a simple yet impactful piece of marketing. For the grand opening of the hotel, a design,
advertising, and merchandise agency, Anthem Branding, was commissioned to
create custom replica prison keys. Each
was carved with “1851 The Charles Street Jail Boston” and after the event these
keys became the guest privacy signs stating “solitary” in lieu of the standard
“do not disturb” placards common in other establishments.
PHOTO #17 – Solitary Key
Every detail is worthy of appreciation from the granite
structure to the ornamental details both reclaimed and invented. The conversion of the Charles Street Jail
into the lavish Liberty Hotel has been a marvel. I look forward to the day that I get to see
this stone treasure myself!!
RESOURCES
Continental.com/Magazine
– Jan. 2011 (Explore / Hotels & Must-Haves)
Meetings
Focus – August 2012 – “Revising History” by Rayna Katz
Departures
– Mar/Apr 2012 – “Hotels with History” by Marnie Hanel
MSNBC
– Budget Travel – “Hotels worth your tax refund”
The New York Times – Business – May
25, 2010 – Itineraries – “Just Steps From the Room: Hotels Add Wine-Tastings,
Book Readings, Music and Chats” by Julie Weed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5812
11 comments:
Wow, what a unique and interesting transformation from jail to luxury hotel. I particularly like the wall detail in the hallway resembling a tattoo but in a subtle and lovely way. I’m not usually a tattoo person but I think it was a great touch back to the origins of the building. The description of the colors and materials used in the room is a great solution for a contemporary hotel and yet it fits so perfectly in this restoration as well. I too would love to visit someday.
This hotel looks like a museum or something! The scale of the open area is well used to appeal guests with the gorgeous interior! I absolutely love this hotel not just staying but to learn the history of the building and enjoy the big scale structure. I would love to go there and see with my eyes!
What a talanted architect! He did amazing job transforming a prizon to a chic hotel. The lobby with the new windows and balconies looks great; it even doesn't look like a prison. The murals fitted perfectly into the interior. The neutral color guest room with the occular windows is designed pieceful and relaxing. Beautiful project!
This is very great hotel. I can not imagine any hotel that is more unique than this one. If I have chance, i will go to this hotel once to study.
The design is very impressive! I like the wall covering, and the window in the bedroom, it is very unique.
I really liked how you shared the history of the building which makes it so much more special. The metal work in the lobby really works with the jailhouse past that it has. The sophistication of the design was taken so far in this renovation and all the wall coverings and carpet must give good sound absorbency. I hope to see this hotel in person one day.
Wow! What an impressive structure. I love the juxtaposition of the industrial with the moderne with the Gothic style stain glass rosette windows. Definitely a place I would like to visit. Thanks for the great historic commentary!
I love the open space! It makes it look so grand. The high ceilings are breathtaking!
Love the octagonal shape of the lobby and beautiful high arch windows! Tile murals are unique. Very thoughtfully written and visually presented!
Reading through all these...and the only question in mind I have while reading is, "Are you kidding me?! I won't believe this used to be a prison, because now it is extravagant and gorgeous!" But with the big bucks spent on the renovation, it's understandable. Awesome place! Still can't believe the bedroom used to be a prison cell...
I was captivated not just by the pictures, but the name of the place itself...the liberty hotel, which once hosted prisoners and criminals...I think that's ironic, but how the architect and designer envisioned the space is simply fabulous. Beautiful structure. Also love how the jail elements were preserved and incorporated in the new design (iron gates), but the facade wall and the cells were taken down and isolated.
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