The Ames Building is located in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is sometimes ranked as the tallest building in Boston from its completion in 1889 until 1915, when the Custom House Tower was built, but the steeple of the 1867 Church of the Covenant was much taller than the Ames Building. It is nevertheless considered Boston's first

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

. In 2007, the building was converted from office space to a luxury hotel. In 2020, the building was purchased by

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

and converted into a student residence hall.

History

Located at 1 Court Street and Washington Mall in downtown Boston, the Ames Building was designed by the architectural firm of

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge was a successful American architectural firm based in Boston. As the successor to the studio of Henry Hobson Richardson, they completed his unfinished work before developing their own practice, and had extensive commissi ...

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

and paid for by Frederick L. Ames. It is the second tallest masonry load bearing-wall structure in the world, exceeded only by the

Monadnock Building The Monadnock Building (historically the Monadnock Block; pronounced ) is a 16-story skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the Chicago Loop, south Loop area of Chicago. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of B ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, completed that same year. It is fourteen stories faced in granite and sandstone and includes a four story base with large arches framing the second and third floor windows resting on Romanesque columns. Upper stories feature smaller arches. The sandstone is from the Berea formation in Ohio and was supplied by Cleveland Quarries Company. Construction completed in 1889, but interior work was not completed for occupancy until 1893. It became the corporate headquarters for the Ames families' agricultural tool company. The Ames Building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 26, 1974 and later designated as a

Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...

by the

Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation in 1975. History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Pres ...

in 1993.

Renovations

After being unoccupied for eight years, Eamon O’Marah, Rich Kilstock and Seth Greenberg (Ames Hotel Partners, LLC) and Normandy Real Estate Partners for $17.7 million purchased the structure in April 2007. Tishman Construction Corporation of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

completed renovations to the building based on a design by

Cambridge Seven Associates Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc., stylized as CambridgeSeven, and sometimes as C7A, is an American architecture firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Buildings designed by the firm have included academic, museum, exhibit, hospitality, transpor ...

and with oversight provided by Walsh Co.

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Hotel

From 2009 to 2019, the Ames Building was a luxury boutique hotel under the name of The Ames Boston Hotel. In 2019, the hotel closed and nearby

purchased it for use as a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

, known as "One Court Street", which opened in the fall of 2020.

Notes

External links

Historic Ames Boston Hotel (Official Site)
* City of Boston
Landmarks CommissionThe Ames Building Study Report
1993 {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Office buildings completed in 1893 Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Financial District, Boston National Register of Historic Places in Boston Butler–Ames family Skyscraper hotels in Boston Office buildings in Boston

History

Renovations

Hotel

See also

Notes

External links