Ames Building

Ames Building
General information
Type Office (1889–1999)
Hotel (2007–present)
Location 1 Court Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°21′32″N 71°03′28″W / 42.35890°N 71.05786°W / 42.35890; -71.05786Coordinates: 42°21′32″N 71°03′28″W / 42.35890°N 71.05786°W / 42.35890; -71.05786
Completed 1889
Technical details
Floor count 13
Design and construction
Architect Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge
Developer Cleveland Quarries
Ames Building
Area 0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
NRHP Reference # 74000382[1]
Added to NRHP April 26, 1974

The Ames Building is a skyscraper located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes ranked as the tallest building in Boston from its completion in 1893 until 1915, when the Custom House Tower was built. However, the building was never the tallest structure in Boston. The steeple of the Church of the Covenant, completed in 1867, was much taller than the Ames Building. Nevertheless, it is considered to be Boston's first skyscraper. In 2007, the office building was converted to a luxury hotel.

History

Entrance of Ames Building c.1894

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 in Richardsonian Romanesque 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 in Chicago, completed that same year.[2] It is fourteen stories high with a three-story granite base and sandstone and brick. The sandstone is from the Berea formation in Ohio and was supplied by Cleveland Quarries Company. Construction was 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.[3]

The Ames Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 1974[1] and later designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1993.

Renovations

After being unoccupied for eight years, the building was purchased in April 2007 by Eamon O’Marah, Rich Kilstock and Seth Greenberg (Ames Hotel Partners, LLC) and Normandy Real Estate Partners for $17.7 million.[4] Renovations to the building were performed by Tishman Construction Corporation of New York based on a design by Cambridge Seven Associates and with oversight provided by Walsh Co. LLC of Morristown, New Jersey.[3][5][6]

Hotel

Since 2009, the Ames Building has been doing business as a luxury boutique hotel under the name of The Ames Boston Hotel.[7]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Emporis.comThe Ames Building. Emporis Buildings.
  3. 1 2 "Morgans Hotel Group Announces the Opening of Ames, the Latest Addition to Its Collection of Originals" Business Wire 19 November 2009, accessed via Lexis/Nexis, a subscription service
  4. ↑ Angel Jennings (2008-07-17). "Ames Building set to become boutique hotel". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  5. ↑ Thomas C. Palmer Jr. (2007-07-06). "Historic tower gets update: $40m renovation to turn Ames Building into boutique hotel". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
  6. ↑ "Hotel Noshing News". Zagat.com. October 16, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Our History". Ames Boston Hotel. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
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