Ames Building

{{Infobox building

| name = Ames Building

| image = Ames Building, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg

| caption = 2024

| image_size = 270px

| location = 1 Court Street
Boston, Massachusetts

| coordinates = {{coord|42.35890|-71.05786|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline,title}}

| floor_count = 14

| completion_date = 1889

| building_type = Office (1889–1999)
Hotel (2007–2019)
College Dormitory (2020-Present)

| architect = Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge

| developer = Cleveland Quarries

| footnotes = {{Infobox NRHP

| embed = yes

| name = Ames Building

| nrhp_type =

| added = April 26, 1974

| area = {{convert|0.1|acre}}

| refnum = 74000382{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

The Ames Building is located in Boston, Massachusetts. 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. In 2007, the building was converted from office space to a luxury hotel. In 2020, the building was purchased by Suffolk University and converted into a student residence hall.{{Cite web|title=City Gives Approval for New University Residence Hall – Suffolk University|url=https://www.suffolk.edu/news-features/news/2020/05/15/01/44/city-gives-approval-for-new-university-residence-hall|access-date=2021-09-29|website=www.suffolk.edu|language=en}}

History

File:Ames entrance.jpg

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.{{cite web| url=http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=119244| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041025163855/http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=119244| url-status=usurped| archive-date=October 25, 2004| title=Ames Boston| website=Emporis| accessdate=13 April 2020}} 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.{{cite press release| title=Morgans Hotel Group Announces the Opening of Ames, the Latest Addition to Its Collection of Originals| publisher=Morgans Hotel Group| via=Business Wire| date=19 November 2009| url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091119006323/en/Morgans-Hotel-Group-Announces-Opening-Ames-Latest}}

The Ames Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 26, 1974 and later designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission 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.{{cite news

|url=http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/17/ames_building_set_to_become_boutique_hotel/ |title=Ames Building set to become boutique hotel |date=17 July 2008 |first=Angel |last=Jennings |newspaper=The Boston Globe |accessdate=2009-01-19| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090101035253/http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/17/ames_building_set_to_become_boutique_hotel/| archivedate=1 January 2009 | url-status=live}} Tishman Construction Corporation of New York completed renovations to the building based on a design by Cambridge Seven Associates and with oversight provided by Walsh Co. LLC of Morristown, New Jersey.{{cite news

|url=http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/06/historic_tower_gets_update/ |title=Historic tower gets update: $40m renovation to turn Ames Building into boutique hotel |date=6 July 2007 |first=Thomas C. |last=Palmer Jr. |newspaper=The Boston Globe |accessdate=2007-07-06| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708103124/http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/06/historic_tower_gets_update/| archivedate=8 July 2007 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |title=Hotel Noshing News |url=http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NB&SCID=34&BLGID=24327 |journal=Zagat |date=October 16, 2009 }}

=Hotel=

From 2009 to 2019, the Ames Building was a luxury boutique hotel under the name of The Ames Boston Hotel.{{cite web |title=Our History |url=http://www.ameshotel.com/our-history/ |website=Ames Boston Hotel |accessdate=19 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301040951/http://www.ameshotel.com/our-history/ |archive-date=1 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} In 2019, the hotel closed and nearby Suffolk University purchased it for use as a dormitory, known as "One Court Street", which opened in the fall of 2020.{{ cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/08/19/ames/WvS9eNblfZOPkBYsQB22QO/story.html |title=Suffolk University aims to turn boutique downtown hotel into a dorm |first=Tim |last=Logan |date=19 August 2019 |newspaper=The Boston Globe}}

Notes

External links

[http://www.ameshotel.com Historic Ames Boston Hotel (Official Site)]
City of Boston, [http://www.cityofboston.gov/landmarks/publications.asp Landmarks Commission]. [https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/The%20F.L.%20Ames%20Building%20%23114_tcm3-41986.pdf The Ames Building Study Report], 1993

Category:Office buildings completed in 1893

Category:Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Category:Financial District, Boston

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boston

Category:Butler–Ames family

Category:Skyscraper hotels in Boston

Category:Office buildings in Boston