Hotel Review
THE LIBERTY HOTEL
Boston’s newest hotel has people clamoring to spend a night in jail.
Boston
215 Charles St • 617-224-4000 www.libertyhotel.com
Following an extensive renovation, the historic Charles Street Jail is reopening as the luxurious Liberty Hotel. While the hotel pays homage to the building’s notorious past, its mix of contemporary design and modern amenities provides a level of comfort the previous “guests” never enjoyed.
For nearly 150 years, the Charles Street Jail housed some of the city’s most infamous criminals, such as the Boston Strangler, until it closed in 1990. The restored structure is now home to 300 guestrooms (18 of which are actually in the former jail), as well as meeting rooms, a grand ballroom, lobby and reception areas, two restaurants, and a bar. The other rooms are in a new 16-story tower attached to the original granite structure.
After entering through the front doors of The Liberty Hotel, escalators take you up to the dramatic 90-foot-high rotunda, which is topped by a lantern cupola. The red brick interior of the soaring rotunda—which was the jail’s exercise yard—has been preserved, and light pours in through decorative ocular windows. Historic catwalks ringing the walls and iron bars covering the magnificent arched windows serve as reminders of The Liberty Hotel’s colorful past, while vestiges of jail cells have been preserved in the bar and upstairs restaurant.
The guestrooms also incorporate whimsical references to the hotel’s former use. Patterns on the curtains include vertical bars, while bathrobes contain faint stripes. The design of the crocheted bed throws is inspired by the quilts donated to inmates by charitable groups.
All rooms offer modern conveniences, including high-speed wireless internet, 32-inch high-definition televisions, MP3 player docking stations and touch-screen telephones on a VOIP network that allow guests to send email or order room service. Sliding doors open into spacious, four-fixture bathrooms, and floor-to-ceiling windows afford many rooms with “killer” views of Beacon Hill, the Charles River and the Boston skyline.
The Liberty Hotel’s location at the foot of Beacon Hill provides guests with a convenient base to explore most areas of Boston. Unlike the building’s former occupants, you can check out of The Liberty Hotel whenever you like. You just may not want to. —Chris Klein