Tags
My husband and I have been itching to stay at the Liberty Hotel for quite a few years. I forget how we first learned of it, but the hotel as a long history in Boston, as the title suggest it was orginally a jail located at the start of Charles Street just next to Massachusett General Hospital. I believe it was built and opened in 1851 through the vision of Gridley Bryant, architect and major proponent of the distinctive Granite Style that we can still find in Boston.
What surprised me was its longevity as a prison, it was still in operation until 1990, even though in the mid 1970’s the United States District Court ruled that the conditions in the Charles Street jail violated the consitutional rights of those incarcerated at the site. The ruling was handed down, but the city council took its time to rectify the situation. It was on Memorial Day 1990, at long last, that the last of the prisoners were transferred to the new SSuffolk County Jail on Nashua Street near Leverett Circle.
The company that bought the property has transformed this prison into something more than just a simple hotel, it is a luxury hotel with all of the desired amenities, but with the added selling point of a unique backdrop to add some mystique to your hotel experience.
I would definitely come back here to stay, the room is very comfortable, wifi is free and the service is exemplary, everyone is attentive and quite friendly. I ate at the Clink restaurant in the lobby, I sat at the bar, others were seated all around the lobby, on comfortable couches and chaize lounge chairs, eating hors d’oeuvres and sipping sparkling wine, I ordered myself a roasted squash soup with a ricotta flan and then I had roasted veal with tonnatto tapenade and fried sweetbreads, it was all very tasty.
This is fun.
laurieanichols 