Hotel Touraine (1897-1966) in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, was a residential hotel on the corner of
Tremont Street
Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...
and Boylston Street, near the Boston Common. The architecture firm of
Winslow and Wetherell
Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell (1872-1888) was an architecture firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principals were Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (1829-1888), Walter Thacher Winslow (1843-1909) and George Homans Wetherell (1854-1930). Most of the firm ...
designed the 11-story building in the
Jacobethan
The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
style, constructed of "brick and limestone;" its "baronial" appearance was "patterned inside and out after a 16th-century chateau of the dukes of
Touraine
Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vie ...
." It had dining rooms and a circulating library. Owners included Joseph Reed Whipple and George A. Turain.
Directly across the street were the clandestine district headquarters of the Boston Communist Party mentioned in Herbert Philbrick's 1952 book "I Led 3 Lives".
Among the guests: boxer
Max Baer Max Baer may refer to:
* Max Baer (boxer) (1909–1959), American boxing world champion
** Max Baer Jr.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as ...
, actor Stanley Bell,
Diamond Jim Brady
James Buchanan Brady (August 12, 1856 – April 13, 1917), also known as Diamond Jim Brady, was an American businessman, financier and philanthropist of the Gilded Age.
Early life and family
Brady was born in New York City to an Irish immig ...
,
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
,
Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow
Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow (1845–1921) was an American artist in Boston, Massachusetts, and New York. He was the son of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Biography
Ernest Longfellow was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and raised at Craigie H ...
,
Pietro Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece ''Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ' ...
,
Mitch Miller
Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...
, Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...
, and
Henry Bradford Endicott
Henry Bradford Endicott (September 11, 1853 – February 12, 1920) was the founder of the Endicott Johnson Corporation as well as the builder of the Endicott Estate, in Dedham, Massachusetts. During World War I he served in numerous public c ...
.
Events included an exhibition in the 1960s of the Boston Negro Artists Association, and performances by the "Theater Company of Boston." The hotel closed in 1966 and became an apartment building.
Images
Image:1896 BoylstonSt Boston map byStadly BPL 12479 detail.png, Detail of 1890s map of Boston, showing Hotel Touraine
Image:1906 HotelTouraine HorselessAge v18 no9.png, The hotel's fleet of chauffeured cars, 1906
Image:HotelTouraine library ca1910 Boston.png, Hotel library, ca.1910
Image:1903 HotelTouraine TremontSt BoylstonSt Boston EChickeringCo LC detail.jpg, Hotel Touraine (at right), Masonic Temple (at left), 1903
Image:2010 MasonicTemple BoylstonSt TremontSt Boston.jpg, Former Hotel Touraine (at right), Masonic Temple (at left), 2010
References
External links
* Bostonian Society:
*
Photo of construction projectsat the corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets, 1896
*
Photo of construction of Hotel Touraine Tremont and Boylston Streets, 1897
* Boston Public Library
Max Baer looks thoughtful in his room at the Hotel Touraine photo, 1935
{{coord, 42, 21, 8.44, N, 71, 3, 51.91, W, type:landmark_region:US-MA, display=title
Boston Theater District
Hotel buildings completed in 1897
Apartment buildings in Boston
Hotels in Boston