Locke-Ober (–2012) was the fourth-oldest restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts, after the

Union Oyster House Union Oyster House, open to diners since 1826, is amongst the oldest operating restaurants in the United States, and the oldest known that has been continuously operating since being opened. The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark ...

(1826),

Durgin-Park Durgin-Park ( ) was a centuries-old restaurant at 340 Faneuil Hall Marketplace in downtown Boston. The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau stated that it had been a "landmark since 1827", and it was a popular tourist destination within Q ...

(1827), and the

Jacob Wirth Restaurant The Jacob Wirth Restaurant was a historic German-American restaurant and bar in Boston, Massachusetts at 31-39 Stuart Street. Founded in 1868, Jacob Wirth was the second oldest continuously operated restaurant in Boston when it closed in 2018. ...

(1868). Locke-Ober featured

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

and seafood.

History

The

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

building was constructed in 1832. By 1862, the Boston City Directory listed Adrien Destre as operating a restaurant at 2 Winter Place. By 1868, F.A. Blanc was listed as running the restaurant. By 1879, Boston city records listed Luis Ober as the proprietor of a restaurant at 2 Winter Place of "over twenty years' standing". From the start, the restaurant specialized in French food and was central to the financial, political, and intellectual history of Boston. 1871 FrenchHotel LouisPOber ad NewtonMA Directory

1871 FrenchHotel LouisPOber ad NewtonMA Directory

Louis Ober was born in 1837 in the French department of

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. At age fourteen Ober moved to New York, working as a barber, book seller and importing and exporting goods between the United States and France. Ober lived and worked in New Jersey, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia, before settling in Boston. Ober was employed at the restaurant then owned and operated by Blanc. While in Blanc's employ, Ober became familiar with French food, fine wine and furnishings. By 1875, Ober had acquired ownership and applied to the city for expansion of the restaurant to 3-4 Winter Place. Financing was provided by Eben Jordan, a co-founder of the

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh (officially Jordan Marsh & Company) was an American department store chain that was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. It was founded by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh in 1841. The o ...

Company. The restaurant reopened as Ober's Restaurant Parisien. Over the next 20 years the restaurant was expanded and became furnished with increasingly luxurious imported materials typical of the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

, including Honduran mahogany, French furniture, Italian and French sculpture and paintings, English silver and Bohemian crystal lighting. Until 1970 the restaurant was open to males only. By the late twentieth century, Locke-Ober - though still possessing most of its original grand trappings - had lost much of its popularity. Boston restaurateur

Lydia Shire Lydia Shire (born 1948) is a Boston-based chef and restaurateur. Early life and education Born in Connecticut and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, both of her parents were illustrators. Shire began cooking as early as age four alongside her ...

, with investor Paul Licari, leased the space in 2001 and began a painstaking restoration of the main and private dining rooms on the third floor, adding two more contemporary rooms.

Jacky Robert Jacky Robert (born 13 September 1950) is an American chef who helped to create fusion cuisine in the 1980s. He is the cofounder, with Martha Castano, of the non-profit OnBoardForKids.Org Early years Born in Granville, Manche, France, Robert bega ...

was executive chef until 2003. Nonetheless, the restaurant closed in 2012, with reports that the owners planned to sell the building. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1986. The location is now occupied by Yvonne's. The restaurant was the setting of the opening scene in

Robert B. Parker Robert Brown Parker (September 17, 1932 – January 18, 2010) was an American writer, primarily of fiction within the mystery/detective genre. His most famous works were the 40 novels written about the fictional private detective Spenser. AB ...

's 1980 Spenser novel '' Looking for Rachel Wallace.'' It was also the setting of the denouement of ''

Death in a Tenured Position ''Death in a Tenured Position'', winner of the Nero Award, is a mystery novel that is part of the Kate Fansler series written by Carolyn Gold Heilbrun under the pen name Amanda Cross. When Kate's acquaintance and colleague, Janet Mandelbaum, is f ...

'' (also published as ''A Death in the Faculty'') by

Amanda Cross Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (January 13, 1926 – October 9, 2003) was an American academic at Columbia University, the first woman to receive tenure in the English department, and a prolific feminist author of academic studies. In addition, beginning ...

published in 1981. The detective, Kate Fansler, is taken there by the lawyer, John Cunningham, at which she presents to him her solution to the mystery. Cunningham claims Fansler only likes the restaurant because it used not to admit women; she denies this, saying she is attracted by the creamed spinach and the waiters who tended to be 'deaf and placating'. It was also the restaurant that Professor Lambeau took

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

' character, Sean, to in an attempt to convince him to work with the main protagonist in ''

Good Will Hunting ''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American psychological drama film directed by Gus Van Sant, and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film received positive r ...

''. The fictional character I.M. Fletcher has lunch at Locke-Ober with newspaper editor Jack Saunders in the 1976 novel ''Confess, Fletch'' by

Gregory McDonald Gregory Mcdonald (February 15, 1937 – September 7, 2008) was an American mystery writer whose most famous character is the comedy investigative reporter Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher. Two of the Fletch books earned Edgar Awards from the Mys ...

References

* Forbes, Esther, and Arthur Griffin. ''The Boston Book.'' Houghton Mifflin Company: 1947. * Morrisey, Louise Lane, and Marion Lane Sweeney. ''An Odd Volume of Cookery.'' Houghton Mifflin Company: 1949.

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Defunct restaurants in Boston Restaurants on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Financial District, Boston Restaurants established in 1875 1875 establishments in Massachusetts 2012 disestablishments in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Restaurants on the National Register of Historic Places Defunct French restaurants in the United States French restaurants in Massachusetts

History

See also

References

External links