The Lenox Hotel is a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is located at the corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets; one block from

Newbury Street Newbury Street is located in the Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It runs roughly east–west, from the Boston Public Garden to Brookline Avenue. The road crosses many major arteries along its path, with an entran ...

Copley Square Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...

, and the

Prudential Tower The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru,subscription required'The Pru' everyone calls it: a resigned shrug of a name, as flat and uninflected as the wan moue its pronunciation requires." is an Inter ...

. In addition, the Lenox sits next to the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...

. The Lenox is a member of

Historic Hotels of America Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pla ...

, the official program of the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

History

The Lenox Hotel was built in 1900 by the owner of New York's Waldorf-Astoria, Lucias Boomer, at a cost of $1.1 million. At eleven stories high, it once stood as the tallest building in Boston. The outside was constructed of white and red terra cotta bricks and the inside of the hotel was luxuriously appointed. The hotel is named after the family of

Lady Sarah Lennox Lady Sarah Lennox (14 February 1745 – August 1826) was the most notorious of the famous Lennox sisters, daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sarah Cadogan. Early life After the deaths of both her parents when she was only fi ...

, wife of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, who ruled before and during the American Revolution. The Lenox was host to many celebrities, including

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

, who arrived at The Lenox in his own private railroad car. The area next to The Lenox was a railroad station until the 1960s, allowing affluent guests to pull their railroad cars up to the hotel and walk right in.

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

, who made The Lenox her home for three months in 1965, currently has one of the hotel's suites named in her honor. In 1963, the Saunders family acquired the hotel, and Roger Saunders was brought on as the general manager. The Lenox Hotel is located less than a block from the finish line of the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

, held every year in April.

Present day

The hotel recently underwent a $35 million renovation. Some of the corner suites in the hotel still have functioning wood-burning fireplaces. It is one of the few known buildings left in the world with a functioning Cutler

mail chute A mail chute is a device by which mail is collected for pick-up by a post office from within high-rise buildings, such as offices and hotels. Deposit boxes on upper floors are connected via a chute to a central depository at ground level, from ...

Environmental initiatives

The Lenox Hotel and the Saunders Hotel Group are known internationally for pioneering the luxury green hotel movement since 1989. They have received a Presidential Gold Medal for Environmental Leadership from George H Bush in 1992 as well as many other international sustainability awards. The Lenox also has rooftop beehives which provide honey for menu and drink items in their restaurants; they separate

food waste Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about o ...

to be made into compost for local farms, they do renovations with sustainable materials and help improve IAQ (indoor air quality) by using healthier paints, adhesives and cleaning products.Condé Nast Green List 2007
/ref> The Hotel purchase locally made goods to support area businesses while reducing polluting emissions from long-distance transportation. They continue to share their lessons learned and innovative ideas with hotels far and wide to help the world's largest service industry towards a more sustainable future.

Notable guests

Below is an alphabetical list of notable guests who have frequented The Lenox: *

Red Auerbach Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach (September 20, 1917 – October 28, 2006) was an American professional basketball coach and executive. He served as a head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Boston Celtics. ...

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

coach, resided at The Lenox during training seasons. *

stayed at The Lenox in 1907 and arrived via personal railroad car. *

James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...

, Boston mayor who died before fully paying his hotel bill. In the 1920s, his sons presented the hotel with a pair of portraits of

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

to settle the overdue bill. *

, who made The Lenox her home for three months in 1965, currently has one of the hotel's suites named in her honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenox Hotel Hotels in Boston Copley Square Hotels established in 1900 Hotel buildings completed in 1900 Railway hotels in the United States