Former Jail Gets Liberty

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Oct 27th 2006 at 11:04AM

When I used to live in Boston and get off at the Charles Street T-stop I wondered when someone would do something with the defunct Charles Street Jail. It looks like that day has finally arrived. The old jail will be set free as the Liberty Hotel. The historic landmark will become a four-star luxury hotel, a $120 million project that will preserve the 1851 granite structure. The interior will be home to 300 guestrooms including 10 suites with river views. The 90-foot central rotunda now has a new cupola, built according to the original design but which was never implemented to save construction costs. The interior maintains a few touches of the old jail, such as the catwalks linking public spaces and vestiges of jail cells within the hotel lobby bar. The hotel will open next year.

Tags: boston, charles street, hotel, travel