Though Boston's historic Ames Building has lain fallow for 10 years, a new infusion of capital will turn this historic "skyscraper" into a four-star boutique hotel.
"The Ames Building, a towering 14 stories at 1 Court St., reigned for more than a decade as the city's tallest skyscraper -- but that was more than a century ago.
Empty for the last eight years, a nonstarter for two would-be redevelopers, and more recently isolated by ugly concrete barriers, the exquisitely carved, historic landmark is soon to be reborn as a boutique hotel with a fine restaurant.
Designed in a combination of Byzantine and Romanesque styles by architects tutored by H.H. Richardson of Trinity Church fame, the building is undergoing $40-million-plus renovation to ready it for readmission to downtown's active urban life.
'The Ames Building is one of those structures that are flower-like, and it will be more and more appreciated as the years roll on,' one writer predicted in a pamphlet in 1891, soon after 'the most prominent and eligibly situated of Boston's great buildings' opened."
FULL STORY: Historic tower gets update
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions