24 hours

Boston’s New Historic Design

By Alia Akkam

Sure, you can soak up Boston’s glory days by hitting the Freedom Trail or Paul Revere’s house. But why not get a “designer” history lesson at one of these hot spots instead?

Scampo Boston at the Liberty Hotel

Across the city, designers are taking over Boston’s old buildings and converting them into appealing modern hangouts. While these hotels, bars and restaurants might look shiny and new, they celebrate the past through original but creatively reinterpreted architectural details. Instead of filling your itinerary with the postcard standards, revisit Boston’s bygone days through the lens of contemporary design.

When the Charles Street Jail opened in 1851, criminals served their sentences in a Boston Granite-style building with a soaring atrium and three-storey arched windows. Today the Beacon Hill property has been transformed into the swanky Liberty Hotel. Designer Alexandra Champalimaud has added exposed brick and a massive wrought-iron chandelier, but the octagonal shape and granite exterior have remained unchanged since it housed the city’s villains and wrongdoers. Rooms, in soothing colour palettes with floor-to-ceiling windows, would definitely fill the jailers of yore with envy, while mess hall grub has been upgraded to house-made burrata cheese and orange-blossom honey duck at Scampo, Lydia Shire’s lively Italian restaurant.

For a more subdued historic alternative, there’s the Inn @ St. Botolph. Here guests have the chance to stay in an asymmetrical Victorian and Romanesque brownstone dating from the 19th century on a hushed residential street of the lovely Back Bay area. Check in via a password, and walk through a cinnamon-brown-hued hallway to find your suite. Once inside, you’ll be greeted by Celeste Cooper’s welcoming design features, like four-poster beds and tricked-out kitchenettes.

Swapping glamour for grit, head to Fort Point Channel. South Boston’s waterfront area was once a fort guarding the city during colonial times. The industrial vibe and spacious brick warehouses now make it a favourite among the burgeoning arts community. Check out the Institute of Contemporary Art for sweeping harbour views and the exhibition of street artist Shepard Fairey (through August 16) or, for a more homegrown arts experience, explore the FPAC Gallery.

Unconventional retail awaits at the warehouse-turned-Achilles Project. This massive space is part boutique, with the likes of Earnest Sewn and Filippa K designs hanging on suspended mobile display racks, and part lounge, with DJs spinning, locally made art on the walls and an upbeat crowd swilling Pimm’s Grails (Pimm’s No.1 and ginger soda). In the back, there’s Persephone, where Michael Leviton’s organic-driven menu features a plump juicy chicken for two with a grilled bread salad. Afterward, drop into local celeb chef Barbara Lynch’s nearby basement boîte, Drink, for a nightcap. Low lighting, beams and bottles of bitters on the bar lend a chic apothecary vibe. Two words for tequila lovers: Oaxacan Sidecar.

Bustling Downtown Crossing was once home to department store behemoths Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. While still a retail mecca, it’s also shedding its cluttered commercialized vibe to make way for more sophisticated spots. Gaze out on pedestrian-packed Washington Street at BiNA Osteria, where columns and canopies merge to create a ceiling of minimalist umbrellas and ethereal gnocchi come with a mess of clams and chorizo. A few blocks away at the Langham Hotel in the Financial District, powerhouse designer Jeffrey Beers pays homage to the site of the former Federal Reserve Bank at dramatic Bond Restaurant and Lounge with a restored 20-foot ceiling and original limestone walls. Whimsical oversize bills add kitsch and a taste of what this joint might have been like when it dispensed cash, not currency-themed cocktails.

(Alia Akkam is a New York-based editor and writer who covers food, travel, drinks and design.)

TOP IMAGE: ERIC LEVIN PHOTOGRAPHY
HOTEL: THE LIBERTY HOTEL
RESTAURANT: ROBERT ROLLEND / COURTESY OF BOND RESTAURANT