The catwalks above the Liberty Hotel’s lobby were built for guards. The cells preserved in its restaurant held prisoners. At 215 Charles Street, enough of the old jail survives to make you stop and look before heading upstairs with your luggage.
Charles Street Jail opened in 1851 and remained in use until 1990. When it reopened as The Liberty Hotel in 2007, the conversion kept the granite exterior, tall arched windows, and central rotunda. You can book a room here without much interest in the building’s past. But the jail is still visible from the lobby, and its history is worth knowing before you settle in.
Liberty Hotel
If you want to sleep in the historic part of the hotel, check the room location before booking. The Liberty has 298 rooms and suites, but only eighteen are in the original jail wing. Most are in the newer addition.
The rooms in the old wing have exposed brick from the historic structure, along with modern bathrooms and furnishings. They are fully redesigned hotel accommodations, so don’t expect an intact cell. Ask the hotel to confirm a room in that wing if it is the reason for your stay.
The building’s former layout is easier to appreciate in the public spaces. Its ninety-foot atrium rises through the center, with historic catwalks overlooking what is now the lobby. Look up from the lobby and you can follow the walkways around the space that once connected the cellblocks.
Whitey Bulger, James Michael Curley, and the people held here
The West End Museum’s history of Charles Street Jail records Whitey Bulger’s incarceration here in 1955. It also places future Boston mayor James Michael Curley here in 1904, after he took a civil-service examination on someone else’s behalf.
In WBUR’s reporting before the hotel opened, former guard Marty Coleman recalled the cell that held Joseph “The Animal” Barboza, who became a government witness against the Mafia. The report also identifies Malcolm X as a former inmate.
Those names help explain the fascination with the building, but they do not represent everyone who was confined here. Charles Street held people awaiting trial as well as political activists. In 1919, thirteen suffragists arrested during protests surrounding President Woodrow Wilson’s Boston visit refused to pay their fines and were jailed.
The famous inmates account for only a small part of the jail’s history. Many people held here were waiting for their cases to be heard.
A jail designed for reform became unfit to occupy
Architect Gridley James Fox Bryant designed Charles Street Jail with the Reverend Louis Dwight, a prison-reform advocate. Large windows supplied light and ventilation, while four wings extended from a central rotunda where guards could supervise the cellblocks.
The jail’s 220 cells were originally intended for one occupant each. Over time, overcrowding and deteriorating facilities undermined the conditions its designers had intended to provide.
In 1973, federal judge W. Arthur Garrity spent a night inside while examining those conditions. The resulting ruling found the confinement unconstitutional. The jail stayed open for another seventeen years.
Former sheriff Robert Rufo told WBUR that water froze on the floors during winter and that the granite building retained oppressive heat in summer. The tall windows and granite walls were still there, but neither made the building fit to live in. The last prisoners left in 1990, long after the court had ordered conditions addressed.
What the hotel kept
The conversion, undertaken by CambridgeSeven and Ann Beha Architects, restored the exterior and reconstructed the cupola using Bryant’s drawings. The surrounding prison wall came down, and a sixteen-story tower was added. The Boston Preservation Alliance’s account of the project explains how the old building was adapted for its new use.
The central atrium became the hotel’s main gathering space, while the former exercise yard became a landscaped courtyard. Preserved cells remain inside the restaurant.
Overnight guests can reserve a history tour through the hotel’s concierge. Tours currently take place on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. and are available only to hotel guests, with reservations handled by email. Confirm the schedule before arranging a stay around one.
CLINK.
CLINK. offers a way to spend time in the building without booking a room. Original brickwork and preserved cell façades form part of the dining space, putting the jail’s history within view of the tables.
The kitchen serves North Atlantic seafood and seasonal New England dishes. Its current schedule includes weekday lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner. You can book a meal without committing to the cost of a hotel room, and the surviving cells are part of the restaurant itself.
The restaurant also features in our guide to four Boston restaurants to visit at least once. Reserve CLINK. specifically, since The Liberty contains several separate restaurants and bars. You can see the old cells over dinner even if you’re sleeping at home.
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