# Ames Building

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Building in Boston, Massachusetts

For other uses, see [Ames Building (disambiguation)](/source/Ames_Building_(disambiguation)).

Ames Building 2024 Interactive map of the Ames Building area General information Type Office (1889–1999) Hotel (2007–2019) College Dormitory (2020-Present) Location 1 Court Street Boston, Massachusetts Coordinates 42°21′32″N 71°03′28″W / 42.35890°N 71.05786°W / 42.35890; -71.05786 Completed 1889 Technical details Floor count 14 Design and construction Architect Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge Developer Cleveland Quarries Ames Building U.S. National Register of Historic Places Area 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) NRHP reference No. 74000382[1] Added to NRHP April 26, 1974

The **Ames Building** is located in [Boston](/source/Boston), Massachusetts. It is sometimes ranked as the tallest building in Boston from its completion in 1889 until 1915, when the [Custom House Tower](/source/Custom_House_Tower) was built, but the steeple of the 1867 [Church of the Covenant](/source/Church_of_the_Covenant_(Boston)) was much taller than the Ames Building. It is nevertheless considered Boston's first [skyscraper](/source/Skyscraper). In 2007, the building was converted from office space to a luxury hotel. In 2020, the building was purchased by [Suffolk University](/source/Suffolk_University) and converted into a student residence hall.[2]

## History

Entrance of Ames Building c.1894

Located at 1 [Court Street](/source/Court_Street_(Boston%2C_Massachusetts)) and Washington Mall in downtown Boston, the Ames Building was designed by the architectural firm of [Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge](/source/Shepley%2C_Rutan_and_Coolidge) in [Richardsonian Romanesque](/source/Richardsonian_Romanesque) and paid for by [Frederick L. Ames](/source/Frederick_Lothrop_Ames). It is the second tallest masonry load bearing-wall structure in the world, exceeded only by the [Monadnock Building](/source/Monadnock_Building) in [Chicago](/source/Chicago), completed that same year.[3] It is fourteen stories faced in granite and sandstone and includes a four story base with large arches framing the second and third floor windows resting on Romanesque columns. Upper stories feature smaller arches. The sandstone is from the [Berea formation](/source/Amherst%2C_Ohio#History) in Ohio and was supplied by [Cleveland Quarries Company](/source/Amherst%2C_Ohio#History). Construction completed in 1889, but interior work was not completed for occupancy until 1893. It became the corporate headquarters for the Ames families' agricultural tool company.[4]

The Ames Building was added to the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) on May 26, 1974[1] and later designated as a [Boston Landmark](/source/Boston_Landmark) by the [Boston Landmarks Commission](/source/Boston_Landmarks_Commission) in 1993.

### Renovations

After being unoccupied for eight years, Eamon O’Marah, Rich Kilstock and Seth Greenberg (Ames Hotel Partners, LLC) and Normandy Real Estate Partners for $17.7 million purchased the structure in April 2007.[5] Tishman Construction Corporation of [New York](/source/New_York_City) completed renovations to the building based on a design by [Cambridge Seven Associates](/source/Cambridge_Seven_Associates) and with oversight provided by Walsh Co. [LLC](/source/Limited_liability_company) of [Morristown, New Jersey](/source/Morristown%2C_New_Jersey).[4][6][7]

### Hotel

From 2009 to 2019, the Ames Building was a luxury boutique hotel under the name of **The Ames Boston Hotel**.[8] In 2019, the hotel closed and nearby [Suffolk University](/source/Suffolk_University) purchased it for use as a [dormitory](/source/Dormitory), known as "One Court Street", which opened in the fall of 2020.[9]

## See also

- [National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_northern_Boston%2C_Massachusetts)

## Notes

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nris_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nris_1-1) ["National Register Information System"](https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP). *[National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places)*. [National Park Service](/source/National_Park_Service). July 9, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["City Gives Approval for New University Residence Hall – Suffolk University"](https://www.suffolk.edu/news-features/news/2020/05/15/01/44/city-gives-approval-for-new-university-residence-hall). *www.suffolk.edu*. Retrieved September 29, 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Ames Boston"](https://web.archive.org/web/20041025163855/http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=119244). *[Emporis](/source/Emporis)*. Archived from the original on October 25, 2004. Retrieved April 13, 2020.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BW-2009_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BW-2009_4-1) ["Morgans Hotel Group Announces the Opening of Ames, the Latest Addition to Its Collection of Originals"](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091119006323/en/Morgans-Hotel-Group-Announces-Opening-Ames-Latest) (Press release). Morgans Hotel Group. November 19, 2009 – via Business Wire.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-BG-2_5-0)** Jennings, Angel (July 17, 2008). ["Ames Building set to become boutique hotel"](http://archive.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/17/ames_building_set_to_become_boutique_hotel/). *[The Boston Globe](/source/The_Boston_Globe)*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090101035253/http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/17/ames_building_set_to_become_boutique_hotel/) from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Palmer Jr., Thomas C. (July 6, 2007). ["Historic tower gets update: $40m renovation to turn Ames Building into boutique hotel"](http://archive.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/06/historic_tower_gets_update/). *The Boston Globe*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070708103124/http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/06/historic_tower_gets_update/) from the original on July 8, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Hotel Noshing News"](http://www.zagat.com/Blog/Detail.aspx?SNP=NB&SCID=34&BLGID=24327). *[Zagat](/source/Zagat)*. October 16, 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Hotel_8-0)** ["Our History"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160301040951/http://www.ameshotel.com/our-history/). *Ames Boston Hotel*. Archived from [the original](http://www.ameshotel.com/our-history/) on March 1, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Logan, Tim (August 19, 2019). ["Suffolk University aims to turn boutique downtown hotel into a dorm"](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/08/19/ames/WvS9eNblfZOPkBYsQB22QO/story.html). *The Boston Globe*.

## External links

- [Historic Ames Boston Hotel (Official Site)](http://www.ameshotel.com)

- City of Boston, [Landmarks Commission](https://www.cityofboston.gov/landmarks/publications.asp). [The Ames Building Study Report](https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/The%20F.L.%20Ames%20Building%20%23114_tcm3-41986.pdf), 1993

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Ames Building (Boston, Massachusetts)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ames_Building_(Boston,_Massachusetts)).

v t e Skyscrapers in Boston Current 75 State Street 100 Federal Street 100 Summer Street 111 Huntington Avenue 125 High Street 145 High Street 200 Clarendon Street (John Hancock Tower) 28 State Street 33 Arch Street 500 Boylston Street 60 State Street Ames Building Avalon North Station Berkeley Building Boston City Hall Custom House Tower Exchange Place Federal Reserve Bank Building Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, One Dalton Street Harbor Towers I Harbor Towers II Keystone Building Landmark Center Liberty Hotel (Charles Street Jail) Liberty Mutual Tower Massachusetts Eye and Ear McCormack Building Millennium Place Tower I Millennium Place Tower II Millennium Tower National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories Omni Parker House One Beacon Street One Boston Place One Devonshire Place One Federal Street One Financial Center One International Place One Lincoln Street One Post Office Square Pierce Boston Prudential Tower Radian Boston Rowes Wharf Russia Wharf Saltonstall Building State Street Bank Building Two International Place United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building Winthrop Center Under construction Bulfinch Crossing South Station Tower Proposed 111 Federal Street Cancelled 101 Clarendon Street Aquarium Development Trans National Place Demolished North Station (original)

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Historic districts 1767 Milestones Ascension-Caproni Back Bay Beach-Knapp Bellingham Square Blackstone Block Blue Hills Parkway Boston African American National Historic Site Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park Boston National Historical Park Boston Psychopathic Hospital Boston Sanatorium Brighton Center Bulfinch Triangle Camden Street Development Cathedral of St. George Charles River Reservation Parkways Charles River Reservation Charlestown Heights Charlotte Street-Esmond Street Chestnut Hill Reservoir Church Green Buildings Codman Square Columbia Road-Strathcona Road Columbia Road–Bellevue Street Columbia Road–Devon Street Crawford Street Custom House Dorchester Heights Dorchester North Burying Ground Dorchester South Burying Ground Dorchester-Milton Lower Mills Industrial Downtown Chelsea Residential Dudley Station Dudley Terrace–Dudley Street Eagle Hill Elm Hill Park Emerald Necklace Esmond Street Fenway-Boylston Street Fort Hill Fort Point Channel Francis Street–Fenwood Road Frederick Douglass Square Fulton-Commercial Streets Governor Shirley Square Greenville Street Gridley Street Harrison Square Harvard Avenue Hoosac Stores Humboldt Avenue Intervale Street-Blue Hill Avenue Intervale Street-Columbia Road John Eliot Square Larz Anderson Park Lawrence Avenue Leather Liberty Tree Lower Roxbury Massachusetts Mental Health Center Mission Hill Monument Square, Charlestown Monument Square, Jamaica Plain Moreland Street Morton Street Mount Pleasant Naval Hospital Boston Neponset Valley Parkway Newspaper Row Old Harbor Reservation Parkways Park Street Piano Row Revere Beach Parkway Revere Beach Saint Augustine Chapel and Cemetery Savin Hill Sherman Apartments South Boston Boat Clubs South Boston Naval Annex South End St. Joseph Catholic Church St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church Stony Brook Reservation Parkways Sumner Hill Temple Place Terminal Storage Warehouse Textile Thane Street Town Hill Truman Parkway Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway Walnut Park Washington Street Theatre West Roxbury Parkway West Street Winthrop Center/Metcalf Square Winthrop Parkway Winthrop Shore Drive Woodbourne Historic properties Boston Abbotsford Adams-Nervine Asylum Allandale Farm Allston Congregational Church Almont Apartments Alvah Kittredge House Ames Building Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England Arlington Street Church Armory of the First Corps of Cadets Baker Congregational Church Bedford Block Bellevue Standpipe Benedict Fenwick School Benjamin Silverman Apartments Bennington Street Burying Ground Berger Factory Bigelow School Blake and Amory Building Boston Edison Electric Illuminating Company building Boston Fish Pier Boston Transit Commission Building Boston Young Men's Christian Union Bowditch School Boylston Building Brandegee Estate Brighton Evangelical Congregational Church Building at 138–142 Portland Street Buildings at 825–829 Blue Hill Avenue Bunker Hill School Calf Pasture Pumping Station Complex Cartoof & Sherman Apartments Charles Playhouse Charles River Reservation (Speedway)-Upper Basin Headquarters Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church Charles Street Jail Christ Church Clapp Houses Codman Building Collins Building Compton Building Congregation Adath Jeshurun Congress Street Fire Station Copp's Hill Burying Ground Copp's Hill Terrace Crowninshield House Cyclorama Building Dearborn School Dill Building Dillaway School District 13 Police Station Donald McKay House Dorchester Park Dorchester Pottery Works Dorchester Temple Baptist Church Edna G. shipwreck Edward Everett Hale House Edward H. Haskell Home for Nurses Egleston Substation Eliot Burying Ground Eliot Congregational Church Eliot Hall Engine House No. 34 Evergreen Cemetery Fairview Cemetery Fenway Park Fields Corner Municipal Building Filene's Department Store First Baptist Church First Church of Jamaica Plain First Congregational Church of Hyde Park Forest Hills Cemetery Fort Independence Fowler-Clark-Epstein Farmstead Frances and Isabella Apartments Francis B. Austin House Goldsmith Block Greenwood Memorial United Methodist Church Haffenreffer Brewery Harrison Loring House Harriswood Crescent Harvard Avenue Fire Station Hayden Building Hibernian Hall Highland Spring Brewery Bottling and Storage Buildings Home for Aged Couples Home for Destitute Jewish Children House at 1 Bay Street House at 17 Cranston Street I.J. Fox Building International Trust Company Building Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum James Blake House John Adams Courthouse John F. Kennedy Federal Building John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse Joshua Bates School Landmark Center Lawrence Model Lodging Houses Locke-Ober Long Island Head Light Loring–Greenough House Malcolm X—Ella Little-Collins House Mariners House Massachusetts School of Art Mount Hope Cemetery Nathan Warnick Apartments Nazing Court Apartments New Riding Club Nixes Mate North Terminal Garage Oak Square School Old Corner Bookstore Old East Boston High School Omni Parker House Ozias Goodwin House Paine Furniture Building Parish of All Saints Ashmont Paul's Bridge Peter Faneuil School Phipps Street Burying Ground Pierce House Pilgrim Congregational Church Publicity Building Quincy Grammar School R. H. Stearns Building Richardson Block Roslindale Baptist Church Roslindale Congregational Church Roslindale Substation Roughan Hall Roxbury High Fort Roxbury Presbyterian Church Russia Wharf Buildings Samuel Edelman Apartments Sarah Davidson Apartment Block Sarah J. Baker School Sears' Crescent and Sears' Block Second Brazer Building Second Church in Boston Second Harrison Gray Otis House Shubert Theatre South Station St. Mark's Episcopal Church St. Mary's Episcopal Church St. Stephen's Church Students House Symphony and Horticultural Halls Temple Ohabei Shalom Cemetery The Graves Light The Peabody The Riviera Theodore Lyman School Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church Timothy Hoxie House Traffic Tunnel Administration Building Trinity Neighborhood House Trinity Rectory Union Wharf United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building United States Post Office Garage Upham's Corner Market Vermont Building Walton and Roslin Halls Wang Theatre Westerly Burial Ground Wigglesworth Building Wilbur Theatre William Lloyd Garrison School Winthrop Building YMCA Boston YWCA Boston building Youth's Companion Building Chelsea Congregation Agudath Shalom Bellingham–Cary House Chelsea Garden Cemetery C. Henry Kimball House Revere Church of Christ Immaculate Conception Rectory Revere City Hall and Police Station Mary T. Ronan School Rumney Marsh Burying Ground Slade Spice Mill Winthrop Edward B. Newton School Fort Banks Highland School Deane Winthrop House National Historic Landmark Districts Beacon Hill Boston Common Boston Navy Yard Boston Public Garden Fort Warren National Historic Landmarks African Meeting House Arnold Arboretum Boston Athenæum Boston Central Library Boston Light Brook Farm Bunker Hill Monument Cathedral Church of St. Paul Charles Sumner House Chester Harding House Church of the Covenant David Sears House Dimock Community Health Center Complex Ellen Swallow Richards House Faneuil Hall Fenway Studios First Harrison Gray Otis House Francis Parkman House Frederick Ayer Mansion Gibson House Museum Harvard Stadium Headquarters House King's Chapel Long Wharf Luna Massachusetts General Hospital Ether Dome Massachusetts Historical Society Massachusetts State House Nathan Appleton Residence New England Conservatory of Music Old City Hall Old North Church Old South Church Old South Meeting House Old State House Old West Church Paul Revere House Pierce–Hichborn House Quincy Market Revere Beach Roseway Samuel Gridley and Julia Ward Howe House Shirley–Eustis House Symphony Hall Tremont Street subway Trinity Church USS Cassin Young USS Constitution Union Oyster House United States lightship Nantucket William C. Nell House William Lloyd Garrison House William Monroe Trotter House Former Jacob Wirth Restaurant See also: National Register of Historic Places listings (Suffolk County, northern Boston, southern Boston), List of National Historic Landmarks (in Boston, outside Boston)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ames Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Building) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Building?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.