The Lenox Hotel history

Built in 1903, the XV Beacon hotel was originally the Boston Transit Commission Building and served as the headquarters of the Boston Transit Commission and the Rapid Transit Commission, who planned, designed and built the Boston Subway.

Hotel Buckminster, Boston, Mass, circa 1911

Built in 1912, the Fairmont Copley Plaza was constructed on the original site of the Museum of Fine Arts.

In the early 20th century, increased shipping created a need for expansion of the custom house, so the Peabody and Stearns architecture firm started construction a 26-floor tower on the Custom House in 1913.

Buckminster was also the site of the first network radio broadcast in 1929.

In 1950, Boston native George Wein opened a music venue at the hotel, called Storyville.

The hotel has hosted many famous celebrities from Babe Ruth to President McKinley and Jazz legends Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington performed in the hotel’s Storyville club after it relocated to the hotel in 1953.

In 1973, the prisoners of the Charles Street Jail revolted due to overcrowding and poor living conditions and the jail was declared unfit and in violation of the inmate’s constitutional rights.

In 2002, the Boston police sold the building to the Saunders Hotel Group, who also owns the Copley Square Hotel and the Lenox Hotel, for the price of $14 million.

They expected comfort and aristocratic accommodations while visiting the Pan American Exposition, and found them only at The Lenox.Under new ownership since 2005, every area of the hotel has been renovated in keeping with this original tradition.