About the Charles Street Inn of Boston, Massachusetts

I was built in 1860 for an unusual purpose: to showcase styles of Second Empire Victorian architectural detail as a model home for the development of the Back Bay neighborhood in Boston. I was the first such building constructed for the purpose of being a Model Home in America. Victorian Bostonians were feeling confident about the future of their new country and their City on a Hill. I was part of this Boston Brahmin vision of the future.

Back Bay was built in the last half of the 1800's on wetlands, and Charles Street sat on the edge of Charles River back then. That is why the road that runs behind me is called River Street. The big elm tree across from Mt. Vernon Square used to sit on the bank of the river. My first occupants used to look out the windows directly upon the flowing Charles River. Charles Street was waterfront property for over a hundred years before Bostonians filled the Fens with dirt from Beacon Hill.

Boston was such a key center of learning, wealth, and political influence when I was built, that Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. proclaimed it "the hub of the universe." The Hub wanted quality housing, so Mt. Vernon Properties (including Harrison Grey Otis, Charles Bulfinch, and Jonathan Mason), built me and my brother (94 and 96 Charles Street).

With different plaster cornices on each floor, and four types of ceiling medallions, I offered a Victorian sensibility. There were several window styles, a selection of solid brass Rococcan chandeliers, solid walnut doors and a variety of carved Italian marble fireplaces. Among the innovations I offered was central heating (you can still see the iron grates in the walls of each room), wall to wall carpeting, Rutherford (beehive) fireplace draws, a Gibson steel stove in the basement, and running water. Still, when I was originally built I did not offer toilets since they were first invented almost a decade after my creation. I was a balanced, graceful architectural wonder, offering elegant family living.

House staff were to live on my fifth floor, children on my fourth and the lady and gentleman of the house lived on the third floor. My second floor offered a rear dining room and a front living room. My first floor offered two parlors - one for unexpected guests forming the present lobby and one in the rear that served as a sewing room as well. My kitchen was located on the garden level. I had a separate, second stairwell for the servants. It was where the back bathrooms are currently located.

As I began offering tours, the South withdrew from the union and the Civil War commenced. Charles Street was a bustling center of the abolitionist movement, and Beacon Hill served as the Northern terminus for the Underground Railroad which helped slaves fleeing bondage find safety.

After the war, Boston entered its prime as a capital of Victorian America, and I continued as a model home until the Back Bay no longer needed a showroom in 1867. I became a doctor's office, then a tailor shop, and then a family home. Beacon Hill entered a "renaissance era" with writers, philosophers, and artists like Henry James, Louisa May Alcott, John Singer Sergeant, Julia Ward Howe, Isabella Stewart Gardener, Frederick Law Olmstead, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Edith Wharton living in my neighborhood.

Henry James remarked on the scene in his 1886 book The Bostonians, "a residence on Charles Street must at least produce some contact with the brilliant classes." They walked this street, campaigned for change at the State House on top of Beacon Hill, and some of them toured 94 and 96 Charles Street.

I was a family home for the Joseph Millers for almost hundred years while the nation grew. Meanwhile, in 1922 four feet were shorn from five of my floors when the west side of Charles Street was widened for the trolley. This is part of why each of the rooms facing Charles Street today are smaller than my rooms facing Mount Vernon Square. This is also why I have a Federal window over my front door - I used to have front steps to the street and etched design glass at my front door.

Charles Street served as a main road street leading into Cambridge. Eventually, the trolley was phased out, Storrow Drive built along the banks of the Charles River and city planners reversed traffic on Charles Street. In 1974, I was turned into an apartment building. One of my occupants, Ed Logue, was a famed Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority who lived in my parlor, now lobby, as his studio pied de terre. A calm set in, life slowed, and came again to reflect the refined tastes of Beacon Hill. In 1997, I met Sally Deane and Louise Venden, the ladies who transformed me into an inn.

At first they kept me as an apartment building while plans for my future were formed. Then, in 1999, the most harrowing year of my life began. The rooms in front and in back were sealed off, and my mid-section was nearly gutted to make way for all new plumbing (for whirlpool spas), wiring (for high speed internet, phone lines, fire alarms and cable TV), air conditioning, and an elevator! My lovely central staircase was preserved except on the first floor where it was turned to accommodate the elevator. When they were done, my original, rose, gold, grey and white marble fireplaces were still working, and my elegant cornices and moldings had new paint and repairs. I was proud when my new developers received the Eagle Award for "Excellence in Historical Preservation" and I was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

I evolved from model home to family home, to apartment building, and finally into an inn. Infrastructure in place, it was time for the next step of my make-over. I was delighted to be decorated with fine Victorian fabrics and furnishings: antique European armoires (two had been with me since the Miller family occupied me and are now located in the John Singer Sargent Room), writing desks, settees, and handmade Harike rugs from Turkey. Then finally, I was equipped with the best 21st century amenities like Bose Wave CD/Radios, sub-zero refrigerators, individual room HVAC controls, and 4-star Serta mattresses in every room.

On January 15, 2000, I began giving public tours again, and providing lodging as The Charles Street Inn: offering a high quality experience for people in the quest of romance, respite from the day, adventure, and the pursuit of luxury. I welcome you to stay!