A Former Maximum-Security Prison Turned Into a Prestigious Hotel

The jail on Charles Street in Boston was completed in 1851 to a design by architect Gridley James Fox Bryant, and its cross-shaped layout of cells became a model for prison design worldwide throughout the 19th century. The facility closed in 1990 due to conditions deemed inhumane, and in 1991, the nearby Massachusetts General Hospital took it over. However, the building sat empty for over a decade before a search was announced for an investor willing to preserve the key elements of its historic architecture. Finally, in 2007, following a deal and an investment of around $150 million, the former jail was transformed into the four-star Liberty Hotel. The vast, light-filled space once occupied by cells is now home to the lobby, restaurants and ballrooms, while the original bars and cell doors are still visible on the mezzanine levels as a reminder of the building's dark past. Even the dome, removed in 1949, was reconstructed based on Bryant's original architectural drawings. This deal shows that even the most unwanted, stigmatized public properties can find a second life and command an astronomical market value, provided an investor is willing to negotiate directly with a public institution instead of waiting for an offer through a broker.