Ames Building

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name=Ames Building
location=1 Court Street, Boston, Massachusetts
floor_count=13
built=1889
use=Office
architect=Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge
developer=Cleveland Quarries

The Ames Building is a skyscraper located in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes ranked as the tallest building in Boston from its completion in 1893 until 1915, when the Custom House Tower was built. However, the building was never the tallest structure in Boston. The steeple of the Church of the Covenant, completed in 1867, was much taller than the Ames Building. Due to church steeples having been included in building heights, the Ames Building was never the official tallest building in the city. Nevertheless, it is considered to be Boston's first skyscraper.

History

Located at 1 Court Street and Washington Mall in downtown Boston, the Ames Building was designed by the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in Richardsonian Romanesque and paid for by Frederick L. Ames. It is the second tallest masonry load bearing-wall structure in the world, exceeded only by the Monadnock Building in Chicago, completed that same year. [ [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=119244 Emporis.com] "The Ames Building". Emporis Buildings.] It is thirteen stories high with a three-story granite base and sandstone and brick walls. [http://www.nr.nps.gov/Red%20Books/74000382.red.pdf "Ames Building"] . "National Register of Historic Places". National Park Service, Washington, D.C.] The sandstone is from the Berea formation in Ohio and was supplied by Cleveland Quarries Company. Construction was completed in 1889, but interior work was not completed for occupancy until 1893.

The Ames Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 26 May 1974. [ [http://www.nr.nps.gov/iwisapi/explorer.dll?IWS_SCHEMA=NRIS1&IWS_LOGIN=1&IWS_REPORT=100000039 "Database" "National Register of Historic Places"] National Park Service, Washington, D.C.]

Renovations

After being unoccupied for eight years, the building was purchased in April 2007 by Normandy Real Estate Partners for $17.7 million. The developers plan to renovate the building converting it into a 125 room luxury hotel with an upscale restaurant. Renovations to the building will be performed by Tishman Construction Corporation of New York based on a design by Cambridge Seven Architects and with oversight provided by Walsh Co. LLC of Morristown, New Jersey. The estimated cost of the renovations is $40 million. The new hotel is expected to open in the fall of 2008. [cite web
url=http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/07/06/historic_tower_gets_update/
title=Historic tower gets update: $40m renovation to turn Ames Building into boutique hotel
date=2007-07-06 | author=Thomas C. Palmer Jr. |publisher=Boston Globe |accessdate=2007-07-06]

Notes