Boston Jailhouse Transforms Into Luxury Hotel
Boston | Once the home to some famous felons, a Boston prison has undergone a major renovation.
The Charles Street Jailhouse will now be called the Liberty Hotel as part of the historical building's revival.
If the walls could talk they would tell the stories of both the accused and convicted.
But now the former Charles Street Jailhouse has been refurbished into a luxury hotel. The hotel was named "Liberty" because "it's the opposite of confinement," said Liberty Hotel president Richard Friedman.
Friedman said the $150 million restoration offers guests something unique.
"Make sure people know it was a jail. We are not trying to forget its past but trying to use its past to let people feel the history of this place," he said.
Built in 1851 as a jail house, and home to dozens of Boston's legendary inmates, the historic landmark will now sleep a more civilized company.
It offers 300 guest rooms accented with rich Mahoney wood, a presidential suite with an incredible view the Charles River, and the lobby still has the original catwalk.
To keep with the jailhouse theme, the Liberty's doors do not have "do not disturb" signs on them but instead say "solitary."
The hotel has three different dinning venues, each with its own jailhouse theme.
Friedman said some jailbirds have returned to see the changes.
"I was here for 2 years," said a former inmate. "I didn't pay anything. Now it's $300 a night."
