Copley Plaza Hotel (interior/exterior)
- Architect
- Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
- Year
- 1912
- City
- Boston, MA
The Fairmont Copley Plaza was built in 1912 on the original site of the Museum of Fine Arts, on Copley Square in Back Bay, and named for the painter John Singleton Copley. Architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh designed the $5.5 million hotel in the Beaux-Arts style, and the Boston Landmarks Commission designated it a Boston Landmark in 2026.
the building
Sister to the Plaza. Hardenbergh designed the Copley Plaza as a companion to two of his other grand hotels, the Willard in Washington, D.C., and the Plaza Hotel in New York City — the Copley Plaza's acknowledged sister property.
Built on 70-foot pilings. The seven-floor, E-shaped hotel is built of limestone and buff brick and rests on pilings driven 70 feet below street level, the engineering needed to support the building on Copley Square.
An architectural ensemble. The hotel stands on Copley Square as part of an ensemble that includes Henry Hobson Richardson's Trinity Church, Charles Follen McKim's Boston Public Library, and Henry N. Cobb's John Hancock Tower.
the style
The Copley Plaza was built in the Beaux-Arts style, clad in limestone and buff brick, a grand register fitting its role as one of the Historic Hotels of America and part of Copley Square's monumental ensemble.
the architect
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was a prolific hotel architect whose other work includes the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., and the Plaza Hotel in New York City, which the Copley Plaza was built to complement as a sister property.
significance
The Boston Landmarks Commission designated the Fairmont Copley Plaza a Boston Landmark in 2026, and it is recognized as one of the Historic Hotels of America, a National Trust for Historic Preservation program.
nearby
- John Hancock Tower
- Trinity Church
- Old South Church
- Boston Public Library, McKim Building
- 500 Boylston Street
- Trinity Rectory