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Tremont House

Architect
Isaiah Rogers
Year
1829
Style
Greek Revival
City
Boston, MA
Tremont House
Photo: unknown artist, Public domain
See it on the map

Tremont House opened on October 16, 1829, at the corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets, designed by Isaiah Rogers as a first-class hotel for Boston. It is widely regarded as the first modern hotel, a genuine typological first that other American cities would soon copy. Guests over the hotel's run included Davy Crockett and Charles Dickens, and its opening-night banquet drew Josiah Quincy III, Daniel Webster, members of Congress, and local merchants.

the building

Opening night. Construction began July 4, 1828, and the hotel opened a little over a year later, on October 16, 1829, with a banquet for the city's leading citizens priced at $1 a person. The guest list included Boston mayor Josiah Quincy III and Senator Daniel Webster alongside other members of Congress and local merchants, a launch built to announce the hotel as a first-class establishment from day one.

A corner address. Tremont House stood at the corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets, shown as Common Street on old maps, with its main entrance accentuated on the Tremont Street side.

the style

Tremont House was built in the Greek Revival style then in vogue in Boston, giving the hotel a prominent facade at the corner of Tremont and Beacon Streets, an architectural statement of permanence for a wholly new kind of building: the first-class commercial hotel.

More on Greek Revival

the architect

Isaiah Rogers designed Tremont House in 1829, and its success made his career: the hotel's reputation led directly to commissions for other first-class hotels across the country, including Astor House in New York, Battle House in Mobile, Burnet House in Cincinnati, the Charleston Hotel, Galt House in Louisville, and the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans.

significance

Tremont House is widely regarded as the first modern hotel, a typological first that shaped how hotels were built and run across the country for decades. It operated from 1829 until roughly 1900.

nearby

All 282 buildings in Boston