Liberty Hotel

Why We Chose It

The Charles Street Jail opened in 1851 as a model of progressive penal architecture — a cruciform Victorian granite building with a soaring 90-foot octagonal rotunda and radiating cellblock wings designed by Gridley James Fox Bryant. It housed prisoners for 150 years (including Malcolm Little, before he became Malcolm X, and James Michael Curley, the legendary Boston mayor). The 2007 conversion preserved the octagonal rotunda as the hotel's central atrium lobby, retained the original wrought-iron catwalks (now the walkways between hotel rooms), left the cell-bar architectural details visible throughout the public spaces, and opened CLINK restaurant in the original jail wing — one of the most dramatically distinctive restaurants in Boston. Rooms are modern and comfortable; the hotel's position on the Charles River (with water views from upper floors) is among the finest in the city. Charles Street shops and restaurants are immediately outside. For guests who appreciate architectural history and visual drama in their hotel experience, the Liberty is Boston's most distinctive luxury choice.

What Stands Out

• Converted 1851 Charles Street Jail: the most architecturally dramatic hotel in Boston, preserved with full historical integrity
• CLINK restaurant: dining within original Victorian stone walls and wrought-iron jail catwalks — the most immersive room in the city
• Soaring 90-foot octagonal rotunda lobby: the hotel's central atrium preserves the original prison architecture
• Charles River views from upper floors: the finest water views of any Boston hotel in Beacon Hill
• James Michael Curley and Malcolm X's former residence: the hotel's guest history begins in the 1850s