On June 5, the historic Ames Boston Hotel announced the culmination of a renovation project costing $6 million.
“I’m thrilled to announce that Ames Boston Hotel’s $6 million renovation is now complete and that the property has been reinvigorated as a destination for local Bostonians and travelers alike,” Trish Berry, general manager. “The recent transformation of Boston’s architectural icon has resulted in dedicated, state-of-the-art event space, an incredible new on-site restaurant by acclaimed Chef Mary Dumont, a welcoming new lobby, and comfortable shared work space called The Library, all of which have been warmly welcomed and enjoyed by recent guests.”
The Hotel is a member of the Curio Collection by Hilton, as well as the Gemstone Collection by Benchmark, and also has been named to Conde Nast Traveler‘s 2017 Gold List.
The renovated space includes a redesign of the lobby, Cultivar restaurant, The Library, and Ames and Oliver & Oakes rooms, are a blend of modern style and old-world sophistication. Although keeping many of the original details, such as the lobby’s tiled mosaic arched ceiling, and a marble staircase from the first floor to the roof, Glen and Co. Architecture was able to blend the hotel’s past, present and future in the space. The details of this renovation include new check-in stations in the lobby and warmly-toned wood shelving to accompany the seating area. The Library, a shared work space for guests, is designed in the mid-century style and hosts both individual and group seating arrangements for meetings.
By adding the Ames and Oliver & Oakes meeting rooms on the second floor, the hotel now has 1,700 square feet of meeting space for many different types of groups. For event planners looking for elegant spaces, the rooms can accommodate groups up to 125 people, for event types such as conferences, banquets, private events and presentations in classroom, lounge and theater style. The meeting rooms were named after the sons of Oliver Ames, Sr., who was the founder of Ames Shovel Works. The rooms were designed thoughtfully with a multitude of outlets, built-in phone charging stations and full audio-visual system for presentations, including a plug and play sound system.
Finally, the Ames Boston Hotel touched up their 114 luxurious guest rooms with a new color palette chosen to emit calmness. Later in June, the hotel will be revealing a “Bobby Orr Suite” to honor Bobby Orr’s 50th anniversary of signing with the Boston Bruins. The suite will include authentic Bobby Orr and Bruins memorabilia, a “penalty box”, a “stadium seating” millwork couch, a Bruins bedspread, refurbished seats from the original Boston Garden, a scoreboard chandelier, arena boards, Boston Garden replica “locker closets, “puck” side tables, and flooring that imitates the look of ice from a hockey rink, all in the 581 square foot space.
As June has been full of memorable dates for the Ames Boston Hotel, Cultivar, a restaurant created by Chef Mary Dumont, opened at the hotel. Cultivar offers sustainable cuisine inspired by Boston, and uses produce from the Hotel’s hydroponic garden, and a 1 acre regular garden. These sources of produce will always allow Cultivar to provide fresh and sustainable food choices, and will influence the seasonal menu, which will also include sustainable seafood and dry-aged meats. Chef Dumont is most known for her time as executive chef/partner at Cambridge’s Harvest restaurant, from 2007-2015. Dumont is also a former Food and Wine Best New Chef.
