City Council - Planning, Development, & Transportation Committee Hearing on Docket #0771

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and I'm the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation. This hearing is being recorded and is also being livestreamed at boston.gov backslash city-council-tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82. Byall Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.plandev at boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all councillors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing. Individuals will be called on an order which they have signed up to testify and they have two minutes. If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sheet near the entrance of the chamber. If you're looking to testify virtually, please email our central staff liaison, Shane Pack, at shane.pac at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket 0771. Communication was received from the city clerk from the Boston Landmarks Commission for the City Council action on the designation of the petition.

147.89, the Copley Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, effective April 30th, 2026, if not acted upon. This matter was sponsored by Michelle Wu and was referred to the committee on April 8, 2026. Today, I am joined by my colleague, Councilor Flynn. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. Stewarding landmark designations through the City Council is one of my greatest honours as chair of this committee. This morning we're here to discuss the proposed landmark designation of the Copley Plaza Hotel at 205 Dartmouth Street in the Back Bay. Copley Plaza Hotel is located in the Back Bay Architectural District and a defining boarding building to Copley Square. As a study report notes, it has played a major role not only in Boston's civic and cultural life, but in the evolution of the hospitality industry itself. Introducing innovations such as the first international hotel reservation system and becoming the first hotel in the world to accept credit cards. This hotel's significance is also architectural, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenberg.

The Copley Plaza is a monumental example of Italian Renaissance revival, known for its grand limestone and brick facade, richly ornamental interiors, and Commanding Presence as a defining feature of Copley Square. Some of my favorite pictures in Boston I've taken there. So this is an important opportunity to recognize the Copley Plaza Hotel as a treasured historic building and to reaffirm its importance as the preserving of Preserving Landmarks for Future Generations. I look forward to this hearing and hearing more about the significance of the building and the effort behind this designation from our panelists here this morning. We are joined by Elizabeth Sherva, Deputy Director of the Office of Historic Preservation, and Jennifer Gogler, Architectural Historian from the Boston Landmarks Commission from the Office of Historic Preservation. I will let my colleague, Councilor Flynn, give an opening statement if you'd like to provide one.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the administration team that is here. I represent this area at Copley. Love Copley, love the people, love the neighborhood, love the Back Bay area. Want to learn more about this proposed designation. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. inclusive it is how engaged it is and how they respect historic preservation I want to support this proposal but I do want to learn more about it and I think a lot of residents want to learn more about it as well even though they do support it because residents really are fascinated with Boston's architectural history, they're fascinated by

Thank you.

Thank you so much. We will go to our panelists, Elizabeth Sherva and Jennifer Gogler, if you would like to give this presentation.

Thank you, Chair Durkan and the Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation for having us here to present today. on the Copley Plaza Hotel in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. Today we will provide a brief history of the hotel and its architectural importance. On January 24, 1989, the Boston Landmarks Commission accepted a petition to study the designation of the Copley Plaza Hotel in Back Bay as a landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975 as amended. On March 3rd, 2026, the Boston Landmarks Commission posted a study report on the proposed landmark. On March 24th, 2026, the Boston Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to accept the study report and designate the Copley Plaza Hotel a landmark.

We're just trying to go to the next slide. You might have to point it towards there, the back.

Yeah, there we go. OK, perfect. So the Copley Plaza Hotel opened in 1912. It's historically significant to the city, the Commonwealth, and the New England region as one of Boston's most prominent hotels for over 110 years. The hotel is significant to the evolution of the hospitality industry as it was the first hotel in the world to have an international reservation system and to accept credit cards in addition to other advances. The hotel has hosted many notable events and guests including most American presidents since 1912 and many foreign dignitaries and entertainment celebrities. Designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenberg, the Copley Plaza Hotel is also an architecturally significant example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style. articulated as a palazzo of pale brick and rusticated limestone blocks with a massive and graceful swell front and flanking wings. The Copley Plaza Hotel, I think back one.

The Copley Plaza Hotel is a character-defining element of Copley Square, which is also bordered by the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. By the 1870s, Copley Square had begun to emerge as a new civic center lined by monumental institutional and religious buildings. The design of the Copley Plaza Hotel harmonizes with the adjacent Boston Public Library by prominent architects McKim, Mead, and White, completed in 1895. As you can see here on the map on the right side, the proposed boundary of the designation corresponds to the boundary of the parcel. And as you can see in the floor plan on the left, The proposed designation also includes the interior spaces that you see here indicated in yellow, which are all located on the lobby level. And I would just like to go through some images because these interiors really are truly fantastic. So this is a couple images from Peacock Alley, which is one of the main sort of hallways that leads to the lobby of the hotel.

The exceptional interior of this hotel is significant for its elaborate decorative finishes. The interior treatments included the use of mosaic, as you can see here, it's really exceptional, Marble, plasterwork, painted murals, and other architectural decorative finishes by skilled designers and craftsmen. In the 1970s, the original first floor plans and historic photographs were used to accurately restore many original features of the hotel. The hotel's foyers and concourses such as Peacock Alley are the visitors' first introduction to the grandeur of the interior. The floors are clad in multicolored mosaic tile and the walls have decorative crown molding but are largely simple planar surfaces in contrast to the elaborate arches, pendentives, and skylights of the ceiling. The next image is of the lobby. This is one of the most prominent spaces and its most prominent architectural feature is this elaborate coffered ceiling that you see at the top of the image. into which are set skylights and barrel vaults.

Also prominent here are the marble columns with foliate and palm capitals. We noted in the study report that the front desk of the hotel is not original and has been replaced several times. The grand ballroom shown here is the most magnificent room in the hotel and also one of the least altered. The ballroom is sumptuously decorated with decorative molding and plasterwork. and on the south side there's a mezzanine with service space below which is what you're looking at in the photograph. There's also a raised stage on the west end and on the opposite side of the room stairs lead up to a rostrum. The next room is the oval room. This is distinctive for its oval shape and the arched niches that march along the perimeter of the room. There have been substantial alterations to this room. So while this room is included in the designation, the altered features are not considered character defining features that need to be preserved.

And then the last two spaces are the St. James Room, which is particularly notable for its decorative ceiling, including border molding and a large elaborate center medallion. And as you can see, the room also has detailed wall paneling and doorways with prominent entablatures. And this room has been little altered from its original appearance. And then the last interior space included in the designation is the singleton room. which is notable for vaulted ceilings, fireplace, and wood wingscoating, paneling, and molding. There are some alterations that were identified in this space including the opening up of the wall on either side of the fireplace to create doorways.

So as stated before, the Boston Landmarks Commission voted to designate the Copley Plaza Hotel as a landmark under Chapter 772. The Copley Plaza Hotel meets criteria A, B, and D. for designation as a landmark as established in Section 4 of Chapter 772. The effect of this designation shall be that review by the Boston Landmarks Commission and or Commission staff shall be required for any proposed alterations to the following elements. The exterior envelope of the building and the specified interior spaces. In the process of developing a study report for the proposed designation, BLC staff worked collaboratively with the hotel owner's representative, Tabish Siddiqui, and their consultant, Epsilon Associates, on the development of the regulatory standards.

Prior to the Landmarks Commission hearing and during the hearing, public comment was accepted on the study report. Mr. Siddiqui, the general manager of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, submitted a letter expressing support for the designation of the hotel as a landmark on behalf of the owner, iconic Copley Plaza Hotel, LLC. The commission received two written comments in support of designation from the general public. We also received a letter from Meg Meiser-Cohen, the President and Executive Director of the Back Bay Association, expressing support for the designation. Thank you, Chair Durkan and committee members, for your interest.

Thank you. I think my first question is, we've had a conversation prior in my district about internal landmarks that are privately owned. So this would be one of the most substantial I guess I'm curious sort of what made some of these internal spaces worthy of, I mean obviously you can see it from You know from the slide deck you just showed just like how grand some of these spaces are but there are other spaces in my district that people have fought to internally designate that have not been considered and had there's been like pushback from The internal designation. So I was just curious, obviously this has the support of the owner and other people in the community, but I'm just curious sort of what reaches the level of wanting to

The petition that was accepted had highlighted a number of spaces on the interior to landmark. And as we went through the study report process and we took a look at the alterations in the spaces, for example, the Oak Room, that had received quite a number of alterations over the years. and we didn't feel comfortable landmarking that interior due to how many changes were made. Also, the owner was Not looking to also landmark the interior of that space, knowing that it was a space that changes a little bit more. So our landmarking is in direct response to the petition. and investigating those interior spaces that were listed in the petition.

So if someone were to submit a landmark petition for an internal space of a privately owned building, That petition could be accepted by the Landmarks Commission. It could be.

Yes. In our enabling legislation, it does allow for interior spaces to be designated if so specified. I do think there's a distinction between privately owned and privately used, which we tend not to do, versus privately owned but publicly accessible. So the hotel spaces are very public, like the lobby.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to get at. Because at least there was one example in my district where... The public had never seen the inside of the building. Or maybe certain individuals had seen the inside of the building. So that's why I thought it was important to ask this question. Because obviously, these spaces are used by the community I mean I just you flicking through the pictures of the internal parts of this I have memories in every single one of those rooms from you know being a fundraiser being a We know how important this hotel is and we know how important the insides of this hotel are to the community and so I'm really grateful that you guys have come before the city council today. I want to yield to the District Councilor for this landmark petition to see if he has any questions.

Thank you. Again, thank you to the landmark team that's here. Who actually proposed designating this site as a landmark?

I'm going to pull up the original petition. So the options are registered voters of Boston or a landmarks commissioner or the mayor. But let me look at who it was for this one. It was registered voters of the city of Boston. So it looks like they had 10 signatures. And it looks like they were pretty local. I'm seeing a lot of 02118, 02116. So yeah, registered voters.

Madam Chair, for the record, may I receive a copy of the people that proposed this?

Yes, I believe that it's in the study report somewhere. I'm looking for it, but we'll get that to you.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, thank you for that answer. And I support this product 100%, but what would happen if a private company, although Although it's public in nature where the public can use it, such as a hotel, but what would happen if a private ownership didn't feel like they wanted to, for whatever reason, that they didn't want it designated as a landmark, even though Even though residents wanted or some people proposed, what would the outcome be?

So you're saying in general terms? Yeah, just in general.

Right.

So through the landmark process, you know, the petition comes before us and there's a study report. The owner can speak at the commission hearing in which we take the study report and designation vote. They can submit a comment to the mayor because the next step in the process once the commission votes to designate is the stop of the mayor's desk. And then finally to the city council. The last stop in becoming a landmark is approval by the City Council. And so there is an option to approve, deny, or take no action by City Council. So they have an option to Engage with the commission, the mayor, and yourselves.

Okay, so the city council would vote on it, basically. Right.

We did, in my time as chair of this committee, we did not approve one landmark. So that has happened before. Yeah, right.

Okay. So that would mean, well, just shifting a little bit. So the outside of the building would not be able to be touched at all. Is that accurate?

No. In fact, within the study report, we have a section called Standards and Criteria, and it really calls out the character-defining features. And in this case, for Copley Plaza Hotel, it's the interior spaces that we've designated. and the exterior. The standards and criteria allow for changes, but the changes are then reviewed by Boston Landmarks Commission staff or the commission itself. So typical changes that we see are repair and maintenance, but then also sometimes we do see additions. You know, window replacement, different variations of change on the buildings.

Window replacements, maybe because the windows were declining or deteriorating. Mm-hmm. But that would be natural to fix those if they were declining. But would there be any structural changes to the outside Not to address maintenance issues, but to expand it.

Right, so additions onto historic buildings do occur and they would be coming before the Boston Landmarks Commission to look to see if any and many more.

projects would you normally receive in a year?

Petitions? Like exterior change projects?

Yeah, exterior change. Anything that may take a vote. Is it a robust... Department. Were you singing a lot of landmark designation petitions?

A couple of things. So for the designs, our staff and so forth. And then we have a number of applications that come from individual landmarks and they do come from within the districts. So some of those things are exempt. Some of the projects are approved under administrative approval. They follow the standards and criteria, and so we are able to approve them administratively. And then there's others that are brought to the commissions. that are either brought to the Boston Landmarks Commission or brought to the individual district commissions for review and approval. Sometimes not all the details are there for those exterior changes and so Sometimes the minutiae details of a project are remanded to staff to ensure continuity and that the project happens as it's proposed.

Okay. And my final question. and this is a general question. I've been active in supporting disability rights for many years. I'm active with the disabled American veterans. One thing I always focus on when we have A particular project for designation, landmark designation status. What impact, if any, But what impact would this have on persons with disabilities? Is that something you factor in? And if it is, what do you look for in terms of a proposal about accessibility spaces. Do you then go in, if you're going inside a building to review the grand ballroom, but then do you look inside the building to ensure buildings are 100% accessible?

It's not within our purview to ensure accessibility for any of our landmark buildings. But that being said, we do work closely with the Disabilities Commission and with MAAB and the Mass Historical Commission for any of the projects that do want to propose accessibility improvements. I feel that the architects who work in historic preservation and are concerned with accessibility can become very creative and provide accessibility to these buildings. in a way that's very sympathetic with the historic preservation of the buildings.

Well, thank you. And that's a major priority for me is at least as a city councilor asking about Any impact at all on persons with disabilities, how we can improve accessibility to spaces and You know, even though I support a project, I still want to do my due diligence of asking about the impacts it would have or not have on persons with disabilities. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, Councilor Flynn, and we've been joined by Councilor Louijeune. Councilor Louijeune, you have the floor.

Good morning. Thank you everyone for being here. Thank you, Madam Chair, for hosting this hearing. I saw the presentation, and this is a hotel love. Important significance, historic significance to the city. I saw it included, has hosted almost every president since 1912. also hosted every prom that I attended and I know yesterday the clap off for the runners happened there and it's a hotel that really uplifts and supports our union siblings and so just wanted to enthusiastically support this hotel because they show up in so many different important ways for the city of Boston. And I think it's an important landmark given the historic nature of the building. both from the exterior and the interior. So just here to voice my support. But I also wanted to check in to see how many other hotels in the city of Boston are landmarked.

I would have to look into that and get back to you. I'm sure it's not the only one, but off the top of my head, I can't come up with that number. Do you have a sense?

Or do you know any of the other hotels in the city that are landmarked?

Right. We're just thinking like the Ames building, but that's not a hotel anymore, it's dorms.

Well, it's the Omni Parker House. Omni Parker House. Oh, Omni. Thank you. Thank you.

What about the, is it the Newberry? The one that's right on the corner of Newberry and... No. No. No. Okay.

That would be part of a district, the Back Bay District.

Okay.

Yeah. Some of the hotels in the city are part of historic districts, so they're not individual landmarks, but they're still protected.

Okay.

And that's an example of one.

Okay. Yeah. It's called the Newberry, right? Is that the name? It was formerly the Ritz-Carlton and before that the Ritz. Okay, those are my questions. Thank you. I look forward to supporting this landmark. Thank you.

Thank you. I think it'll be thrilling to walk into the Calvary Plaza Hotel and and some of those I mean specifically the St. James room I've always had like a lot of affection for so it's really it's going to be incredible for us to I plan to bring this landmark forward at the next council meeting. I know we have two hearings this morning, so I want to give you a chance for any closing statements.

We look forward to bringing this full circle and it becoming a landmark.

Okay, thank you so much. And so this hearing on docket 0771 is adjourned. Barring any public testimony. Okay, perfect. It is adjourned.