Boston ยท Beacon Hill
The Liberty
The 1851 Charles Street Jail, which held prisoners until 1990, now a 298-room hotel with 18 of its rooms in the original jail wing.
- Built
- 1851Completed 1851 as the Charles Street Jail (Suffolk County Jail); jail closed 1990; now a hotel with 18 of its rooms in the original jail wing.
- Architect
- Gridley James Fox Bryant (with Rev. Louis Dwight)
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 298
- Area
- Beacon Hill
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Architect Gridley J. F. Bryant and Rev. Louis Dwight designed the jail, completed in 1851. In 1973, after a prisoner revolt over conditions, the jail was declared unfit and in violation of inmates’ constitutional rights, and the last prisoners moved out on Memorial Day weekend 1990. Massachusetts General Hospital bought the property in 1991 and required that significant elements be kept, and the hotel conversion was worked out with the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Boston Landmarks Commission and the National Park Service. The cupola, removed in 1949, was rebuilt to Bryant’s design.
Good to know
- Parking: on-site paid
- Pets welcome
- Address: 215 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114
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Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.