Young's Hotel (Boston)


Young's Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, was located on Court Street in the Financial District, in a building designed by William Washburn. George Young established the business, later taken over by Joseph Reed Whipple and George G. Hall. Guests at Young's included Mark Twain, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, Rutherford B. Hayes, and numerous others.

History

Prior to opening his hotel, Connecticut-born George Young had worked for the Hampden House, Springfield, Mass.; United States Hotel, Worcester; and the Old Cornhill Coffee-House, Boston. In 1850 he bought the Cornhill Coffee-House from its aged proprietor, Mr. Taft. "In 1860 the Fifty Associates erected a new building , known as 'Young's Hotel,' of which Mr. Young continued as proprietor. In 1876 he sold out his interest" for $65,000 to Joseph Reed Whipple and George G. Hall.
Young's became one of the first buildings in Boston installed with electric lights. Whipple & Hall built an addition on the hotel in 1882. Frank Hill Smith designed its dining room: "a large and rather low studded apartment, broken by pilasters and beams into three bays. At the end of it is a long mantel and fire-place.... The walls... are covered above the red mahogany wainscot with stamped leather of golden arabesque figurings on a groundwork of reddish brown. The semi-circular arches over the windows are filled with stained glass.... The mantel curves into the room, and is supported by Ionic columns quite clear of the carved griffins. The fireplace is highly ornamental, and is built up of the Chelsea tile, the main feature of which is a bas-relief of dancing figures. Chandeliers and side-sconces of brass in dead finish brighten the room at the proper points, and the outer light is shaded by fleecy hangings.... This room is 100 feet long by 31 feet wide, and has tables of various size for seating 150 guests."
In the 1880s, according to one report, "Boston's chief center of mild dissipation is Young's Hotel" with its pool tables and card-playing Harvard students. "The billiard room at Young's -- the most frequent in town -- is very much like all other billiard rooms, save for its extra gorgeousness. There are always to be seen the expert players at the exhibition tables, who perform all sorts of bewildering caroms, as if unconscious of the admiring crowd that looks on." Further, "here one may see in the afternoon or evening the swellest students from Harvard, in cape coats and patent leather shoes exhibiting the very latest fashions in dress, and toting canes like small trees knobbed with silver.... You need not be surprised if, as you pass the hotel desk, you see a party of five or six young men inquiring for a room... poker party." After a "disturbance" in 1891, Whipple decreed the hotel would "allow no large bodies of Harvard students to dine... hereafter."
J.R. Whipple continued as owner when the partnership with George Hall dissolved in 1887. Around this time Whipple & Co. also owned the Parker House hotel and Hotel Touraine. In 1892 he instituted an employee policy "compelling all... waiters to remove their beards." The Boston Waiters' Alliance "embracing every hotel and restaurant in the city" resolved to resist, and were prepared to strike if Whipple fired "those who do not comply."
A travel guidebook described Young's in 1895: "The main entrance to this hotel is on Court Avenue, and the hotel extends to Court Square and Court Street. It is one of the largest and best of the hotels on the European plan. One of the features of this hotel is the ladies' dining-room, the entrance to which is on the Court Street side. This is a handsomely decorated room 100 feet long and 31 feet wide. It connects with other large dining-rooms, and a cafe for gentlemen on the ground floor. This hotel is a favorite place with New Yorkers.... Recognized as among the best are those connected with Young's Hotel, the Parker House, and the Adams House. That of Young's Hotel is very extensive, occupying a large part of the ground floor of that establishment. It has dining-rooms for ladies and gentlemen, lunch rooms, and convenient lunch and oyster counters."
The hotel closed in 1927. Thereafter the building was temporarily occupied by the Boston Weather Service. The structure was demolished around 1940.

Hotel guests

19th century