c. 1875–1876, Caleb Walworth and Emil C. Hammer. 1761 Washington St. at Massachusetts Ave.
The Hotel Alexandra is a good example of the neighborhood's fashionable residential hotels or French flats. A rare surviving full-blown example of Ruskinian Gothic in the South End, the Alexandra is distinctive in its use of colored stone rather than the more common, and less expensive, way to create a polychrome exterior with colored and tarred (black) brick and limestone trim. With its lush use of materials, stylish stone cloak, large scale, and prominent site, the Alexandra epitomized the 1870s aspirations of the South End. Now in a sorry state, the building awaits restoration and reuse.