Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston Common

Facing the Boston Common within the Theater District, the new Ritz-Carlton Hotel towers bring a second home for this venerable New England institution into the new millennium. The forty-story hotel (1 Avery Street), a gray glass, granite, and aluminum and steel tower, looms over twelve-story buildings on Tremont Street, thereby providing the 193 guest rooms and suites with panoramic views of the city and the Common, together with state-of-the-art technology for conference and network broadcasting. All the amenities of the current convention business and luxury hotel are available — sports club, pool, shops, boutiques, and a nineteen-screen Loew's Theater. The setting is rich in artwork by local painters, sculptors, and printmakers.

Also on Avery Street, the Phillips Club (2 Avery Street), containing sixty-three extended-stay units, anchors a thirty-eight-story tower. There are 309 condominium apartments distributed throughout the two buildings, both topped by slanting roofs. The developer's commitment to the surrounding urban environment included restoration of cast-iron fencing and landscaping on the Common and the exterior restoration of the adjacent Paramount Theater on Washington Street. This 1.8-million-square-foot development has breathed new life into the Theater District and has assisted in the demise of the nearby adult entertainment Combat Zone.