The Newbury Boston

After closing as the Taj Boston in October 2019, the 1927 building across from the Public Garden reopened in May 2021 as The Newbury Boston — an independent 286-room hotel under Highgate, following earlier lives as one of the first US Ritz-Carltons and then a Taj property. Major Food Group's rooftop restaurant Contessa has become as much a draw as the hotel itself.

The place

The Newbury occupies the most photographed corner in Back Bay: directly across from the Public Garden, at the foot of Newbury Street itself. Few Boston addresses combine this much retail, park, and river frontage within a single block.

The concept

The building has operated as a hotel continuously since 1927, when it opened as one of the original Ritz-Carlton properties in the United States. It became a Taj hotel in 2007 and closed under that flag in October 2019 for a two-year, ground-up reimagining. It reopened in May 2021 as The Newbury Boston, an independent luxury property managed by Highgate — its third identity in under a century, but its first as a hotel with no external brand attached. Jeffrey Beers International redesigned the public spaces around original details preserved from the 1927 building, including its cobalt-blue dining room chandeliers, while Champalimaud Design handled the 286 guest rooms and CBT Architects oversaw the broader renovation.

Dining & wellness

Contessa, the rooftop restaurant designed by Ken Fulk and operated by Major Food Group, serves Northern Italian food under a glass-enclosed, four-season room overlooking the Public Garden — reservations run through Resy rather than a general hotel concierge line, a sign of how much the restaurant operates as a destination independent of the hotel.