16 AMERICANWAY
JANUARY 1 2008
G U I L T A S C H A R G
Y
E D
When the imposinggray granite building on the edge of BeaconHill inBoston served as the
Charles Street Jail, it held infamous inmates like anarchistsNicolaSacco andBartolomeo
Vanzetti, futuremayor James Curley, andAlbert DeSalvo, theBostonStrangler. Today, it’s a
National Historic Landmark and houses the 300-room
LibertyHotel
.com
, doubles from$250).Many of the prison’s original elements remain, including a90-foot-
high rotunda and cupola, sky-high catwalkswhere guards once keptwatch, andbars on some
of thewindows. And you have to love thewhimsical names of the public spaces— the restau-
rant is called theClink, and the bar isAlibi. Needprivacy? Simply hang the “Solitary” sign.
InBasel, Switzerland, the
Hotel auViolon
doubles from$115) is
perchedona small bluff inahistoricfifteenth-centurybuilding that servedas the city’s prison
from 1835 to 1995. Now the structure is the home of a stylishhotelwhose rooms overlook
either the inner courtyardor theOldTown. The40 former cells andoffices havebeen trans-
formed into20 spacious roomswithpolishedwoodenfloors andShaker-style furniture. The
hotel’s restaurant, theBrasserie (which is in the room that at one time housed theprison’s po-
lice station), offers tastyFrench-bistro cuisine.
It’s hard to imagine that the
FourSeasonsHotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet
doubles from$320), housed ina 100-year-oldbuilding in the
OldCity andwithinwalkingdistance of landmarks like themultispiredBlueMosque, was once
agrimprison. Intellectuals
andantigovernment dissent-
erswere among the inmates
when itwas knownasSul-
tanahmet Prison, but times
certainly have changed. These
days, guests arepampered
withanything-goes service,
spa treatments, and even
afternoon tea inwhatwas
once theprison courtyard.
ThoughSanAntonio’s
Comfort InnAlamo/Riverwalk
.com
, doubles from$99) is located in the former Bexar County Jail, which dates from 1878,
there is little to remind one of its storiedpast (save the small etched-stone signwith the jail’s
name and year hanging on one of the exteriorwalls). In fact, the building, now listed on the
National Register of HistoricPlaces, became afile-storage space in the 1960s andwasn’t
converted into the82-room hotel until 2004. Thankfully, the eerie three-story chute known as
the hanging room has been sealed from view.
Though the
MalmaisonOxford
.com
, doubles from$290) is located in a nineteenth-century jail
(which actually remained in use and still heldprisoners until 1996)
in the university town of Oxford, England, you’ll hardly be rough-
ing it. Beyond the castlelike facade are contemporary, albeit small-
ish, rooms (many are converted cellswith brickwalls) outfitted
withflat-screenTVs, down bedding, and views of the courtyard
where inmates once exercised. The former Visitors’ Room is now
a chic, all-black cocktail loungewhere guests can sipmartinis and
play snooker.
