The Langham Boston

It takes something special to make a historic impression in Boston, a serious contender for America’s most founder-centric metropolis. Fitting, then, that Langham should make an entrance here via the 1865 Federal Reserve Bank (coincidentally, the very first Langham opened in London that same year). They’ve shrewdly retained the stolid grandeur of its exteriors for effect while dramatically transforming the interiors to present-day standards of luxury. Here, if nowhere else, the Brits maintain an elegant foothold in the Financial District, tempering the neighborhood’s elite pedigree with age-softened British elegance.

It scales rather well — kudos for maintaining the old-world charm at 312 rooms and suites, Langham, and bonus points for foregrounding the impressively sweeping views through oversize windows. Those admit tons of natural light to the guestrooms, lending a lively and breathable air to the tasteful-to-a-fault décor (think vintage striped wallpaper, hardwood galore, and gilt-framed mirrors). Nothing wrong with plushness, of course, especially where it counts on the Blissful beds; lavish airs of a different sort await in the Italian marble bathrooms.

You can be a card-carrying history buff and still enjoy the flatscreens and docking stations, thankfully, but you’d be a fool to deprive yourself of the historic heavyweights along the Freedom Trail just a few blocks north. All that walking works up a healthy appetite, too, for which Grana, the Italian restaurant, and The Fed, the British-inspired cocktail bar, are perfect foils.