Today is April 21st, and the exact time is 9 31 a.m.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov backslash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on expenditure channel 8, RCN Channel 82, BIOS Channel 964.

Written comments may be sent to the committee email at CCC.plan D E V at Boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing.

Individuals will be called on in order which they have signed up to testify, and they have two minutes.

If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sheet at near the entrance of the chamber.

If you're looking to testify virtually, please email our central staff liaison Shane Pack at SHANE.pac at Boston.gov for the link, and your name will be added to the list.

Today's hearing is on Docket 0771.

Communication was received from the city clerk from the Boston Landmarks Commission for City Council action on the designation of the petition.

This matter was sponsored by Michelle Wu and was referred to the committee on April 8, 2026.

Today I am joined by my colleague, Councillor Flynn.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here.

Cobley Plaza Hotel is located in the Back Bay Architectural District and a defining defining bordering building to Copley Square.

As the study report notes, it has played a major role not only in Boston's civic and cultural life, but in the evolution of the hospitality industry itself, introducing innovations such as the first international hotel reservation system and becoming the first hotel in the world to accept credit cards.

This hotel significance is also architectural, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenberg.

The Copley Plaza is a mon is a monumental example of Italian Renaissance revival, known for its grand limestone and brick facade, richly ornamental interiors, and commanding presence as a defining feature of Copley Square.

Some of my favorite pictures in Boston I've taken there.

So this is an important opportunity to recognize the Copley Plaza Hotel as a treasured historic building and to reaffirm its importance as the preserving uh of preserving landmarks for future generations.

I look forward to this hearing and hearing more about the significance of the building and the effort behind this designation from our panelists here this morning.

Um we are joined by Elizabeth Sherva, Deputy Director of the Office of Historic Preservation, and Jennifer Goggler, architectural historian from the Boston Landmarks Commission from the Office of Historic Preservation.

Love Copley, love the people, love the neighborhood, love the Back Bay area.

Want to learn more about this proposed designation.

Had the opportunity to spend several hours walking around yesterday with my wife and um saw a lot of back bay and south end residents talking about their love of the community, um, how inclusive it is, how engaged it is, and how they respect historic preservation.

I want to support this proposal, but I do want to learn more about it.

And I think a lot of residents want to learn more about it as well, even though they do support it because residents really are fascinated with Boston's architectural history, the fascinated by this area of the city as well.

So many historic firsts have happened here.

And want to learn more about the project and want to support the project as well.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

We will go to our panelists, Elizabeth Sherba and Jennifer Gogler, if you would like to give this presentation.

Thank you, Chair Darkin and the Committee on Planning Development and Transportation for having us here to present today on the Copley Plaza Hotel in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston.

Today we will provide a brief history of the hotel and its architectural importance.

On January 24th, 1989, the Boston Landmarks Commission accepted a petition to study the designation of the Copley Plaza Hotel in Back Bay as a landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975 as amended.

On March 3, 2026, the Boston Landmarks Commission posted a study report on the proposed landmark.

On March 24th, 2026, the Boston Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to accept the study report and designate the Copley Plaza Hotel a landmark.

We're just trying to go to the next slide.

You might have to point it towards there, the back.

Yeah, there we go.

Okay.

Perfect.

So the Copley Plaza Hotel opened in 1912.

It's historically significant to the city, the Commonwealth, and the New England region, as one of Boston's most prominent hotels for over 110 years.

The hotel is significant to the evolution of the hospitality industry, as it was the first hotel in the world to have an international reservation system and to accept credit cards in addition to other advances.

The hotel has hosted many notable events and guests, including most American presidents since 1912, and many foreign dignitaries and entertainment celebrities.

Designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenberg, the Copley Plaza Hotel is also an architecturally significant example of the Italian Renaissance revival style, articulated as a palazzo of pale brick and rusticated limestone blocks with a massive and graceful swell front and flanking wings.

The Copley Plaza Hotel, I think back one.

Yeah, the Cobley Plaza Hotel is a character-defining element of Copley Square, which is also bordered by the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church.

By the 1870s, Copley Square had begun to emerge as a new civic center lined by monumental institutional and religious buildings.

The design of the Copley Plaza Hotel harmonizes with the adjacent Boston Public Library by prominent architects McKim Mead and White, completed in 1895.

As you can see here on the map on the right side, the proposed boundary of the designation corresponds to the boundary of the parcel.

And as you can see in the floor plan on the left, the proposed designation also includes the interior spaces that you see here indicated in yellow, which are all located on the lobby level.

And I would just like to go through some images because these interiors really are truly fantastic.

So this is a couple images from Peacock Alley, which is one of the main sort of hallways that leads to the lobby of the hotel.

The exceptional interior of this hotel is significant for its elaborative, elaborate decorative finishes.

The interior treatments included the use of mosaic, as you can see here, it's really exceptional.

Marble plaster work, painted murals, and other architectural decorative finishes by skilled designers and craftsmen.

In the 1970s, the original first floor plans and historic photographs were used to accurately restore many original features of the hotel.

The hotel's foyers and concourses, such as Peacock Alley, are the visitors' first introduction to the grandeur of the interior.

The floors are clad in multicolored mosaic tile, and the walls have decorative crown molding, but are largely simple planar surfaces in contrast to the elaborate arches, pendentives, and skylights of the ceiling.