One Dalton: Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences

One Dalton rises at the juncture of two Boston neighborhoods: the Back Bay, with its tree-lined streets of nineteenth-century townhouses, and the western end of the city’s High Spine, the largest-scale complex in Boston. This fascinating juxtaposition of scales presented one of the major challenges of the project.

Rising to the height of the nearby townhouses, the podium makes the 61-story tower a good neighbor. With expanses of warm gray granite, punctuated by clear glass shaded by wood louvers, the building presents an open and welcoming demeanor at ground level.

The upper portion of the exterior wall is shaped by surface incisions, offering views in two directions and allowing for operable sashes. The incisions give the tower a distinctive character while demarcating its two uses: condominiums on the top 40 floors, hotel on the 20 floors below.

Glass-screened incisions in the tower’s surface animate the building volume while accommodating operable windows on the condominium floors.

Every room in the residential portion of the tower has an operable window.

Reaching out to the three corners of the site and rising to the 70-foot height of the nearby townhouses, the podium makes the 61-story tower a good neighbor.

The very low exterior solar reflectance of the glass curtain wall results in lower heat-gain radiated back into the surrounding environment.

One Dalton demonstrates how a tall building, together with the open spaces it frames, can respond creatively to the need for urban growth while showing appropriate respect for a sensitive historic setting.