Travel Back in Time: Hotel Alexandra

Despite the layers of controversy and caked dirt shrouding its faded façade, the Hotel Alexandra is a grand old dame with a tumultuous history.

“It’s not unusual but it’s very distinctive in the South End,” Hope Shannon of the South End Historical Society said of Ruskinian Gothic architecture featured on the long-time dilapidated building at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Washington Street.

“Right now it’s dirty. If they would power wash it they would see it’s much brighter. It was always a distinct building. Especially since most of the buildings around it were warehouses. So it would’ve stood out pretty prominently.”

While the South End was by no means entirely affluent when the Alexandra was built in 1875, it catered to the wealthy and Shannon said it may have even been named after a European princess.

“I think, although, I’m not sure how true it is that Alexandra was a princess related to or slated to marry someone from the English royal family,” Shannon said. “She might’ve been from Denmark. The rumor is they named the hotel Alexandra after her. The Alexandra was built around the same time she was alive."

“She was not like Princess Diana," Shannon continued. "It was much different. There was not TV or radio but she was a popular royal figure.”

The residential hotel, which featured 50 rooms and 2,000 square-foot flats with high, elegant ceilings, was built by Caleb Walworth. The building has stood mostly empty for the last 30 years and was purchased by the Church of Scientology in 2008.

Along with the neighboring , the Alexandra fell into disrepair after the elevated electric train was installed on Washington Street in 1901, Shannon said. With the advent of the new public transit system, several buildings, including the Ivory Bean, converted their street level floor into storefronts.

“It was noisy and dirty,” Shannon said. “People didn’t want to live on Washington Street.”

It’s unclear if the Alexandra became a lodging house or boarding house, Shannon said; the distinction being that a boarding house didn’t include kitchens in the rooms because the landlords fed their tenants.

It’s also unclear when the Alexandra was abandoned. After the El was finally dismantled in late 1980s the Alexandra was struck by several fires, including a 1993 fire that damaged its interior and forced the upper floors to be boarded up.

A Controversial Future

In the new millennium, residents and property owners in the neighborhood lamented the failure of several plans to redevelop the Alexandra into condos with street-level retail. The building was placed into receivership at least twice before the Church of Scientology purchased it and the Ivory Bean in 2008 for its New England Headquarters. Known for providing religion to the stars, most notably Tom Cruise and John Travolta, the Scientologists also have a good track record of restoring historic buildings around the world.

The polychrome sandstone arches and elaborate detailing of the Alexandra’s façade will be restored and the Scientologists have agreed to a request from the South End Landmarks District Commission to erect a marker enshrining the history of the buildings.

“It’s nice, they seem to be interested in the history of the building and the corner in and of themselves," Shannon said. “It will be good to have a long term tenant in position to do the maintenance a building like that requires."

But restoration wasn’t in the cards for the façade of the Ivory Bean. One of the only remaining early bow fronts in Boston was recently ordered demolished by the city against the wishes of the South End Landmarks District Commission after in February. The South End Landmarks District Commission agreed to the demolition but not until after it approved the entire project. The church has agreed to incorporate original bricks from the Ivory Bean into the new façade.

“That was a little frustrating because we spent 18 months trying to get permission to take it down and then we were ordered to take it down,” Marc LaCasse, the attorney for the Church of Scientology in Boston, said.

LaCasse said the entire project still has to endure a long approval process with the Boston Redevelopment Authority and under the best scenario won’t be presented to neighborhood groups for another six to 10 months.

 “There’s still a lot of other concerns, the church is selling its current headquarters on Beacon Street, that’s a work in progress,” LaCasse said. “There’s a lot of moving parts that all need to get done at a certain point."

“Everyone loves what’s being proposed," he added. "The city loves it, the mayor’s office is in strong support for it. We don’t anticipate any opposition that can arise when doing a project like this. All signs point that the neighborhood wants it and the city loves it.”

The 45,000-square foot redevelopment project, which was delayed by the global recession, will including a street-level café, bookstore and chapel open to the public. The Church’s current Back Bay headquarters doesn’t have such public space.

“[Scientologists] invite the public into the space to come and learn more about who they are and what they do,” LaCasse said.

When the Church — which was founded by author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 — bought the building in 2008 there was a vibrant debate in the community about whether the Scientologists picked the Alexandra so they could indoctrinate disadvantaged residents living in nearby housing developments. Several leaders in the black community were insulted by suggestions that their constituents couldn’t think for themselves.

“I have heard that about Scientologists but I think that you could say that about many different religious organizations,” Shannon said. “People said just have to be able to make up their own minds for themselves.”

Among other things, the religion, which is based on Hubbard’s self-help system called Dianetics, is controversial because it calls for the abolition of psychiatry.  

“Does everyone want it to be a church? Probably not, but you’ll always find someone in the neighborhood who says ‘I don’t want that there,’” said LaCasse, adding that many folks in the neighborhood welcome the redevelopment given the building’s, “tortured history.”