A Storied Legend
Mention the name “Omni Parker House,” and a rich and varied history comes to mind. Founded by Harvey D. Parker in 1855, the beloved icon is the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States and a storied part of Boston’s rich history.
A Richly Layered Chapter in the Boston Story
In 1855, Harvey D. Parker founded the Parker House Hotel – a striking five-story brick and marble building with a French chateau-inspired design, which soon became a Boston landmark. Located along Boston’s beloved Freedom Trail, today’s Omni Parker House is more than a museum of American myth and memory. It’s a hotel that has meticulously maintained its nineteenth- century charms and sense of history.
The Grand Dame of Boston is illuminated by the glamor and possibility of travel’s golden age and has been the setting to celebrities, from baseball legends such as Babe Ruth to matinee idols like James Dean and Judy Garland, and generations of politicians from the time of Ulysses S. Grant.
None of this, of course, has ever been a secret. The constantly clever Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr., for example—that self-avowed “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table”— waxed eloquent on the food and friends he encountered at this most favorite of haunts: Such guests! What famous names its record boasts.”
The above is excerpted from our new book, Heaven, By Hotel Standards: The History of the Omni Parker House, by House Historian Susan Wilson.
An Unrivalled Heritage from 1855: Through the Years
From 1855, the Omni Parker House has hosted notable guests, been the setting for m and invented many culinary dishes we associate with Boston.
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If these walls could talk
It was here where the brightest lights of America’s Golden Age of Literature—writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Longfellow— regularly met for conversation and conviviality in the legendary nineteenth-century Saturday Club. Literary luminaries like Mark Twain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson were often in attendance, and the meetings would involve critiquing books and poetry readings over dinner, cigars and gin punch. The gatherings were said to have influenced several significant literary works, and it was here in 1867 that Dicken’s read “A Christmas Carol” for the very first time to the club’s members. The event cemented the hotel’s place in literary history and drew Boston into Dickensian tradition.
Parker’s Restaurant Culinary Legends
Parker’s Restaurant, credited with pioneering many New England signature dishes, holds a distinct place in culinary history. In 1856, shortly after the hotel opened, French Armenian chef, Augustine Francois Anezin, created the Boston Cream Pie here - now a classic American dessert. In the 1870s, the hotel introduced Parker House Rolls, a favorite bread recipe which became much-loved by guests. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt often visited the Parker House and personally requested the secret recipe for Parker House Rolls be sent to the White House. The hotel is also credited with pioneering delicious New England signature dishes including, Boston Scrod made from fresh haddock or cod. Beyond its culinary legacy, Parker’s Restaurant has also been the training ground for internationally-known chefs and features a top-notch kitchen and wait-staff that once included Emeril Lagasse, Malcolm X, and Ho Chi Minh.
Private Residential Retreats
Since the seat of Massachusetts government was just up the road, on the crest of Beacon Hill, the Parker House was directly on the “hot line” between City Hall and the State House—a fortuitous situation that ensured regular political clientele for more than a century. It is claimed that every president from Ulysses S. Grant through Barack Obama passed through the hotel’s portals. The president most closely associated with Massachusetts, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, had an earlier start than most at the Parker House. Six year old JFK gave his “first public speech” in our Press Room for his grandfather, former John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald. At the party, he says to a crowd of people “This is the best grandfather a child ever had.” Twenty-three years later, Kennedy announced his candidacy for the U.S. Congress from the same room. In 1946, he proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at Table 40 in Parker’s Restaurant. JFK also held his subsequent bachelor party in the Press Room.
The Next Chapter: A Beloved Landmark Restored
Inspired by the storied sophistication of Boston’s most beloved icon, the new Omni Parker House transports guests to a world of refinement, bold impressions and vibrant social energy. A beloved landmark of beautiful design, illuminated by the glamor and possibility of travel’s golden age and dedicated to celebrating the renaissance of a truly legendary American.
