Four Seasons complex designed to respect historic neighbors — while towering above them

It may be one of the tallest buildings in Boston, but the architects behind the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences set out to design a structure that respected historic neighbors by not sticking out like a sore thumb.

The 61-story Four Seasons tower is located next to the Christian Science Mother Church and the 14-acre Christian Science Plaza, a landmark of modern architecture. The development of the tower, Boston's third-tallest building, came as part of the Christian Science church’s comprehensive reorganization of its real estate holdings in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood in 2006. When the tower opened 13 years later, it offered an example of how a high-rise can blend in among historic landmarks without overshadowing them, according to architects who worked on the project.

The process started in April 2006, according to the City of Boston Planning Department, when the Christian Science organization decided to revitalize the plaza and determined it should generate revenue from its Boston property holdings by executing ground leases with developers, according to Leggat McCall Properties, the firm that advised the church on the plan. Through those ground leases, Carpenter & Co. and Pritzker Realty Group developed the Four Seasons property.

In addition to the Mother Church, the Christian Science complex in Boston also includes the Brutalist-style Christian Science administration building at 101 Belvidere St. and a 26-story tower at 177 Huntington Ave. that is leased for offices. The plaza also includes a 69,000-square-foot reflecting pool.

But the Christian Science organization also wanted to make sure its new neighbor would be sensitive to the look and feel of its historic church and surrounding plaza, said Gary Johnson, a principal at architecture firm CambridgeSeven, during a recent tour of the property.

Architects at CambridgeSeven and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners made a number of design choices to that end, Johnson said. The Four Seasons has curved a triangular form that somewhat mimics the curving shapes of the dome of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Mother Church.

The glass façade of the tower, which also goes by the name One Dalton, has treatments to reduce the glare of sunlight, a feature that is especially notable to residents or hotel guests in the summer months. Dark-gray granite also helps create a muted appearance for the building’s exterior.

The residential units, located on the top floors, include bay windows that can be opened, echoing the bay windows that are common in the townhouses of the Back Bay neighborhood.

“With careful consideration of siting, cascading scales and materiality, One Dalton demonstrates how a tall building, together with the open spaces it frames, can respond creatively to the need for growth while showing appropriate respect for a historic urban setting,” the organization Architecture MasterPrize said about the design.

The Farmani Group-owned Architecture MasterPrize gave the Four Seasons tower an award in its tall buildings category in 2020.

Distinctive buildings have their own stories. Snapshots is an occasional feature showcasing one of them.