Historic Boston Landmark

The Boston Lodge No. 10 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks purchased the block at 271-279 Tremont Street and 65-81 Warrenton Street in 1923 as a site for their new headquarters. Boston Lodge No. 10 hired architects James E. McLaughlin and G. Houston Burr to design their new building. Nearly fifteen years prior, James E. McLaughlin designed the iconic Fenway Park, which was completed in 1912. Known locally as "the Elks Hotel," the 375,000-square-foot building, completed in the fall of 1926, was constructed of brick and limestone. Boasting the largest ballroom in Boston, the building also included a restaurant, hotel rooms, member rooms and offices, a library, a billiards room, a bowling alley, squash courts, and Turkish baths.

Boston Lodge No. 10 to sell their headquarters in the summer of 1930. The building was renamed The Hotel Bradford.

WBZ Radio opened studios on the fifth floor of The Hotel Bradford in July 1931. From the studios, the station broadcast news, weather reports, and entertainment programs. In April of 1932, an MGM lion named King Leo was brought to the WBZ Studios to broadcast his roar. Accompanied by his trainer, Captain Volney Phifer, the 800-pound lion was transported to the hotel in a ten-foot cage and carried up to the studios in the freight elevator. Before a crowd of spectators, the lion broke free from the recording studio twice, crashing through windows and injuring several bystanders. King Leo was eventually trapped in a closet and returned to his cage.

Also in the 1930s and 1940s, popular nightclubs the Cascades Roof and the Circus Room operated at The Hotel Bradford. Both nightclubs featured dinner and dancing.

John F. Kennedy was the featured speaker at several events held at The Hotel Bradford in the 1940s and 1950s, when Kennedy served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

In December of 1953, a reception was held at The Hotel Bradford to celebrate the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier. The Hotel Bradford also played host to a pivotal event in Kennedy's rise to political power. Before the 1956 Democratic National Convention, Kennedy sought to gain control of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts by unseating its chairman, William H. Burke.

A meeting was held on May 19, 1956, at the hotel, where Kennedy and his associates successfully seized control of the party and elected a new slate of officers. That same morning, Kennedy had attended the wedding of his sister, Jean Kennedy, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. After the wedding, Kennedy had to rush back to Boston to attend the meeting at what is now the Courtyard Boston Downtown.