Earlier this week, visitors to Restoration Hardware's Boston Back Bay store were in for a treat. The company (now known as RH) took over a 150-year-old landmark building (formerly the site of the New England Museum of Natural History) and gave it a dramatic luxury makeover, highlighting the site's antique beauty by exposing elements such as the original vaulted ceiling. In addition, RH unveiled a magnificent 24-foot steel Eiffel Tower replica.
With many designers now choosing to renovate rather than remodel historic properties, this is a prime example of how a careful eye can make all the difference. For example, on the third floor RH installed a $1,895 trickling fountain, a $1,470 Provence wicker sofa, 1950s-style leather chairs that retail for $1,800 and the pièce de résistance, a glamorous $895 chandelier.
Restoration Hardware is opening galleries across the United States in California, Texas, and Arizona to help inspire luxury lifestyle designers. Carlos Alberini, the company's CEO, told the Boston Globe: “Going into a space like this is extraordinary…this gives us an opportunity to really enhance the experience the customer is going to have interacting with the brand and our products.”
Photos courtesy of the Boston Herald
