Personal Data

John Roulstone Hall was born ca. 1826 in Boston, the son of Charles G. Hall and his wife, Emily Browning.

He married on April 20, 1859, in Malden, to Caroline Barrett Winslow (b. 24Feb1836 in Malden; d. 6Aug1900 in Boston), daughter of George Winslow and his wife, Elizabeth Reid (daughter of Robert Reid).

John Hall died on January 11, 1911, in Roxbury.

Career

John Roulstone Hall began working as an architect with his father, Charles G. Hall, an English architect who settled in Boston in about 1820. According to his obituary in the Boston Herald, John Hall designed his first building at the age of sixteen, a railroad station in Dedham for the Boston and Providence Railroad.

In 1858, he reconstructed the dome and cupola of the Massachusetts State House, following the original plans of Charles Bullfinch. He is credited with designing numerous public and commercial buildings, among them the Eustis Street Fire House (1859) at 20 Eustis Street in Dudley Square, the Boston Journal Building (1860) on Washington Street, the St. James Hotel (1867) in Franklin Square, the Dartmouth Hotel (1871) in Dudley Square, and the Hollis Street Theatre (1885) and its remodeling (1900). He also designed the commercial building at 83-87 Summer Street where the Great Boston Fire on November 9, 1872, began.

Back Bay Work