James McNeely Architects

Portfolio

In 1981 we became the third architectural firm to attempt the design of an athletic facility on Beacon Hill for Suffolk University.  The $8,000,000 Ridgeway Building resembles three nineteenth century structures demolished in 1926.  Forty feet below ground and extending sixteen feet under the street is an NCAA regulation basketball court with men’s and women’s locker rooms.  In the Boston Globe, architecture critic Robert Campbell wrote, “This is a building as handsome as it is self-effacing.”

In 1995 the firm redesigned the Union Boat Club to bring its squash courts to international standards.  Their widths and heights were increased without noticeably changing the building envelope or the historic club rooms below.  The $1,500,000 contract was completed on budget within a tight schedule.

The firm designed four renovations at the Somerset Club on Beacon Street.  It enlarged the garden and modernized two apartments.  It spearheaded the current restoration of a Greek Revival ballroom.

The firm has designed many renovations for Hill House, Beacon Hill’s neighborhood community center on Joy Street.  In 1998 the firm was selected by Hill House to remodel the Mount Vernon Street Firehouse into its new headquarters.