The Mandarin Oriental Hotel

In a city full of architecturally relevant structures, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston furthers that legacy for generations to come.

Curt Adams of Architectural Stone Sales, the fabricator of the exterior stone used on the Mandarin, states that “the building sits at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and…was the talk of the town.”

Incorporating over 18,500 cubic feet of standard buff Indiana Limestone Company limestone in an urban setting was not a simple task. Over 65 truckloads of stone were brought in, and, with almost no staging area, it required extensive scheduling and sequencing to pull it all together. Efficiency was stressed as over 40 bricklayers and stone setters were on site at any point in time.

The unique appearance was achieved by using smaller size stones than normally found on a building this size. Further, much of the stone was fabricated with “6 cut tooling” to balance the rough and smooth appearance.

Indiana limestone worked well as both a technical and aesthetic choice for the Mandarin. 3 different types of stones were utilized and color, fit, and design all had to work in harmony.

As part of the construction process, the stone setters began laying stone on the fourth floor and worked their way up. They came back to finish the first 3 floors later when the building base was completed. “It was a fantastic stone-setting experience,” says Paul Thibeault of Phoenix Bay State Construction, the installers for the project.

He continues, “Now that the building is up and completed, we are proud to tell our potential clients to look at this building as a great example of what we can do with natural stone.”