"The Garden Building", as it was originally called, is one of the few buildings remaining from an exciting period in Boston's architectural history. The first "skyscrapers" were rising, made possible by the introduction of steel framing and concrete. The economic boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted not only in such landmarks as Harvard Stadium, but in a series of magnificent Boston hotels -the Vendome, Touraine, Somerset and the Copley Plaza, which opened in 1912, just one year after 250 Boylston Street was built.

Designed by Julius Schweinfurth, a member of the renowned Boston architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns, 250 Boylston Street was an office building with a clear "French connection," both from the Gallic influence seen in the Back Bay and from the architect's own student days in Paris. Add to this its setting overlooking the Public Garden, undoubtedly one of America's most appreciated open spaces, and it seemed fitting to name this prestigious residential address Le Jardin.