[3] In 1926, 29-year-old Edward N. Wyner bought a third-acre parcel at the corner of Arlington and Newbury streets and formed a partnership called The Ritz-Arlington Trust with his father, George,[4] and business associate, John S. Slater.

The 18-story, 201-foot (61 m) brick building, designed by Strickland, Blodget & Law Architects, was far taller than anything else along Newbury Street at the time.

Construction had started on the second floor when Wyner was persuaded by then-Mayor James Michael Curley to make the Mayflower a world-class, 300-room hotel.

[5] After a hugely successful opening, the stock market crash of 1929 and ensuing Depression brought financial difficulties.

After more than a year of legal work, Hale and Dorr succeeded at clearing the bond obligations, and in October 1964 Blakeley and associates Paul Hellmuth and Charles Spaulding acquired the Ritz-Carlton Boston for $3.8 million.

Blakely spent seven years, from 1972 to 1979 gaining community approvals and municipal permits to construct an 18-story addition on land adjacent to the hotel, at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Arlington Street, where the Engineers Club formerly stood.

In June 1978, Blakeley was awarded the rights and privileges of the Ritz-Carlton trademark in the United States and was given a US Service Mark Registration.

He obtained financing to do so from Manufacturers Hanover Trust of New York in 1983 in the amount of $85 million secured by the Ritz-Carlton Boston.

Blackstone Real Estate Acquisitions of New York bought the Ritz-Carlton Boston's mortgage at auction for $75 million in February 1998.

In addition, Jeffries sought a Ritz-Carlton franchise for a new tower with 155-room hotel rooms and 270-luxury condominiums that he was constructing as part of Boston's 1,800,000-square-foot (170,000 m2) Millennium Place, a mixed-use complex on lower Washington Street.

In November 2006, Taj Hotels, a subsidiary of the India-based Tata Group, purchased The Ritz-Carlton Boston from Millennium Partners for $170 Million.