The Berkeley Building, 200 Berkeley, Boston MA

EID was selected by John Hancock Management and worked closely with LaFreniere Architects of Cambridge MA to help design and fabricate elevator cab interiors that reflect the Art Deco lobbies of the two oldest original John Hancock buildings in Boston MA.

The new interiors include period style vertical fluted glass with wood veneer accent raised wall panels. The stainless-steel four side stepped frieze has indirect linear LED lighting highlighting the panels below. The upper stainless-steel island ceiling uses rectangular period style downlights.

The Berkeley Building is a twenty-six-story office tower located in the Back Bay. It is also known as the Old John Hancock Tower, because it was the location of the headquarters of the John Hancock Life Insurance Company from 1947 to 1977. The company moved to the famous glass tower in 1977.

A 65-foot-high mast and beacon rests atop the Berkeley Building. The total height of the tower is about 495 feet from ground level. The beacon displays bright red and blue lights that can be seen for miles away on a clear evening.

Weather Beacon: The beacon lights are color-coded, and broadcasts the weather forecast:

• Steady Blue = Clear
• Flashing Blue = Cloudy
• Steady Red = Rain
• Flashing Red = Snow

During baseball season, a flashing red-light signals that the Red Sox game had been canceled due to unfavorable weather. In October 2004, both red and blue flashed for the first time when the Red Sox won the World Series after more than 80 years in duration.

The Berkeley Building is a Boston landmark, and dominated the Back Bay skyline until 1964 when the Prudential Building was completed. The Berkeley weather beacon and the gigantic Kenmore Square Citgo Sign are visual Back Bay book ends.

One of the most attractive cityscapes of Boston's Back Bay can be viewed from the Longfellow Bridge (at the foot of Cambridge Street) during summertime. At dusk, the orange sun reflects off the Berkeley Building, Hancock Tower, and Prudential Building, with the famous Citgo Sign flashing the bright red and white logo from the west.

197 Clarendon Street, Boston MA.

The oldest of the John Hancock buildings was designed by Parker, Thomas and Rice, best known as architects of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building. It was completed in 1922. It is located at 197 Clarendon St. across from the Hancock tower. It was known as the "John Hancock Life Insurance Company Building." Parker, Thomas and Rice received the Harleston Parker Medal for its design in 1924. More recently, it was known as "The Clarendon Building", and circa 2001 it was renamed "The Stephen L. Brown Building" in honor of Stephen L. Brown, chairman of John Hancock Financial Services, Inc. According to Donlyn Lyndon, "if you stand on the corner of Clarendon Street and St. James Avenue and look directly into the mirrored surface of the third Hancock, you will see reflected there the first two, aligned hierarchically in an ethereal family portrait."

This photo includes three John Hancock Buildings in Boston. The Hancock Tower and 200 Berkeley and 197 Clarendon in the reflection.