Long before The Arcadian called 1200 Beacon Street home, travelers were already checking in at this corner of Brookline—and if they were hungry, there was The Barn.
Recently, while digging into the history of 1200 Beacon Street, we found an original menu from The Barn (eBay is a gold mine for this type of thing!), the restaurant that once served guests of the hotel. And while the menu itself is a wonderful little piece of our past, the prices might be the part that makes you look twice.
A 1.5lb Broiled Live Lobster with Melted Butter for $3.85.
A Prime Rib Special (with side, salad, dessert, and a beverage) for $4.25.
The kind of prices that make you briefly consider whether time travel might be worth investigating.
Of course, everything looks inexpensive through the lens of today's dollars. But there's something truly fascinating about reading an old menu beyond simply marveling at what dinner used to cost. The Barn’s menu gives us authentic insight into how people traveled, ate, and gathered.
And this 1961 menu gives us a glimpse into what hospitality looked like at 1200 Beacon Street decades before The Arcadian.
1200 Beacon Before The Arcadian
The Arcadian may be the newest chapter at 1200 Beacon Street, but this address has been welcoming travelers for a very long time.
Long before boutique hotels and booking apps, 1200 Beacon was home to the 1200 Beacon Street Motor Hotel—a pretty modern idea for its day, built for a generation that was ready to pack the car, hit the road and see somewhere new.
And honestly, the old advertisements are half the fun.
They proudly called out everything a traveler could possibly want: comfortable rooms, easy parking, television and radio, direct-dial phones (a very big deal at the time), and plenty of reasons to stay put once you checked in.
One of those reasons?
The Barn.
The Barn was exactly what you’d imagine from the name—warm, unfussy and very New England. Even the menu feels like a little time capsule. The dishes were familiar, the portions were hearty, and it was clearly the kind of place where you could settle in for dinner, have a drink (or two), and stay awhile.
And maybe that’s our favorite part of looking through it.
So much about hotels has changed since The Barn was serving guests at 1200 Beacon, but the things that make a place feel welcoming really haven’t. After a long day of traveling or exploring Boston, you still want somewhere comfortable to land, something good to eat, a drink at the end of the day, and a place to sit around a table with your people.
Some things don’t need reinventing.
But, really, let’s talk about those prices.
This is where things get fun.
Reading a vintage menu in 2026 inevitably becomes a game of “Wait…that cost WHAT?”
Items that would command decidedly modern Boston prices today appear on The Barn menu for just a few dollars—or even less! Can you imagine ordering an 8 oz. filet mignon for $4.50?
But comparing the numbers directly doesn't tell the whole story. The dollar went considerably further in 1961 than it does now - wages were different, ingredients cost less, and the restaurant industry itself operated very differently.
Still, seeing the original prices printed on the page is a little window into another era at 1200 Beacon Street—and Boston itself.
And that’s exactly why we love finding and preserving pieces like this.
They may look like old menus and postcards, but they tell the story of the people who came through these doors long before we did—the guests who checked in, the people who worked here, the celebrations around the table, and probably more than a few nights that ended with “one more round.”
They’re all part of the story of 1200 Beacon Street. And as we write The Arcadian’s next chapter, we want to make sure we’re bringing a little of that history along with us—honoring what made this place special then while creating something just as memorable for the people walking through our doors today.
Some Things Are Worth Bringing Back
There’s another reason The Barn has been on our minds lately—and this is where things get a little exciting.
Something new is stirring at 1200 Beacon.
As we get ready to reopen the bar at 1200 Beacon and introduce a completely reimagined food and beverage experience at The Arcadian, we’ve found ourselves looking backward almost as much as we’re looking forward.
We’re not bringing The Barn back. At least, not exactly.
The world has changed. Hospitality has changed. Brookline and Boston have changed. And 1200 Beacon Street has certainly had a few chapters since then.
But some stories are simply too good to leave in the past.
The 1200 Beacon Street Motor Hotel and The Barn aren’t just pieces of what used to be here—they’re part of the personality of this address. They’re woven into its history, its quirks and its character. And the more we uncover about the people and places that came before The Arcadian, the more certain we are that they deserve a place in what comes next.
So while The Barn itself may belong to another era, don’t be surprised if you catch a little wink to its past when the lights come back on at 1200 Beacon.
Some things are just too good not to bring along for the next chapter.
From the 1200 Archives
Every month, we're opening the archives at 1200 Beacon Street to share another piece of the history behind the address The Arcadian calls home—from vintage postcards and menus to old photographs, advertisements and stories from the people who remember it.
Have a photograph, postcard, memory or piece of 1200 Beacon Street history tucked away somewhere? We'd love to hear from you.