Yard House, Fenway Park, Boston
Darden Restaurants’ recent $585 million purchase of one of casual-dining’s rising stars, Yard House USA, put a spotlight on the brand, which has 39 locations. But Yard House is also generating buzz with its first Boston location, which is located just a stone’s throw away from one of the nation’s most historic sporting venues: Fenway Park.
Designed by MBH Architects, Alameda, Calif., the 12,000-sq.-ft. Boston bar and eatery has an urban and industrial look with materials that include stone, concrete and stainless steel. Along with the main dining room, it has an outdoor patio that can accommodate up to 75 patrons. Motor-activated glass garage doors connect the interior and exterior spaces. Heat lamps and decorative fire features allow the patio to be used during colder months.
Yard House is best known for its wide variety of draft beers, including craft selections and imports, with 160 beers on tap. The brand’s most iconic feature is a keg room, and the Fenway Park site has two of them, with one in the main dining room and other in the outdoor patio. The beer is piped from the keg rooms to the bars in the two spaces through overhead aluminum conduits. Four-paned windows in the keg rooms allow patrons close-up views.
Original concrete ceilings and columns set the interior space, which features a warm color palette and furnishings made from maple with a dark walnut stain. Original abstract artwork is found throughout the space, adding pops of color of excitement. The artist took cues from the Boston location, and added references to baseball in some of the pieces.