Photo courtesy of Dyer Brown

What: Marcelino’s Fan Pier
Where: Moakley Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Way, Boston
Owner: The Daily Catch
Built: 2024

Dyer Brown’s architects leaned into luxury and exclusivity in their assignment to craft a home for the new boutique bar in the Seaport District’s Moakley Courthouse.

Marcelino’s patrons pass through an uplit, metallic golden archway to enter the intimate main bar area, which designers made to feel even more secluded by blanking off the space’s original, large-format windows. A pair of additional lounge spaces branch off from the main bar.

Tucked inside the courthouse’s imposing, harbor-facing arcade, the 3,100-square-foot space created challenges for designers – not least of which included bringing the kitchen up to code despite the Pie Cobb Fried & Partners-designed building’s literally fortified walls.

A key part of Dyer Brown’s brief was to let Marcelino’s second location, after its flagship Providence space, sell itself via social media photos and word-of-mouth marketing while working in elegant nods to the bar’s pan-Mediterranean fusion concept.

They Said It

“From the tiered and arched metallic gold entry portal to curved bar, to the custom-designed infinity mirrors with hanging pendant lights and votives, to the high-stepped textural ceilings illuminated with statement fixtures, to the thoughtfully curated patterns, textures and rich tones – every room creates its own scene, which compliments the space as a whole.”
— Kirsten Smith-Sparrow, project manager, Dyer Brown