The creation of this Newbury Street restaurant catalyzed the revitalization of the entire now-bustling commercial thoroughfare. It introduced the concept of indoor-outdoor dining to the area, with large glass doors that open to the sidewalk in warmer weather, in the style of a Parisian café.
It also made the most of its existing architecture: The renovation of the hundred–year-old structure, built as a stable, revealed original beadboard walls, which were fully uncovered and restored. The building’s square shape and soaring ceilings, meanwhile, allowed for the creation of the ideal see-and-be-seen layout. Sonsie immediately became an icon, and it remains as busy today as when it opened, in 1993.
