Vendome (160 Commonwealth Avenue) is one of Boston's most famous landmarks. This palatial former hotel is now home to both luxury living-units (on the upper floors) and commercial offices (on and below the ground floor). Built in 1872, it was Back Bay's very first large commercial structure. By 1882, it was one of just three U.S. hotels to employ electric light. Its concierges are smiling and diligent, its walls are decorated with photographs and sketches of the Vendome from throughout its history. Vendome owes its current, modern structure to the infamous "Hotel Vendome fire" in 1972 fire (the most tragic in Boston's history) which caused the death of nine firefighters. At the height of its popularity as a hotel, Vendome accommodated such personages as P.T. Barnum, Thomas Edison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Grover Cleveland and Ulysses S. Grant.