Benson Hotel

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Benson Hotel
Portland Historic Landmark [1]
Bensonhotel.jpg
The Benson Hotel complex: original 1913 building (center), 1959 annex building (to its left)
Downtown Portland.png
Red pog.svg
Location within downtown Portland
Location309 SW Broadway
Portland, Oregon
Coordinates 45°31′19″N122°40′43″W / 45.521918°N 122.678561°W / 45.521918; -122.678561
Built1913
Architect Doyle, Patterson & Beach
Architectural style Second Empire Style
NRHP reference No. 86003175 [2]
Added to NRHPNovember 20, 1986

The Benson Portland, Curio Collection by Hilton [3] [4] is a 287-room historic hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. [5] It is owned and operated by Coast Hotels & Resorts. It was originally known as the New Oregon Hotel, [6] and is commonly known as "The Benson". It has a reputation as one of Portland's finest hotels. The hotel is named after notable businessman and philanthropist Simon Benson. The Benson is the seventh largest hotel in Portland based on the number of rooms. [7]

Contents

History

The Benson Hotel in the 1920s Benson Hotel 1920.jpg
The Benson Hotel in the 1920s

Early history

The first hotel on the site was the Hotel Oregon, which was located on the southern half of the current hotel's location. Originally designed as an office building, it was constructed by local Chinese businessmen Moy Back Yin and Goon Dip. With the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition expected to draw massive crowds in 1905, the Wright-Dickinson Company, based in Washington state, leased the structure during construction and completed it as a hotel, which opened early that year. [8] The Hotel Oregon was an immediate success, and an annex was soon added in the rear. [8]

Current building

With the city's population booming, Wright-Dickinson partnered in 1911 with local businessman Simon Benson to construct a modern tower wing addition to the Hotel Oregon on the northern half of the block. The firm of Doyle, Patterson & Beach designed the building in the French Second Empire style, with Chicago's Blackstone Hotel serving as a design inspiration. [6]

The new wing opened on March 4, 1913, timed to coincide with the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. A telegram was sent from Washington, so the hotel's doors could be opened just as he took the oath of office. [8] The new wing was known as the New Oregon Hotel for the next 16 months, and operated jointly with the existing hotel.

Benson Hotel

In 1914, Simon Benson assumed direct operation of the new wing and renamed it the Hotel Benson, operating it now as a separate business. [8] Benson sold the hotel to William Boyd and Robert Keller in 1919. The adjoining Hotel Oregon closed in 1924, due to the economic effects of prohibition in the United States, but reopened in 1932, still operated by Wright-Dickinson. [8]

Boyd and Keller sold the Hotel Benson to Seattle-based Western Hotels in 1944. [8] The 1905 Hotel Oregon building was purchased and demolished by Western in 1957, to make way for a 200-room annex to the Hotel Benson, built at a cost of $3,000,000, which doubled the hotel's size. Designed by Jones, Lovegren, Helms and Jones, it opened in 1959 and contained a Trader Vic's on the ground level. [8]

Western International Hotels was renamed Westin Hotels in 1981, and the hotel became The Westin Benson. The Westin Benson was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [2] Westin Hotels sold the hotel to WestCoast Hotels (now Coast Hotels & Resorts) in 1988 and it returned to its original name.

El Gaucho Restaurant [9] is on the ground floor of the 1959 wing, where Trader Vic's was once located.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell died in his hotel room at the Benson Hotel on November 12, 2008. [10] [11] [12]

On October 6, 2021, the hotel was rebranded as part of Curio Collection by Hilton, a division of Hilton Hotels. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2010), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved October 30, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Benson Hotel | Portland Hotel | Hotels in Downtown Portland Oregon". The Benson Hotel.
  4. ↑ "Benson". www.pdxhistory.com.
  5. ↑ "Portland — Benson Hotel". Quikbook.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  6. 1 2 "Benson Hotel". The Oregon Encyclopedia .
  7. ↑ Stevens, Suzanne (February 24, 2012). "List: Top Portland hotels". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "NATIONAL REGISTER DIGITAL ASSETS Benson Hotel". npgallery.nps.gov.
  9. ↑ "El Gaucho Portland". www.elgaucho.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell dies in Portland hotel room". 13 November 2008. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  11. ↑ Times, Los Angeles (13 November 2008). "Mitch Mitchell dies at 61; drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  12. ↑ NME.COM. "Jimi Hendrix's drummer Mitch Mitchell found dead | NME.COM". NME.COM. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  13. ↑ "The Benson Hotel in Portland Converts to the Benson, Curio Collection by Hilton".

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