Forest Park Hotel | |
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| Location | 4910 W. Pine Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri |
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| Coordinates | 38°38′29″N90°15′44″W / 38.64139°N 90.26222°W Coordinates: 38°38′29″N90°15′44″W / 38.64139°N 90.26222°W |
| Area | 1.2 acres (0.49 ha) |
| Built | 1923 |
| Architect | Preston J. Bradshaw, George D. Barnett, Jr. |
| Architectural style | Renaissance, Other |
| NRHP reference # | 84002632 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 22, 1984 |
The Forest Park Hotel is a six-story building located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The six-story building was built in 1923 and is made of reinforced concrete with red brick curtain walls trimmed with terra cotta. Following the early success of the hotel, a seven-story addition was built in 1926 that closely follows the design of the original building. A one-story stone and glass addition was added to the building's northeast corner in the 1960s.
The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis on Lindell Boulevard at Newstead Avenue, which houses the largest collection of mosaics in the world. The Central West End is represented by three aldermen as it sits partially in the 17th, 18th, and 28th Wards.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refrigerator and other kitchen facilities, upholstered chairs, a flat screen television, and en-suite bathrooms. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities. Larger, higher-priced hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, business centre, childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis or basketball courts, gymnasium, restaurants, day spa, and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom, a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a tiny room suitable only for sleeping and shared bathroom facilities.
The original building was designed by Preston J. Bradshaw, a prominent St. Louis architect who also designed the nearby Chase Park Plaza Hotel, Mayfair Hotel, Lennox Hotel, and Coronado Hotel. The center wing addition was designed by George D. Barnett, Jr. and includes several small private dining rooms of considerable architectural interest. [2]
Preston J. Bradshaw (1884–1952) was one of the most eminent architects of St. Louis, Missouri, during the 1920s. Among his numerous commissions as an architect, he is best known for designing hotels and automobile dealerships in the region. Like many hotel architects of his time, he eventually moved into the actual operation of hotels, becoming owner and operator of the Coronado Hotel in St. Louis.
The Magnolia Hotel St. Louis is a historic hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, known for most of its life as the Mayfair Hotel.
The Courtyard St. Louis Downtown/Convention Center is a historic hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The 25-story hotel opened on September 2, 1929 as the Lennox Hotel and was the tallest hotel in the city upon its opening. Designed by Preston J. Bradshaw in the Renaissance Revival style, the building features terra cotta faces and cornices. The hotel, along with the Hotel Statler and the Mayfair Hotel, was built as part of a commercial boom in downtown St. Louis in the 1920s. It was the last hotel built in the area before the Great Depression, and another hotel did not open in downtown St. Louis until 1963. The Lennox Hotel eventually closed after newer hotels were built in the 1970s. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 6, 1984.
The Forest Park Hotel was once famous for the Circus Snack Bar nightclub located in its ground floor retail space fronting Euclid Avenue. During the nightclub's heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, it was run by local hotelier and businessman Harold Koplar and hosted performers such as Liberace, Louis Armstrong, and Sarah Vaughan. [3] [4]
Harold Koplar was a Russian-American hotelier and businessman in St. Louis, Missouri.
Władziu Valentino Liberace was an American pianist, singer and actor. A child prodigy and the son of Polish and Italian immigrants, Liberace enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Liberace was the highest-paid entertainer in the world, with established concert residencies in Las Vegas, and an international touring schedule. Liberace embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage, acquiring the nickname "Mr. Showmanship".
Louis Daniel Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo, Satch, and Pops, was an American trumpeter, composer, vocalist and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the history of jazz. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
In 1983, restaurateur Harold Butler, founder of the restaurant chain Denny's, bought the Forest Park Hotel and performed $7 million in renovations. Financial trouble, however, led to the building's sudden foreclosure and vacancy in December 1990. [5]
Harold Butler was an American entrepreneur. He is best known for being the founder of the Denny's casual dining restaurant chain in the late 1950s. Butler also helped develop numerous other chains, including Winchell's Donuts, Naugles, and Jojo's.
Denny's is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,600 restaurants in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, The Dominican Commonwealth, Guatemala, Japan, Honduras, New Zealand, Qatar, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Curaçao, and the United Kingdom.
In 2003, a private development group renovated and converted the long dormant Forest Park Hotel for $20 million into a 115-unit apartment building. [6] [7]
Two successful restaurant owners in the CWE recently signed a contract to open a new restaurant on the first floor of the hotel facing Euclid.
