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The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler in Buffalo, New York.

Early ventures

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In 1901, Buffalo hosted the Pan-American Exposition. Statler built a hotel on the Exposition grounds and called it "Statler's Hotel". It was a temporary wooden structure intended to last the duration of the Exposition. With 2,084 rooms, it could accommodate 5,000 guests. Although the Exposition was deemed an overall failure due to a number of factors (including bad weather and the assassination of President William McKinley), Statler was one of the few vendors to make a small profit.

His next venture was the Inside Inn, built for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Another temporary wooden structure, it was the world's largest hotel with 2,257 rooms. A grand success, the hotel made Statler a net profit of $361,000 and laid the groundwork for his first permanent hotel. The hotel was then dismantled and sold for scrap. The Inside Inn was near the edge of Forest Park in St. Louis, now traversed by Highway 64/40.

Company history

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The first "permanent" Statler hotel was designed by August Esenwein and James A. Johnson, built in Buffalo, New York, and offered 300 rooms and bathrooms (later expanded to 450 rooms and baths). It was the first hotel chain to offer such amenity.[1] The hotel was successful and led to a chain of hotels in other cities. Statler's intent was not to compete with the luxury hotels, but to provide, clean, comfortable, and moderately-priced rooms for the average traveler. Statler was the first major hotel chain to have a bathroom in every room. His innovative Statler Plumbing Shaft is still used in modern construction. From providing paper and pens for correspondence (prominently bearing the Statler name) to a light in the closet, Statler brought the average traveler a level of luxury that was otherwise unaffordable.

Rooms were originally available at what seemed a very cheap price, leading many other hoteliers to predict the failure of the Buffalo hotel. The opening night price was as low as $1.50 for a guest room, leading to the slogan "A Room and a Bath for a Dollar and a Half".[1] The hotel had a $500,000 line of credit available, but maintained positive cash flow and Statler never used the line of credit. The Statler hotel in St. Louis was the first in the nation to offer air conditioning. The Dallas Statler hotel was the first in the nation to have elevator music.[1]

Each of the subsequent Statler Hotels built upon this formula for success. Reflecting the era's enthusiasm for scientific management, Statler took pride in how he standardized questions of room design.[2] His hotels had minimal wasted space, particularly on the guestroom floors, and he strove to have room layouts that would maximize efficiency and profitability.

After Statler's death in 1928, the company built hotels in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California, Hartford, Connecticut, and Dallas, Texas. Many of these hotels were designed by the architectural firm of George Post & Sons, the successor firm of George B. Post. In the mid- and late-1940s, pianist Liberace "gained national exposure through his performance contracts with the Statler and Radisson hotel chains".[3]

The Hotels Statler Company, Inc., was sold to Conrad Hilton's Hilton Hotels in 1954 for $111 million, then the world's largest real estate transaction.[1]

The Statler hotel in Buffalo was the first to be demolished after the Hilton acquisition, in 1968. The Statler hotel in New York became the Hotel Pennsylvania.[1]

List of hotels

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City Built Names Notes Image
Buffalo 1901 Statler's Hotel Statler built this 2084-room temporary hotel to serve visitors to the Pan-American Exposition. The hotel was demolished when the fair closed.
St. Louis 1904 The Inside Inn The largest hotel in the world at the time, this 2257-room temporary structure within the grounds of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened on April 30, 1904 and closed on December 1, 1904. It was built of wood, stucco and burlap, and was demolished and sold for scrap as soon as the fair ended.[4]
Buffalo 1907 Hotel Statler
Hotel Buffalo		 The original Hotel Statler, at Swan and Washington Streets in Buffalo, was opened in 1907. It was renamed Hotel Buffalo in 1923 upon completion of the new Hotel Statler at Niagara Square, but Statler continued to operate it until the 1930s, when they sold it. The Hotel Buffalo closed in 1967 and was finally demolished in 1968. The site remained vacant until Pilot Field was built there in 1988.
Cleveland 1912 Hotel Statler Cleveland
The Statler Hilton Cleveland
The Cleveland Plaza
The Statler Tower
Statler Arms Apartments
The Statler		 The Statler in Cleveland was initially converted into an office building in 1980 as The Statler Tower. In 2001 the building was converted into a 295-unit apartment building, Statler Arms. It was renamed The Statler in 2019.
Detroit 1915 Hotel Statler Detroit
The Statler Hilton Detroit
Detroit Hilton
Detroit Heritage Hotel		 Hilton terminated its management of the Detroit Statler Hilton in 1974. It briefly became the Detroit Heritage Hotel, and closed soon after. Demolition of the 1000-room Detroit Statler Hotel in Detroit began in August 2005 and was completed before the Detroit-hosted Super Bowl in 2006. The City Club Apartments CBD Detroit opened on the site in 2021, including a French restaurant named The Statler Bistro
St. Louis 1917 Hotel Statler St. Louis
The Statler Hilton St. Louis
The St. Louis Gateway Hotel
Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel
Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel		 The St. Louis Statler was sold by Hilton in 1968 and renamed The Gateway Hotel. It was closed in 1987, and it underwent a mysterious and oft-litigated arson fire the following year. It was expanded, renovated and reopened from 2000-2002 as the Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel, it was renamed the Marriott St. Louis Grand in 2015.
New York City 1919 Hotel Pennsylvania
Hotel Statler New York
The Statler Hilton New York
The New York Statler
New York Penta Hotel
Hotel Pennsylvania		 The Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Penn Station, was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1919 and managed by Ellsworth Statler's company. The hotel was acquired by the Hotels Statler Company in 1948 and renamed the New York Statler Hotel, operated as The Statler Hilton, then as the New York Penta, until it reverted to the Hotel Pennsylvania. The hotel closed in 2020 and the owners, Vornado Realty Trust, above-grade demolition was completed in September, 2023.
Buffalo 1923 Hotel Statler Buffalo
The Statler Hilton Buffalo
Statler Towers
Statler City		 The second Buffalo Statler was gradually converted to offices starting in 1948 (when WBEN-TV began using the building as their first studios) because it had more hotel rooms than the city could support. In 1984 the last hotel rooms were closed and the building was renamed Statler Towers, although its ballrooms remained in use for catered events and banquets. After a failed renovation attempt into a combination of hotel and condos in the late 2000s, the building went into bankruptcy, and was auctioned in August 2010. On March 15, 2011, the property was acquired by local developer Mark D. Croce, who immediately began refurbishing the building as Statler City. The public rooms on the lower floors reopened on Dec 31, 2011 with the upper floors set to reopen later.[5] After Croce's death in 2020, Douglas Jemal of Washington, D.C. acquired the building, having recently purchased Seneca One Tower in 2016.[6] Jemal has begun work to convert the lower levels to a casino and the upper levels to 600 apartments.[7] Located in the Joseph Ellicott Historic District.
Boston 1927
The Boston Statler is still a hotel, now called the Boston Park Plaza.
Pittsburgh 1940 William Penn Hotel
Penn-Sheraton Hotel
Westin William Penn
Omni William Penn Hotel		 Statler managed this hotel from 1940 to 1951, though they did not own it and it never used the Statler name.[8]
Washington 1943 Hotel Statler Washington D.C.
The Statler Hilton Washington D.C.
Capital Hilton		 The only hotel bought by and still operated by Hilton Hotels is the Washington, D.C. Statler, now called The Capital Hilton.
Los Angeles 1952 Hotel Statler Los Angeles
The Statler Hilton Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Hilton
Omni Los Angeles Hotel
The Wilshire Grand Hotel		 The Los Angeles Statler operated for many years as the Statler Hilton, then the Omni Los Angeles, and finally The Wilshire Grand Hotel. Korean Airlines purchased the hotel in 1989. The hotel closed on January 19, 2011. It was demolished in 2013 and replaced with the Wilshire Grand Tower, the tallest building in the Western US, a 73-story tower combining an InterContinental hotel and offices.[9]
Hartford 1954 Hotel Statler Hartford
The Statler Hilton Hartford
Hartford Hilton
The Parkview Hilton		 The Hartford Statler, later known as the Parkview Hilton, was closed and demolished in 1990. The site is now a parking lot.
Dallas 1956 The Statler Hilton Dallas
Dallas Hilton
Dallas Grand Hotel
The Statler Hotel & Residences		 The Dallas Statler property was still under construction when the company was sold and opened as the Statler Hilton Dallas in 1956. It closed in 2001, having operated in its last years as the Dallas Grand Hotel. In May 2008, The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the building on their list of America's Most Endangered Places.[10] It was restored and reopened in 2017 as part of Hilton's Curio Collection division.
Ithaca 1986 Cornell School of Hotel Administration The Statler Hotel on Cornell University's Campus was built in 1986, long after Ellsworth M Statler had passed. Provisions from Statler's will allowed this unique hotel to be operated by The Cornell School of Hotel Administration.
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  • Statler City, Buffalo, New York.
    Statler City, Buffalo, New York.
  • Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, MO the original Statler Hotel is the back half of the building now.
    Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, MO the original Statler Hotel is the back half of the building now.
  • Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas TX.
    Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas TX.

The Statler Hotel - Buffalo, New York

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The Travel Channel's documentary paranormal television show Destination Fear filmed at the location in 2019 for the seventh episode of their first season.

In 2020, former owner Mark Croce was killed in a helicopter crash.[11] As of June 2021, the hotel has been purchased by developers planning to turn the building into a mixed-use structure with retail, meeting and entertainment space, and 600 - 700 residential units.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Mark Byrnes, The Rise and Fall of One of America's Most Innovative Hotel Chains, Bloomberg.com, 15 February 2013
  2. ^ Mentzer, Marc S. (August 2010). "Scientific Management and the American Hotel". Management and Organizational History. 5 (3–4): 428–446. doi:10.1177/1744935910361557. S2CID 145333932.
  3. ^ James Gilbert Ryan, Leonard C Schlup, Historical Dictionary of the 1940s (2015), p. 227.
  4. ^ "Inside Inn".
  5. ^ Glynn, Matt (March 15, 2011). "Croce to take ownership of Statler: Public ceremony planned in lobby of building". The Buffalo News. Buffalo, New York. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  6. ^ "Developer purchases Statler hotel from Croce family". WGRZ. May 30, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  7. ^ "FIRST LOOK: Developer Douglas Jemal plans for apartments, retail space, and gaming inside $150 million reimagined Statler". 17 February 2021.
  8. ^ "The RWCN Forums". Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  9. ^ Martín, Hugo (December 22, 2011). "Wilshire Grand Hotel bids farewell". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  10. ^ Threats to history seen in budget cuts, bulldozers - Yahoo! News
  11. ^ Ross, Paul (10 January 2020). "Prominent Buffalo businessman Mark Croce killed in Central Pennsylvania helicopter crash". WKBW. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  12. ^ Lewis, Brandon (15 June 2021). "New life coming to downtown Buffalo's Statler". Spectrum News 1. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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