Hotel del Coronado
Hotel Del Coronado | |
| File:Hotel-del-Coronado-Beach.640.jpg | |
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| Location | Coronado, California |
|---|---|
| Built | 1887 |
| Architect | Merritt Reid & James Watson Reid |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000181[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 14, 1971 |
The Hotel del Coronado is a luxury hotel in the City of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. The hotel is located immediately behind the beach, facing the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest beach resort on the North American Pacific Coast.
History
On December 19, 1885, Elisha S. Babcock, retired railroad executive from Evansville, Indiana; Hampton L. Story, of the Story and Clark Piano Company of Chicago; and Jacob Gruendike, president of the First National Bank of San Diego, bought all of Coronado and North Island for $110,000.
A 24-page prospectus titled "Coronado Beach. San Diego, California" asserted that "The Coronado Beach Company has been organized with a capital of One Million Dollars …." The officers were Babcock, president, Story, vice-president and Gruendike, secretary-treasurer. Also involved with the company by now were three men from Indiana: railroad baron Josephus Collett of Terre Haute; lumber merchant Heber Ingle of Patoka and John Inglehart, a miller, who later became famous through the development of Swansdown flour.
The men hired architect James Reid, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, who had practiced in Evansville and Terre Haute. Younger brother Merritt Reid, a partner in Reid Brothers, the Evansville firm, stayed in Indiana but brother Watson Reid helped supervise the 2,000 laborers. Construction of the hotel began in March 1887 and was finished just 11 months later in February 1888 at the cost of one million dollars. Labor was provided largely by Chinese immigrants from San Francisco and Oakland. The hotel was built as a premier resort for the wealthy. Built without the use of a single nail, instead using wooden pegs, it is one of the oldest and largest all-wooden buildings in California and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
The unique design of the Hotel served as the basis for Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Hotel Activities and Amenities
There are numerous activities for guests to enjoy from the beach and the pool, to sailing, surfing, boating, biking and golf. The hotel is also equipped with a fitness center and personal training. There are also special activities for kids and teens. Guests can also be pampered at the state-of-the-art spa and Yamaguchi Salon. "Shops At The Del" has made the hotel a unique shopping destination, with a number of specialty shops and boutiques on site. Lastly, the hotel is known for the "Best Hotel Dining in San Diego", with numerous options including dining in the famed Crown Room. Recently, the Hotel Del Coronado was voted to have the Best Sunday Brunch by San Diego Magazine [1] in the June 2008 issue.
Notable Guests
Notable guests have included Thomas Edison, L. Frank Baum, Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Veronica Covance, and Charles Lindbergh. In 1920, Edward VIII was a guest of the hotel when his future wife Wallis Simpson lived in Coronado. It has been speculated that he may have met her at the hotel.
The following presidents have stayed at the hotel: Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.[3]
Another famous resident of the hotel is the purported ghost of Kate Morgan. In 1892, she checked into room 302 (then 3312, now 3327), to meet with her brother who was a doctor and was going to give her medicine for her stomach cancer, but he never arrived. She was found dead on the steps going to the beach six days later. The case was declared a suicide. She had shot herself.
Books, Film and Music
L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", did much of his writing here, and is said to have based his designs for the Emerald City on the hotel.
The hotel has appeared in several films, including "Some Like it Hot" (which starred Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis), "The Stunt Man" which starred Peter O'Toole, and My Blue Heaven staring Steve Martin.
It was also the setting for the 1975 novel "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson, however for the movie-version, Somewhere in Time (film), filming was moved to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
The initial story inspiration for the movie and book 1408 came from a collection of real-life news stories about parapsychologist Christopher Chacon's investigation of a notoriously haunted room at the famous Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California. The book is written by Stephen King.
The Hotel was the setting for the video to Dashboard Confessional's single "Stolen".
Beach Village
Most recently, the Del has opened Beach Village at the Del. Beach Village consists of twelve beach front villas with special amenities including Bose surround sound systems and docking stations, large flat-panel televisions, private pools and fire pits, whirlpool baths, and personalized concierge services. Beach Village villas feature dining and living spaces with fully-equipped kitchens and appliances, cozy fireplaces, spa-style baths with soaking tubs, and private terraces.[4]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
- ^ "Hotel del Coronado". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2008-06-18.
- ^ http://www.hoteldel.com/uploads/presidential_visitors_at_the_hotel_del_coronado_10_353.15_353.pdf
- ^ Beach Village at the Hotel del Coronado
External links
- Hotel del Coronado website
- Journal of San Diego History historic photographs of the hotel
- New York Times review of the Hotel del Coronado
- National Register of Historic Places
- Hotel del Coronado Review
- The ghost of Kate Morgan
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