Boston Park Plaza

The Boston Park Plaza is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, opened on March 10, 1927.[4] It was built by hotelier E.M. Statler as part of his Statler Hotels chain. A prototype of the grand American hotel, it was called a "city within a city" and also contains an adjoining office building. It was the first hotel in the world to offer in-room radio in every room.[4]

Boston Park Plaza
Boston Park Plaza Hotel (2009). The portion of the structure past the red awnings is the office building.
General information
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
Address50 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116-3912
Coordinates42.351°N 71.0704°W / 42.351; -71.0704
OpeningMarch 10, 1927
Cost
  • $14 million (1927)
  • $250 million (2013)[1]
OwnerSunstone Hotel Investors[2]
ManagementHighgate Hotels
Height155 ft (47 m)
Technical details
Floor count15
Design and construction
Architect(s)George B. Post[3]
DeveloperStatler Hotels
Other information
Number of rooms
  • 1,300 with private baths (1927)
  • 941 rooms & suites (2012)
  • 1,053 rooms & suites (2013)
  • 1,060 rooms & suites (2016)[4]
Number of restaurants4[5]
Website
www.bostonparkplaza.com

History

During the hotel's construction, it was discovered that the Statler's planned 155 foot height exceeded the maximum height of 125 feet (38 m) allowed by the Massachusetts State Building Code. However the building was granted a special exemption by Mayor James Michael Curley, making it the tallest building in the city for a time, with the exception of the Boston Custom House Tower.[4] The building, filling an entire triangular city block, has two uses. The western half houses the hotel, while the eastern half has, since the building's construction, served as offices.[4]

The hotel opened on March 10, 1927, as the Statler Hotel Boston. The Statler chain was sold to Hilton Hotels in 1954 and the hotel was renamed the Statler Hilton in 1958. In December 1976 Hilton announced its plan to close the Statler Hilton Boston, which was prevented when the Irving M. Saunders family purchased the hotel and renamed it The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers.[6][7] The Saunders Hotel Group (Roger Saunders and sons) sold the Boston Park Plaza in 1997 to Starwood.[7] In 2011, Starwood sold the hotel for $126 million to a partnership between Highgate Hotels, Rockpoint Group, and the Donald Saunders Family, LLC.[7][8] Two years later the Highgate/Rockpoint/Saunders partnership sold the hotel for $250 million to the Sunstone Hotel Investors REIT who retained Highgate to manage the hotel, and shortened the hotel's name to simply Boston Park Plaza.[2][8] In 2016 Sunstone completed a $100 million renovation of the hotel and received a Four Diamond Award from AAA.[9]

In 2010, the hotel's Swan's Cafe was named one of the Top 5 Tea Houses in New England by Yankee magazine;[10] it has since closed. From 1994 through 2018, the Boston Park Plaza was a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[6]

Other tenants

The Statler Hotel building was also home to the Northern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite from 1927 to 1968,[11] and radio station WEZE's broadcast studio from 1957 to 1977.[12] George Carlin worked briefly as a DJ at WEZE in 1957.[13] TWA and Delta had ticket offices in the building until 1998 and 2000 respectively.[14][15] In the late 1960s, the University of Massachusetts Boston leased part of the building and converted it into faculty and departmental office space.[16] The building has also served as the venue for Anthro New England, a furry convention held in the Greater Boston area.[17]

Park Plaza Castle

The hotel used to operate the Park Plaza Castle, a banquet facility located in the adjacent former Armory of the First Corps of Cadets building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

References
  1. Johnston, Katie (May 8, 2013). "Sunstone to purchase Park Plaza for $250m". The Boston Globe.
  2. "Sunstone Hotel Investors Completes the Previously Announced Acquisition of the Boston Park Plaza" (Press release). MarketWatch. July 2, 2013.
  3. Breisch, Kenneth A; Hoagland, Alison K. (2005). Building Environments. University of Tennessee Press. p. 126. ISBN 9781572334403.
  4. "History". Boston Park Plaza. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  5. "Dining". Boston Park Plaza. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  6. "Boston Park Plaza". Historic Hotels of America. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Park Plaza's HHoA listing was removed in early 2018.
  7. Walther, Gary (February 24, 2013). "Saunders Family Fills the Boston Skyline". Boston Common.
  8. Luz, Caroline (July 8, 2013). "Rockpoint Group Completes $375 Million of Hotel Sales". Business Wire.
  9. Trejos, Nancy (April 10, 2017). "Boston Park Plaza gets a $100 million renovation". USA Today.
  10. Munichiello, Katrina (February 19, 2010). "Best Tea Houses in New England: Top 5". Yankee (March/April 2010).
  11. "Making a Difference: 1917–1974". History. Scottish Rite NMJ.
  12. "WEZE Boston Statler Office Building Studio". Forum. Radio Discussions. November 28, 2007.
  13. Weber, Christopher (June 23, 2008). "Remembering comic legend George Carlin". The Denver Post. Associated Press.
  14. "Contact TWA Ticket Offices". Trans World Airlines. Archived from the original on December 3, 1998. Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, Mass.
  15. "City Ticket Offices - U.S." Delta Air Lines. Archived from the original on August 18, 2000. Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, Mass.
  16. Feldberg, Michael (2015). UMass Boston at 50: A Fiftieth-Anniversary History of the University of Massachusetts Boston. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-1625341693.
  17. Rousseau, Morgan (February 26, 2018). "Boston furry convention 2018 bonds anthropomorphic adorers". Metro. Metro International. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
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