Statler Hotels

This article is about the hotel chain. For the school and hotel at Cornell University, see Statler Hotel.

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.

Buffalo Statler Towers

Statler Hotel from Niagara Square near City Hall.

Early ventures

In 1901, Buffalo was the host city for the Pan-American Exposition. Statler envisioned and 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 2084 rooms, it could accommodate 5000 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 made a small profit—one of the few vendors to actually do so.

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 2257 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 sold for scrap and dismantled. The Inside Inn was near the edge of Forest Park in St. Louis, where Highway 64/40 now traverses the location.

Company history

Hotel Pennsylvania, for many years the Statler New York

The first Statler hotel was designed by August Esenwein and James A. Johnson (architect) and built in Buffalo, New York and offered 300 rooms and bathrooms (it was later expanded to 450 rooms and baths). 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 rather 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." The hotel had a $500,000 line of credit available, but successfully maintained positive cash flow and Statler never used the line of credit.

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 applied standardization to questions of room design. His hotels had a minimum of 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. Each was more innovative than the last, and was a testimony to the founder of the company. Many of these hotels were designed by the architectural firm of George Post & Sons, the successor firm of George B. Post.

Statler Hotel Boston, currently the Boston Park Plaza.

The Hotels Statler Company, Inc., was sold to Conrad Hilton's (Hilton Hotels) in 1954 for $111,000,000 in what was then the world's largest real estate transaction.

Statler Hotel Detroit, demolished.

Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, the original Statler Hotel is the back half of the building now.

Capital Hilton Washington, originally the Statler Hotel.

Statler Hilton Hotel Dallas, now abandoned.

Statler Hilton Hotel Dallas.

List of hotels

City	Built	Name	Notes
Buffalo	1907		The original Hotel Statler, at Swan and Washington Streets in Buffalo, was opened in 1907. Although Statler continued to operate it, it was renamed Hotel Buffalo in 1923 upon completion of the new Hotel Statler at Niagara Square. It was sold in the 1930s by the Statler Hotels Company. It closed in 1967 and was finally demolished in 1968. The site remained vacant until Coca-Cola Field was built there in 1988.
Cleveland	1912		The Statler in Cleveland was initially converted into an office building in 1980 as the Statler Office Building. In 2001 the building was converted into a 295-unit apartment building, known as The Statler Arms.
Detroit	1915	Detroit Statler Hotel	Hilton terminated its management of the Detroit Statler Hilton in 1974. It briefly became the Detroit Heritage Hotel, before closing 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.
Saint Louis	1917	Hotel Statler (St. Louis, Missouri)	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 in 2004 as the St. Louis Renaissance Grand Hotel, operated by the Marriott Corporation.
New York City	1919	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 has had the distinction of having the oldest continuous phone number in New York still in use today. The number, Pennsylvania 6-5000, is the inspiration for the Glenn Miller song of the same name. Many big band names played in the hotel's Cafe Rouge including the Dorsey Brothers, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. 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 is currently owned by Vornado Realty Trust, which announced plans to demolish it in 2007 and replace it with a towering office building. Final approval by the city was granted in 2010, but as of 2011 the hotel remains open for business.
Buffalo	1923	Statler Towers	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 three of its public rooms are open to the public 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 the vacant building was auctioned in August 2010. On March 15, 2011, the property was acquired by developer Mark D. Croce, who is currently refurbishing the building.
Boston	1927		The Boston Statler is still a hotel, now called the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, owned and operated by Starwood Hotels as an independent property.
Washington	1943		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		The Los Angeles Statler operated for many years as the Statler Hilton, then the Omni Los Angeles and is now known as The Wilshire Grand Hotel.
Hartford	1954		The Hartford Statler was closed and demolished in 1990.
Dallas	1956	Dallas Statler Hilton	The Dallas Statler Hilton was closed in 2001, having operated in its last years as the Dallas Grand Hotel. It is currently vacant. In May 2008, The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the building on their list of America's Most Endangered Places.
Ithaca	1986		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.

Related hotels

• The William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, built in 1916 , was only managed by Statler and never owned by the company.

References

• Miller, Floyd Statler: America's Extraordinary Hotelman
• Jarman, Rufus A Bed for the Night

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Buffalo

External links

• Buffalo as an Architectural Museum
• E.M. Statler, Forgotten Detroit
• Hotel Pennsylvania Official Website
• Dallas Statler Hilton, The Nostalgic Glass
• Statler's Restaurant
• Statler's Pan Am Hotel
• Buffalo Hotel Statler 1907
• Statler's Buffalo estate
• Buffalo Hotel Statler 1923
• The Buffalo Statler Opens 1923