Hotel Texas

The Hotel Texas is a historic hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Designed by Sanguinet & Staats and Mauran, Russell, & Crowell, with Westlake Construction Co. as the contractor, it was constructed from 1920 to 1921. It is known as the Hilton Fort Worth.

Hotel Texas
Hotel Texas in 2011
Hotel Texas
Hotel Texas
General information
TypeHotel
Architectural styleChicago, Renaissance, Georgian Revival
Address815 Main St.
Town or cityFort Worth, Texas
CountryUnited States
Coordinates32°45′9″N 97°19′45″W
Construction started1920 (1920)
Completed1921 (1921)
Height
Roof55.5 m (182 ft)
Technical details
Floor count15
Grounds1 acre (0.40 ha)
Design and construction
Architecture firmSanguinet & Staats, Marvan, Russell & Clowell
Other information
Number of rooms294
Website
Hilton Fort Worth
Hotel Texas
NRHP reference No.79003011[1] (original)
14000966[2] (increase)
RTHL No.2574
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 3, 1979
Boundary increaseNovember 26, 2014
Designated RTHL1982

A two-story addition was constructed to the North in 1963, featuring a bank on the ground floor and a new 25,000 sq ft ballroom on the second level.[3] On November 21, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy stayed at the hotel in Room 850. The next morning, Kennedy gave what would be his last address in the Crystal Ballroom, just hours before he was assassinated in Dallas. The hotel operated as the Sheraton-Fort Worth Hotel from 1968 until 1979.

A major renovation, completed in 1970,[3] coincided with the opening of the Fort Worth Convention Center, making the hotel a "headquarters hotel" for the center.[4] In the main building, the work involved splitting the original two-story lobby into two floors, with additional meeting rooms on the upper level, and the renovation of the guest rooms, reducing their number to 289.[3] It also included the addition of a new 49 m (161 ft) 230-room,[4] 8-floor hotel annex atop a 5-story parking garage built in 1928, across Commerce Street from the hotel and linked to the main building by a skybridge.[5]

The Sheraton closed in 1979 and the hotel was then gutted and restored by architects Jarvis, Putty, Jarvis. The $33 million[6] restoration involved returning the lobby to its original configuration, the creation of an all-new interior (since there was nothing left of the original interior) featuring an atrium between the wings of the "U" shaped tower, and the installation of new lighting on the upper levels to resemble the original lighting of the hotel. Following the restoration, the hotel began operating in January 1981[7] as the Hyatt Regency Fort Worth.

The hotel changed management companies in 1995 and operated as the Radisson Fort Worth until March 2006. Under Radisson, the lights on the upper floors were turned off. From 2005 to 2006, the interiors of the hotel were upgraded, and on April 1, 2006, the hotel officially began operating as the Hilton Fort Worth.[8] The annex tower was not converted, but was sold off and left vacant.[3] The Hilton Fort Worth currently contains 294 guest rooms. Part of the new work for the conversion included relighting the top of the building.

The Hotel Texas was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July 3, 1979.[1] A boundary increase was approved in November 2014 to include the annex as part of the listing.[9]

In 2015, plans were announced to convert the annex, empty since 2006, to an apartment building with 140 units. The 188 parking spaces on the first five floors will be re-striped as 260 parking spaces.[5]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "Hotel Texas (Boundary Increase)". National Park Service. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  3. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14000966.pdf
  4. https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/14000966.htm
  5. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article17988329.html
  6. http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1985/june/the-short-road-to-success/
  7. Communications, Emmis (November 1980). "Texas Monthly".
  8. "Hilton Hotel in Downtown Fort Worth". Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  9. "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Retrieved January 31, 2016.
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