The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel

The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
The hotel's Redwood Room bar
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
Location within San Francisco County
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel (California)
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel (the US)
General information
Location United States
Address 495 Geary Street
San Francisco, California
Coordinates 37°47′12″N 122°24′40″W / 37.7867°N 122.4111°W / 37.7867; -122.4111Coordinates: 37°47′12″N 122°24′40″W / 37.7867°N 122.4111°W / 37.7867; -122.4111
Opening February 1, 1915
Management Sonesta Hotels
Height 64 m (210 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 17
Design and construction
Architect MacDonald & Applegarth
Schultze & Weaver
Other information
Number of rooms 372
Number of restaurants Redwood Room
Velvet Room
Website
http://www.sonesta.com/theclift

The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel is a historic hotel located two blocks from Union Square at the intersection of Geary Street and Taylor Street, San Francisco, California.

History

In 1913, Frederick C. Clift, an attorney from a large family in the Sierra foothills, commissioned a 300-room hotel on a lot the family had inherited. The architect, a former student of Ecole de Beaux Arts, was George Applegarth of McDonald and Applegarth, who also designed the Palace of the Legion of Honor.[1] The hotel opened on February 1, 1915,[2] to serve crowds attending the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. Advertised as the first hotel in San Francisco to be fire and earthquake proof, with its 1924 addition of 3 floors, it became the largest hotel in the state. The hotel's iconic Art Deco Redwood Room bar was added in 1933, paneled with wood from a single redwood tree.

Canadian Four Seasons Hotels acquired an interest in the hotel in 1976, and began managing it as their first US property.[3] Two years later, in 1978, they renamed it the Four Seasons Clift Hotel.[4] On February 21, 1995, Four Seasons sold their interest in the property and it became The Clift, a Grand Heritage Hotel.[5] Ian Schrager Hotels took over management in 1997, and the hotel became simply Clift. Schrager bought the hotel outright in 1999, for $80 million.[6] Soon after, he oversaw a $50 million complete renovation, which involved the restoration of the iconic Redwood Room, and the gutting and redesign of much of the rest of the hotel, by noted designer Philippe Starck.[7] The hotel reopened on August 3, 2001.[2] Starck's modern lobby featured his trademark eclectic furniture collection, including chairs from Ray and Charles Eames, furniture by Salvador Dali, and a surreal stool by Roberto Matta (inspired by René Margritte). Sonesta Hotels assumed management of the hotel in May 2018 and it was renamed The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Clift Hotel Review - San Francisco California". SF Travel. Archived from the original on 3 September 2002. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Before & After: The Clift Hotel's Grand Reopening - This Forgotten Day in S.F."
  3. ↑ "Four Seasons History - 1970 - 1979 - Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts". www.fourseasons.com.
  4. ↑ "Four Seasons Hotels Ltd. v. Koury Corp., 776 F. Supp. 240 (E.D.N.C. 1991)".
  5. ↑ "Clift Hotel's debt sold".
  6. ↑ "Schrager buys S.F.'s Clift Hotel: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  7. ↑ Viladas, Pilar. "San Francisco Opens the Gate, and Modern Rushes In".
  8. ↑ Resource, Hotel News. "Sonesta International Adds The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel in San Francisco". www.hotelnewsresource.com.
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