The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel
The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel | |
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![]() The hotel's Redwood Room bar | |
![]() ![]() The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel Location within San Francisco County | |
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°WCoordinates: 37°47′12″N 122°24′40″W / 37.7867°N 122.4111°W |
Opening | February 1, 1915 |
Owner | Service Properties Trust [1] |
Management | Sonesta Hotels |
Height | 64 m (210 ft) |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 17 |
Design and construction | |
Architect | 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 and Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. of MacDonald and Applegarth, the former of whom also designed the Palace of the Legion of Honor.[2] The hotel opened on February 1, 1915,[3] 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 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.[4] Two years later, in 1978, they renamed it the Four Seasons Clift Hotel.[5] On February 21, 1995, Four Seasons sold their interest in the property and it became The Clift, a Grand Heritage Hotel.[6] Ian Schrager Hotels took over management in 1997, and the hotel became simply Clift. Schrager bought the hotel outright in 1999, for $80 million.[7] Soon after, he oversaw a $50 million complete renovation, which involved the restoration of the Redwood Room, and the gutting and redesign of much of the rest of the hotel, by designer Philippe Starck.[8] The hotel reopened on August 3, 2001.[3] Starck's lobby featured his furniture collection, including chairs from Ray and Charles Eames, furniture by Salvador Dali, and a 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.[9] The hotel closed from September 2019 to January 2020 for major renovations to the guest rooms, lobby and the Redwood Room.[10]
References[]
- ^ "Service Properties Trust - Portfolio - Geographic Diversification".
- ^ "Clift Hotel Review - San Francisco California". SF Travel. Archived from the original on 3 September 2002. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
- ^ a b "Before & After: The Clift Hotel's Grand Reopening - This Forgotten Day in S.F." 3 August 2015.
- ^ "Four Seasons History - 1970 - 1979 - Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts". www.fourseasons.com.
- ^ "Four Seasons Hotels Ltd. v. Koury Corp., 776 F. Supp. 240 (E.D.N.C. 1991)".
- ^ "Clift Hotel's debt sold". 21 February 1995.
- ^ "Schrager buys S.F.'s Clift Hotel: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
- ^ Viladas, Pilar (16 August 2001). "San Francisco Opens the Gate, and Modern Rushes In". The New York Times.
- ^ Resource, Hotel News. "Sonesta International Adds The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel in San Francisco". www.hotelnewsresource.com.
- ^ "Before and after: Historic SF hotel undergoes down-to-the-studs renovation". 22 January 2020.
External links[]
- Official website
Media related to Clift Hotel at Wikimedia Commons
- Hotel buildings completed in 1915
- Hotels in San Francisco
- Union Square, San Francisco