The Forest Park Hotel is a six-story building located in the Central West End neighborhood of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The six-story building was built in 1923 and is made of reinforced concrete with red brick curtain walls trimmed with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

. Following the early success of the

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, a seven-story addition was built in 1926 that closely follows the design of the original building. A one-story stone and glass addition was added to the building's northeast corner in the 1960s. The original building was designed by

Preston J. Bradshaw Preston J. Bradshaw (1884–1952) was one of the most eminent architects of St. Louis, Missouri, during the 1920s. Among his numerous commissions as an architect, he is best known for designing hotels and automobile dealerships in the region. Li ...

, a prominent St. Louis architect who also designed the nearby

Chase Park Plaza Hotel The Chase Park Plaza Royal Sonesta St. Louis is a historic hotel and apartment complex located at 212 N. Kingshighway Boulevard in the Central West End, St. Louis, Missouri. It consists of two buildings - the Chase Hotel, built in 1922 by develope ...

, Mayfair Hotel, Lennox Hotel, and Coronado Hotel. The center wing addition was designed by George D. Barnett, Jr. and includes several small private dining rooms of considerable architectural interest. The Forest Park Hotel was once famous for the Circus Snack Bar nightclub located in its ground floor retail space fronting Euclid Avenue. During the nightclub's heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, it was run by local hotelier and businessman Harold Koplar and hosted performers such as

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

, and

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

. In 1983, restaurateur Harold Butler, founder of the restaurant chain Denny's, bought the Forest Park Hotel and performed $7 million in renovations. Financial trouble, however, led to the building's sudden foreclosure and vacancy in December 1990. In 2003, a private development group renovated and converted the long dormant Forest Park Hotel for $20 million into a 115-unit apartment building. Two successful restaurant owners in the CWE recently signed a contract to open a new restaurant on the first floor of the hotel facing Euclid.

References

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External links

The Residences at Forest Park Hotel
{{National Register of Historic Places Hotels in St. Louis Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in St. Louis