The Westin Portland Harborview is a historic hotel in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
, United States.
History
The hotel was developed by the Rines family, Portland businessmen who owned Rines Brothers, a major local department store. It was designed by Portland architect Herbert W. Rhodes and opened in 1927 as The Eastland, the largest hotel in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
.
Aviator
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
stayed at The Eastland after returning from his historic solo non-stop flight across the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. In 1946, the hotel gained attention when it refused to allow former
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
to stay with her dog, Fala, for the night. She instead stayed at the Royal River Cabins in
Yarmouth.
In 1961, The Eastland was bought by the Dunfey family. In 1965, they made it a
Sheraton Hotels
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Ce ...
franchise operation, and it was renamed the Sheraton-Eastland Motor Hotel. The hotel left Sheraton in 1974 and became the Eastland Motor Hotel. It was sold in 1980 and in 1983 was renamed the Sonesta Portland Hotel. It left Sonesta in January 1995 and was briefly renamed the Eastland Plaza Hotel, only to become the Radisson Eastland Hotel Portland six months later, in July 1995. Following a 1997 sale of the property, the hotel left Radisson in December 1999 amid legal disputes and was renamed the Eastland Hotel. Following a foreclosure sale in 2000, its name was modified slightly to the Eastland Park Hotel. It kept that name through a 2004 renovation until it closed in 2011. The hotel was completely gutted and rebuilt as a modern business hotel and reopened as The Westin Portland Harborview on December 12, 2013.
Gallery
Image:EastlandParkHotelEntrance.JPG, The hotel entrance when it operated as the Eastland Park Hotel, in November 2010
See also
*
List of Historic Hotels of America
Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was founded in 1989 with 32 charter members; the program accepts nominations and identifies hotels that have maintained their authenticity, sense of pl ...
References
External links
Official site
Hotels in Portland, Maine
Hotels established in 1927
Hotel buildings completed in 1927
1927 establishments in Maine
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