The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

Early ventures

In 1901, Buffalo hosted the

Pan-American Exposition The Pan-American Exposition was a world's fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park–Front Park System, Delaware Park, extending ...

. Statler built a hotel on the Exposition grounds and called it "Statler's Hotel". It was a temporary wooden structure intended to last the duration of the Exposition. With 2,084 rooms, it could accommodate 5,000 guests. Although the Exposition was deemed an overall failure due to a number of factors (including bad weather and the assassination of President William McKinley), Statler was one of the few vendors to make a small profit. His next venture was the Inside Inn, built for the 1904

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. Another temporary wooden structure, it was the world's largest hotel with 2,257 rooms. A grand success, the hotel made Statler a net profit of $361,000 and laid the groundwork for his first permanent hotel. The hotel was then dismantled and sold for scrap. The Inside Inn was near the edge of

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China * Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fore ...

in St. Louis, now traversed by Highway 64/40.

Company history

The first "permanent" Statler hotel was designed by

August Esenwein August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

and James A. Johnson, built in

, and offered 300 rooms and bathrooms (later expanded to 450 rooms and baths). It was the first hotel chain to offer such amenity.Mark Byrnes
The Rise and Fall of One of America's Most Innovative Hotel Chains
''Bloomberg.com'', 15 February 2013 The hotel was successful and led to a chain of hotels in other cities. Statler's intent was not to compete with the luxury hotels, but to provide, clean, comfortable, and moderately-priced rooms for the average traveler. Statler was the first major hotel chain to have a bathroom in every room. His innovative Statler Plumbing Shaft is still used in modern construction. From providing paper and pens for correspondence (prominently bearing the Statler name) to a light in the closet, Statler brought the average traveler a level of luxury that was otherwise unaffordable. Rooms were originally available at what seemed a very cheap price, leading many other hoteliers to predict the failure of the Buffalo hotel. The opening night price was as low as $1.50 for a guest room, leading to the slogan "A Room and a Bath for a Dollar and a Half". The hotel had a $500,000 line of credit available, but maintained positive cash flow and Statler never used the line of credit. The Statler hotel in St. Louis was the first in the nation to offer air conditioning. The Dallas Statler hotel was the first in the nation to have elevator music. Each of the subsequent Statler Hotels built upon this formula for success. Reflecting the era's enthusiasm for

scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineer ...

, Statler took pride in how he standardized questions of room design. His hotels had minimal wasted space, particularly on the guestroom floors, and he strove to have room layouts that would maximize efficiency and profitability. After Statler's death in 1928, the company built hotels in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, and

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Many of these hotels were designed by the architectural firm of George Post & Sons, the successor firm of

George B. Post George Browne Post (December15, 1837November28, 1913) was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. Active from 1869 almost until his death, he was recognized as a master of several contemporary American architectural genres, an ...

. In the mid- and late-1940s, pianist

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

"gained national exposure through his performance contracts with the Statler and

Radisson Radisson Hotels is a multi-brand hotel chain with a worldwide presence. Its brands include several using the Radisson name, as well as other brands like Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Country Inn & Suites. In June 2022, Radisson Hotel Group ...

hotel chains". The Hotels Statler Company, Inc., was sold to

Conrad Hilton Conrad Nicholson Hilton (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American hotel magnate and politician who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature ...

Hilton Hotels Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton Worldwide. The original company was founded by Conrad Hi ...

in 1954 for $111 million, then the world's largest real estate transaction. The Statler hotel in Buffalo was the first to be demolished after the Hilton acquisition, in 1968. The Statler hotel in New York became the Hotel Pennsylvania.

List of hotels

Gallery

File:Statler Hotel Buffalo NY.jpg, Statler City,

. File:Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel (2008).jpg, Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis, MO the original Statler Hotel is the back half of the building now. File:Statler-Hilton-Block-Panora.jpg, Statler Hilton Hotel, Dallas TX.

The Statler Hotel - Buffalo, New York

The Travel Channel's documentary paranormal television show Destination Fear filmed at the location in 2019 for the seventh episode of their first season. In 2020, former owner Mark Croce was killed in a helicopter crash. As of June 2021, the hotel has been purchased by developers planning to turn the building into a mixed-use structure with retail, meeting and entertainment space, and 600 - 700 residential units.

References

* *

External links

Statler Hotel/Buffalo HotelHotel Pennsylvania Official Website history pageDallas Statler Hilton, The Nostalgic Glass
{{Hotel chains History of Buffalo, New York Companies based in Buffalo, New York 1954 disestablishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Buffalo, New York Defunct hotel chains American companies disestablished in 1954 1901 establishments in New York (state) Defunct companies based in New York (state)