Claremont Resort
| Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel | |
|---|---|
In 2006
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| General information | |
| Location | Oakland, California, United States |
| Address | 41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley, California |
| Coordinates | 37°51′32″N 122°14′30″W / 37.8588°N 122.2418°WCoordinates: 37°51′32″N 122°14′30″W / 37.8588°N 122.2418°W |
| Opening | 1915 |
| Owner | Fairmont Hotels and Resorts |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 10 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect |
Charles William Dickey Walter D. Reed |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 279 |
| Number of suites | Studio Suites Petite Queen Suites |
| Number of restaurants |
Meritage at the Claremont Limewood Bayview Café |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel is a historic hotel at the foot of Claremont Canyon in the Berkeley Hills. The location provides scenic views of San Francisco Bay. The main hotel building is entirely in Oakland. However, a portion of the property, which includes the spa, the gardens and parking area, falls within the city limits of Berkeley, and the resort's mailing address is Berkeley (41 Tunnel Road, Berkeley CA 94705).
The Berkeley Tennis Club leased a portion of the hotel grounds from 1917 to 1945. In 1945, the Club purchased this section of the grounds, and remains located at 1 Tunnel Road, Berkeley next to the Hotel.
The Claremont has 279 guest rooms, a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) spa, 10 tennis courts, and 22 acres (8.9 ha) of landscaped gardens. Romantic stories tell that it was once won in a checkers game. The Hotel was nominated and deemed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, but was not listed due to owner objection. It is a designated Oakland City Historical Landmark.
The Claremont opened in 1915 as the Claremont Hotel, named for the Claremont district where it is situated. It was constructed by a group of real estate developers that included mining magnate "Borax" Smith. The group was associated with the Key System, and had already opened another large hotel, Key Route Inn, in Oakland at Grand Avenue and Broadway. The Key Route Inn suffered a serious fire in September 1930 and was demolished in April and May 1932.
As with the Key Route Inn, a transbay Key Route line (eventually designated the "E" line) ran right to the doors of the Claremont Hotel, approaching from between the tennis courts. Thus, Claremont Hotel guests not only had a magnificent view of San Francisco, but could go there directly from the doorsteps of the lobby. The tracks were removed in 1958 when the Key Route System was dismantled, but the tennis courts survive, separated by a path where the tracks used to be.
The hotel was also convenient to automobile traffic, as it was situated along the principal route over the Berkeley Hills via Claremont Canyon. In 1903, a small tunnel was excavated above the next canyon south of Claremont Canyon, accessible by a new road dubbed Tunnel Road, which ran from the end of Ashby Avenue. The same route later led to a newer, larger tunnel called the Caldecott Tunnel, which opened in 1937. The street address of the Claremont is still 41 Tunnel Road. Tunnel Road is a designated part of State Highway 13.
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Wikipedia