Don Cesar
| Don CeSar Hotel | |
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| General information | |
| Location | St. Pete Beach, Pinellas County, Florida |
| Opening | January 16, 1928 |
| Management | Host Hotels & Resorts |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Henry H. Dupont |
| Developer | Thomas Rowe |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 277 |
| Number of suites | 40 |
| Number of restaurants | 3 |
| Website | |
| [1] | |
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Don CeSar Hotel
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| Coordinates | 27°42′32″N 82°44′15″W / 27.70889°N 82.73750°WCoordinates: 27°42′32″N 82°44′15″W / 27.70889°N 82.73750°W |
| Built | 1925-28 |
| NRHP Reference # | 75000563 |
| Added to NRHP | April 3, 1975 |
Don CeSar Hotel is a hotel located in St. Pete Beach, Florida, in the United States. Developed by Thomas Rowe and opened in 1928, it gained renown as the Gulf playground for America's pampered rich at the height of the Jazz Age and it still serves as a popular retreat for the rich and famous of today. The hotel was designed by Henry H. Dupont. The Don CeSar is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In 1924, Thomas Rowe purchased 80 acres (320,000 m2) of land in St. Petersburg, Florida for $100,000 to begin his dream of building a "pink castle". He hired Indianapolis architect Henry Dupont to design the hotel and Carlton Beard as contractor. To ensure the stability of the hotel on the shifting sand and avoid the high cost of sinking so many pilings, Beard devised a floating concrete pad and pyramid footings. To this day there is no sign of evident settling of the hotel. The architecture is a blend of Mediterranean and Moorish styles modeled after different hotels and developments that Rowe and Beard saw in Palm Beach, Coral Gables and Boca Raton. Arched openings, red clay tile roofs, balconies, stucco over hollow tile and tower like upper stories were some of the elements that they borrowed. The original design called for a $450,000 six-story hotel with 110 rooms and baths. It was later expanded to 220 rooms and 220 baths and the costs soared to $1.25 million, 300% over budget. Rowe named it Don Ce-Sar after Don César de Bazan, the hero of William Vincent Wallace's opera Maritana.
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