Hotel Kimball

Hotel Kimball
Historic postcard: Kimball Hotel
Alternative names	Kimball Towers Condominiums
General information
Type	Hotel
Architectural style	Renaissance Revival
Address	140 Chestnut Street
Town or city	Springfield, Massachusetts
Country	USA
Construction started	1910
Opened	1911
Cost	$1,000,000
Design and construction
Architect	Albert Winslow Cobb
Designations	(see Designated landmark)
Known for	Site of the United States' first-ever commercial radio station, Westinghouse's WBZ, and for hosting guests including many U.S. Presidents, dignitaries, and film stars
Other information
Seating capacity	450
Number of rooms	309

The Kimball Towers Condominiums (originally known as The Hotel Kimball and later The Sheraton-Kimball Hotel) is an historic former hotel, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, at 140 Chestnut Street, in Metro Center's Apremont Triangle Historic District. Designed by architect Albert Winslow Cobb in 1910 and constructed in the Renaissance Revival style, The Hotel Kimball is famous as the site of the United States' first-ever commercial radio station, Westinghouse's WBZ, and also for hosting celebrated guests, including many U.S. Presidents, dignitaries, and film stars. The Kimball is located in the Apremont Triangle Historic District, with its main entrance on Chestnut Street, between Bridge and Hillman Streets. Since 1983, the Kimball has been protected by the Apremont Triangle Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. During 2012 and 2013, renovations will be carried out in accordance with the Historic Preservation Certification.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, Springfield - at the time one of the United States' wealthiest cities - had a surfeit of wealthy travelers but only one first-class hotel, (i.e. the Hotel Worthy, constructed in the nineteenth century.) In 1910, wealthy businessman William Kimball commissioned architect Albert Winslow Cobb - notable for his advocacy of Shingle style architecture - to design a luxury hotel in the style of Cobb's admirers, McKim, Mead, and White, atop one of Springfield's prominent bluffs.

On its opening in 1911, the (then-nationally prominent) Springfield Republican described Kimball's and Cobb's building as "representing an outlay of approximately $1,000,000, the Kimball stands as an example of all the latest ideas in hotel evolution….Everywhere there is splendor, yet it is splendor with refinement.