Occidental Hotel
| Occidental Hotel | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Type | Hotel and restaurant |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| Address | Montgomery Street between Bush and Sutter |
| Town or city | San Francisco, California |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 37°47′26″N 122°24′08″W / 37.790546°N 122.402188°W |
| Opened | 1861 |
| Closed | April 18, 1906 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Caleb Hyatt, Thomas Johnston, William Mooser |
The Occidental Hotel opened in 1861 in San Francisco, California. It was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906. It was one of the many hotels named Occidental in the United States, and it was among the few luxury hotels in San Francisco that catered to wealthy travelers. Operating in the years that roughly coincided with the end of the California Gold Rush and the beginning of silver mining in Nevada, the Occidental Hotel was among the new, grand hotels in San Francisco. In the exclusive hotel market, along with the Occidental were the Lick House, the Russ House, the Cosmopolitan, the Grand, the Palace, and the Baldwin.
Construction of the hotel occurred in three stages between 1861 and 1869, and it opened upon completion of the first section on the southeast corner of Montgomery and Bush Streets, under the direction of architect Caleb Hyatt. Hyatt designed an Italianate, four-story building, and the style was preserved by subsequent architects. Along with the nearby Masonic Hall, the Occidental towered above all other buildings in its vicinity and was visible from outside the city. Its accommodations were elegant and spacious.
The second phase of construction was directed by architect Thomas Johnston, and the third phase by architect William Mooser.
During an investigation into the construction of the former San Francisco City Hall in the early 1870s, Johnston testified that the Occidental was constructed with foundation rocks quarried from Angel Island, built with wood floors and joists, and reinforced with iron bands used for structural stabilization. Another architect, Stephen H. Williams, estimated the construction costs of the hotel to be between sixteen and eighteen cents per square foot.
Theatrical agent and author Edward Peron Hingston described the hotel in 1863,
Hotel service included vases of flowers and platters of fruit delivered to guestrooms when a new guest arrived.
Some of the guests who stayed at the hotel included Robert Louis Stevenson, Lillie Hitchcock Coit, and Mark Twain. In his notebook from February, 1865, Twain wrote, "26th – Home again – home again at the Occidental Hotel."Ralph Waldo Emerson stayed at the hotel while on the lecture circuit. The hotel attracted authors and intellectuals at least partly because The Golden Era, a weekly literary magazine, was headquartered there. Joaquin Miller described the magazine's offices as gaudily carpeted and gorgeously furnished.
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Wikipedia