Shamrock Hotel
Shamrock Hotel | |
---|---|
Hotel chain | Hilton Hotels & Resorts |
General information | |
Status | Demolished |
Type | Hotel |
Location | Main St. & W. Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030, United States |
Opening | March 17, 1949 |
Closed | June 1986 |
Demolished | June 1, 1987 |
Owner | Glenn McCarthy Pat O'Brien |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 18 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Wyatt C. Hedrick |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 1,100 |
Number of restaurants | 3 |
The Shamrock was a
Design and construction
Designed by
At the hotel's north side was a five-story building containing a 1,000-car garage and 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) exhibition hall.
To the south was the hotel's lavishly landscaped garden designed by Ralph Ellis Gunn, a terrace and an immense swimming pool measuring 165 (50m) by 142 feet (43 m) described as the world's biggest outdoor pool, which accommodated exhibition water skiing and featured a 3-story-high diving platform with an open spiral staircase.[1]
Construction was completed for about $21,000,000 (equivalent to over $200,000,000 in 2007).[1][3]
Politician and entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones privately warned McCarthy that business travelers would be reluctant to stay at a hotel three miles south from downtown Houston.[4] Hotel industry executives flatly warned McCarthy the project would not be profitable. He publicly replied, "I went into the oil business in 1933 when everybody said I was a damn fool. Now they're saying it again about my hotel."[5]
The 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) lobby was paneled in burled mahogany with added trim heavily influenced by Art Deco, a design movement which had been popular during the 1920s and 30s. McCarthy ordered furnishings and decor in 63 shades of green, a nod to his ancestral Ireland.[6] Hedrick's architectural firm reportedly had been the third-largest in the U.S., however his conservative design for the building's exterior along with its lavish interiors by Robert D. Harrell of Los Angeles drew wide criticism, notably from Frank Lloyd Wright who while being shown the completed facility before it opened, pointed at the lobby ceiling and said to Fay Jones, "That, young man, is an example of the effects of venereal disease on architecture." Wright also called the Shamrock "an imitation Rockefeller Center" (which had been completed ten years earlier). McCarthy claimed the decor represented "the best of all periods." Time magazine described it as "eclectic." The building's structural design has since been characterized as "more robust and sturdy than sleek and futuristic."[7][8][9]
Historic grand opening
The hotel opened with fireworks displays on
The Houston Chronicle's society editor wrote that the event was "bedlam in diamonds". Life called it "...the most dazzling exhibition of evening dresses and big names ever seen in Texas. Everyone had to concede it was quite a party and quite a hotel." The grand opening of the Shamrock is still cited as one of the biggest social events in Houston’s history.[2][14][15][16][17]
Operation
The Shamrock initially had a staff of 1,200 managed by George Lindholm, who had been recruited from the socially prominent
However the Shamrock soon began experiencing persistent problems with occupancy rates and was seldom if ever full. McCarthy had spent lavishly, then borrowed heavily against his assets (including the hotel) to leverage a series of risky investments and his cash reserves quickly dwindled. Within a year Lindholm quietly resigned. In 1952 McCarthy defaulted on a loan and the hotel was acquired by Equitable Life Assurance Society. That same year author
Shamrock Hilton
In 1954 the
Demolition
During a severe local recession in 1985, the 36-year-old hotel, still the second largest in Houston but by then in need of extensive refurbishing and refitting, was in effect donated to the Texas Medical Center. In March 1986 a protest rally was held by historic preservationists including McCarthy, and the hotel opened its last annual St. Patrick's Day party to the public. That evening, some people who had been at the opening night party in 1949 reportedly attended a semi-formal event in the hotel's Emerald Room. A few employees had been with the hotel since its first year of operation. The main hotel building was demolished on June 1, 1987 (McCarthy died 18 months later) and the land was paved over as a surface parking lot.
Redevelopment
The
The $67 million DeBakey High School for Health Professions was constructed on the original site of the hotel structure in 2017.[22]
Along with fountains and some landscaping on the northeast grounds, the hotel's multi-story parking garage has been retained, but the trademark green roof tiles have been removed. Shamrock Drive, the street in front of the hotel, is today called Pressler Street.[23][24][25][26]
Residents
- Maxine Mesinger and her family[27]
Programs/Menus
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The Pine Grill Menu cover (circa April 1949)
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The Pine Grill Menu (inside, circa April 1949)
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The Pine Grill Menu cover (circa July 1949)
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The Pine Grill Menu (inside, circa July 1949)
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First Anniversary Saint Patrick's Day celebration (1950)
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First Anniversary Saint Patrick's Day celebration - Entertainment featuring Dinah Shore (1950)
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First Anniversary Saint Patrick's Day celebration - message from Glen McCarthy (1950)
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Shamrock Hotel, The Pine Grill menu cover featuring guest General Douglas MacArthur - 6-14-1951
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The Shamrock Hotel, The Pine Grill menu cover (circa 1949–1975)
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The Shamrock Hotel, The Pine Grill menu (inside, circa 1949–1975)
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "The Shamrock Hotel". Texas State Historical Association, The Handbook of Texas. Retrieved 2017-06-10.
- ^ a b Staff Writer. "Houston Remember When, Vol. 1 Archived 2006-10-03 at the Wayback Machine." Houston PBS. Accessed November 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Handbook of Texas Online, Hedrick, Wyatt Cephas, retrieved 30 November 2007
- ^ Burrough, 2009, p. 176
- ^ "Luck of the Irish". Time Magazine. 1949-03-21. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "King of the Wildcatters". Time Magazine. 1950-02-13. Archived from the original on December 2, 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Hallam Hurt, Frances, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 27 August 1950, Wyatt C. Hedrick: Distinguished Architect, "Man of Distinction", retrieved 30 November 2007
- ^ Reinhold, Robert (1985-12-29). "Houston Hotel Sale Signifies Fading of Oil Wealth". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "Remembering the Shamrock, Gene Lockard". New Works Review. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "Great Houstonians, Glenn H. McCarthy". 174 Years of Historic Houston. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Staff Writer. "Houston’s Aviation History Timeline Archived 2006-10-08 at the Wayback Machine." The Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
- ^ (Burrough, 2009, p. 183)
- ISBN 9780498022043.
- ^ "On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini, Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 1975-07-01. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Stephen Fox.
"Shamrock Hotel."
Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed November 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ La Floridiana, The Continuing Saga of Desdemona's "Cosmic Muffin", William Moriaty, August 2003, retrieved 24 September 2007
- ^ (Burrough, 2009, same page)
- ^ McMurtry, Larry (1996-09-29). "Men Swaggered, Women Warred, Oil Flowed". Larry McMurtrey, The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Fuermann, G. (1951). Houston: land of the big rich. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
- ^ my own personal experience, I was dining regularly at Trader Vic's from 1983 until the summer of 1985
- ^ https://ibt.tamu.edu/about/index.html
- ^ https://www.chron.com/houston/article/Houston-s-new-67-million-DeBakey-High-School-11188761.php
- ^ Staff Writer. "Gone but not forgotten: 25 years of city memories." Houston Business Journal. Written September 27, 1996. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ISBN 0-87719-272-3
- ^ McGrath, Stephanie A, March 1986, Houston Chronicle, Shamrock may have lost its last leaf...
- ^ "A Detailed Chronology of the Texas Medical Center". Texas Medical Center. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Feldman, Claudia. "Auction set for Chron columnist Mesinger's mementoes." Houston Chronicle. October 8, 2013. Retrieved on October 9, 2013. "In the midst of those glory days, the Mesinger family lived at the old Shamrock Hilton Hotel, and Jay Mesinger remembers his childish delight in pitched tents by the side of the enormous hotel pool and the joy of calling room service for his friends."
Further reading
- Callahan, Michael. "The Shamrock Hotel’s Grand Opening – This Forgotten Day in Houston" (Archive). Houston Chronicle. March 16, 2015. Alternate version (Archive).
- Gonzales, J.R. "The Shamrock Hotel (Part 1 of 5)." Houston Chronicle. March 17, 2008.
- Hlavaty, Craig (2017-03-16). "Shamrock Hotel in Houston: Looking back at its luxurious opening". Houston Chronicle.
- Perera, John Henry (compiler). "Photos of the historic Shamrock hotel in Houston." Houston Chronicle. March 17, 2015.
- Sanders, Diana. "The Demolition of the Shamrock Hilton Hotel: Motivation for a Preservation Culture" (Archive). Houston History. January 2011. Vol. 6, No. 2–Preservation.
External links
- Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Glenn McCarthy’s car at Shamrock Hotel (photo) Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Shamrock Hotel, Houston Deco, 1940s
- Dozens of photographs taken at the working hotel in 1949 Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Remembering the Shamrock
- Vintage postcard of the Shamrock Hotel Archived 2007-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
- The Shamrock Hotel Collection at the University of Houston Digital Library
- Excerpt from the HoustonPBS documentary In Search of Houston History, 18 Oct 2008