Historic Hotels: Introduction and guidelines for development
Abstract
Establishing historic hotels can be an important benefit for local economies. By taking
advantage of existing buildings that offer unique architecture and experiences, visitors
are attracted and willing to pay premium prices. Issues include authenticity of the
experience and building, maintenance, providing modern utilities and amenities,
management and costs. These issues may be addressed using guidelines and policies
that have been developed and applied in successful examples of historic hotels. By
using these recommendations, communities and properties can successfully include
historic hotels as one element of their economic strategy.
Introduction and Background
This article focuses on the experience in the United States starting with a brief introduction to Historic preservation in general and then going into the topic of historic hotels within that framework. Although there were historic landmarks, like Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and national historic sites, like George Washington’s home, Mt, Vernon in Virginia, widespread appreciation for historic preservation including the broad patterns of a place along with specific buildings really began in the 1960’s. The destruction of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York City in 1962 shocked the public and lead to a movement to identify and protect buildings as well as neighborhoods in general. The Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966 providing guidelines and a process for listing historic resources from buildings, to streets, to neighborhoods to landscapes. It was this historic preservation effort that lead to both saving and revitalizing many historic hotels. It is very important to recognize the value and relationship of saving the context of a place to provide a reason for people to visit a historic hotel. If the community or city itself has no sense of place, for example, walkable historic districts, main street shops, or interesting alleys, then no one will care about one historic hotel. This is why it is critical to manage the entire context of a place if we are going to be successful in developing historic hotels.
In the US, most cities and even small towns have some general planning framework that identifies the historic resources and then develops rules and regulations to protect the community identity. We mentioned “Sense of Place” above. This is what defines one place from another. It is a combination of tangible—buildings, streets, landscapes—and also intangible—customs, traditions music, food and so on. When you go about applying these ideas from this article, you must go through your own process, not try to copy my suggestions or the case studies here. Only by working with local people to carefully understand the values and importance of local character, places, customs, buildings and landscapes can a context for successful historical hotel development be fruitful.
The last general background I want to share with you is the concept of Heritage Areas. In the early 1980’s, I worked on the concept of identifying all the historic, natural and cultural features of a region to tell the story of how it started, and how it developed over time. Today there are dozens of national heritage areas in the United States. They are designated by the US Congress according to specific guidelines and have to develop and implement a plan for protecting these resources as well as interpreting them and sharing them with the public. Heritage areas have become multi-million dollar tourist attractions and have given many older towns a new source of revenue while providing tangible access to our history along with tourism support facilities like museums, hotels and restaurants.
Here are key elements of both the community analysis as well as the checklist of policies and tools needed to examine and manage the sites of historic hotels:
Analysis
• How does rising or falling population change influence community leadership capacity?
• Can they manage their growth as they become more attractive and are therefore more desirable to developers? Can they cope with the conundrum that their very attractiveness acts as a magnet for exploitation?
• Is there a physical image of what the community wants to look like which could strategically guide growth or define community edges?
• How do they handle the paradox of attracting professionals and enjoin them as conservation advocates restraining the developers they attract?
• Is there a cadre of young people attracted to the community?
• Are there effective community organizations that could advocate for any of these policies?
• What are the motivating forces for making the community desirable?
• What percentage of the building stock is currently on the National Register? What percentage should be? Are there resources in the community that could secure that objective?
• Are there physical scars or intrusions like urban renewal or ill-advised highway construction that need to be reworked or replaced?
Policies and tools
• Are there specific provisions for safeguarding key landmarks, view sheds, and vistas?
• Is there an open space plan or discernable sequence of spaces that could support a plan to assist in defining urban design objectives such as edges and nodes?
• Is there an infill policy for vacant lots and parking areas?
• Does the community have an effective design review policy that includes both guidelines and standards?
• Does it have a program to fund and integrate public art in public building and spaces along with private structures above a certain square footage?
• Does the community tell a narrative and offer contrasting perspectives with historic markers and interpretative panels, and locally commissioned story tellers?
• Does it have a crafts policy to employ artisans for community signs, restroom tiles, fences, tree guards and gateways?
• Are there density overlays in the downtown which encourage mixed uses?
• Are there incentives for a range of housing types?
• Are their variances or allowances for downtown business so that building density can be maintained and downtown areas are not pockmarked for parking?
• Is there a strategy to encourage use of upper floors?
• Are there form-based or character enhancing codes to improve traditional zoning regulations?
Elements of Historic Hotel Development
Analysis is the beginning of the planning and development process. Look at the building itself: is it already on the national register of historic places? That will be a key to financing the project in the US. What will it cost to renovate? What will the revenues be when it’s open?
Essentially the analysis is a very detailed plan for both the building but also the business. If the business model is not sound, then it needs to be reevaluated. Historic buildings have an advantage over building a new hotel from scratch. New hotels are expensive and in the US, with our historic preservation tax credits, developers have both the existing building and the tax credits against the cost of a new building. China’s land development model could easily work to provide incentives for similar historic renovations, for example, a district established as historic could assess existing development to provide an incentive to develop a historic building as a hotel, serving the neighborhood, providing future revenue and benefiting the other properties. In Boston, developers were offered higher density in return for funding preservation projects in other neighborhoods.
Balancing Old and New
Marketing studies have shown that people will prefer a historic hotel as long as it has modern amenities and services. Ambiance provided by authentic architecture, finely maintained interior details and period furnishings need to be combined with up to date heating and cooling systems and comfortable mattresses. Another feature of historic hotels are the people who have stayed there in the past. One of the examples provided below has photos of movie stars from the 1930’s who stayed there. This will add to the sense of history and help to attract visitors. Many of our university historic preservation programs include courses in marketing history. This is essential if the historic property is to be financially successful in the long run. It involves every little detail, such as the hotel stationery, the bedding, the lighting, the art work and also the advertising brochures and online information.
Historic Hotels of America Organization
Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and includes 240 hotel members in 44 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
To become a member, a hotel must be at least 50 years old and either recognized as having historic significance or listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Members must maintain their sense of historical architectural integrity. In return they get to advertise their affiliation and get marketing benefits along with their membership. The Historic Sites Act of 1935 authorized the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to formally record and organize historic properties and to designate them as having national historical significance and gave the National Park Service authority to administer the program.
Case examples
The Stanley
The Historic Stanley Hotel was made famous as the “Overlook” Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. In an isolated mountain location in Colorado, the Stanley is one of the most recognizable Historic Hotels. Built in 10909 by Fleelan stanley, owner and inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile company. It was designed as a healthful retreat for Easterners, wishing to take in the mountain air of the Rocky Mountains. The main building has 142 rooms. It has a reputation for being haunted, too, which adds to its colorful history and appeal. Up until the mid-1980’s, the hotel closed for the winter, but today it is open for guests all year around.
It is designed in an antebellum style and features gardens and grounds surrounding the main and auxiliary buildings. The interiors have be renovated several times, each time using design elements and materials that are in keeping with the historic building, such as the new copper/tin ceiling in the bar.
The Blackstone, Chicago Illinois
Part of the Marriott Renaissance brand, the Blackstone Hotel is a historic 332-room luxury hotel with conference and event space, a Starbucks coffee shop, and a full-service restaurant. Since its construction, the 23-story building has had a long and storied history as a luxury hotel, and is known for hosting 12 U.S. presidents. It fell into disrepair in the late 20th century and was closed in 1999. Sage Hospitality purchased the structure in 2005, performed an extensive renovation, and reopened it in March 2008.
Unlike the Stanley, this hotel required a good deal of modification in order to make it both attractive to modern customers but to meet the requirements for historic preservation tax credits that were critical for the financing to succeed. The changes to the interior focused on the public spaces as well as reconfiguring the guest rooms to allow for modern amenities and utilities to be put in place while keeping the overall historic charm of the building. The investors realized that this renovation would take more time and be more costly but they also anticipated that the overall rates that the finished historic hotel could bring would more than offset the time and costs required to meet the historic tax credit requirements.
In this renovation, the developer also emphasizes the importance of having good drawings. Particularly for historic buildings, a set of original drawings is useful. In some instances they may not be accurate, though, so newer drawings that highlight changes will help make the project go more smoothly. Understanding the building thoroughly in this kind of renovation is essential for both managing costs and finishing the project as expected.
A Note about China
Although this article has focused on the experience of the United States with historic preservation and hotels in particular, I want to mention a few Chinese examples to consider as well. The first example is the well-known Fairmont Peace Hotel in the Bund area of Shanghai. Completed in 1929 by Victor Sassoon,, it was designed in the Art Deco style. After becoming offices briefly in the 1950’s, it became the Peace Hotel in 1956. Most recently it was completely renovated in 2007 and reopened in 2010.
The second example is found in a small rural village in Anhui Province, near the historic villages of Xi Di and Hongcun. The Imperial Guard Boutique Hotel, PingShan, Yi County Anhui, has 7 rooms and features a sun terrace and a restaurant on-site.This hotel was developed using the front part of a 17th century community hall as the lobby, building new hotel facilities behind the original building. This also was part of an effort to provide economic development in the small historic town of Ping Shan. The hotel aims to provide tourists interested in the ancient towns with a hotel that offers the same kind of history while still providing modern amenities.
Summary
Historic hotels are an important component of historic preservation as well as economic development, especially for smaller cities and towns. In the United States over the past 70 years, numerous buidlings have been renovated and repurposed for modern lodging with a focus on history.
Key elements of success include
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