Antlers Hotel (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

The Antlers in 2011, when it was a Hilton.

The Antlers, A Wyndham Hotel is a downtown Colorado Springs hotel opened in 1967. It is the third hotel of that name on the same site. The first Antlers Hotel was constructed in 1883, but burned down in 1898. The second Antlers Hotel, completed in 1901, was torn down in 1964 to build the current structure.

Geography

The hotel site is located in the center of downtown Colorado Springs,[1] on Cascade Avenue, just off of Colorado Avenue. It is near Interstate 25.[2] The hotel is near the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad depot building[3] and Antlers Park and adjacent to the Antlers Garage.

Description

The downtown hotel has 292 rooms, including seven executive suites. Within the hotel are an indoor pool, health club, day spa, beauty salon, restaurant, and a pub.[4]

History

First building (1883-1898)

In June 1883,[lower-alpha 1] twelve years after he founded the City of Colorado Springs, William Jackson Palmer built The Antlers hotel. It was named for the large elk and deer racks that Palmer installed in the hotel.[1][6] It had 75 unique guest rooms, a music room, Turkish Bath, children's playroom, billiards room, and a barber shop. The hotel had gas lights, steam heat, hot and cold water, and a hydraulic elevator.[1][8] It was unusually elegant for a hotel in the west. Palmer contributed $125,000 (equivalent to $3,179,911 in 2015) towards the cost of its construction.[8][9]

Second building (1901-1964)

It burned down on October 1, 1898,[1] when a fire was started at the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway freight depot[8][lower-alpha 2] Palmer rebuilt the hotel in 1901 with Italian Renaissance architecture,[1][6] designed by the Varian and Sterner architectural firm. It was an elegant hotel with commanding views of Pikes Peak, 200 rooms, a restaurant, the Rose Ballroom, fireproof walls, tapestries, and mosaic floors.[8][11][12] Presidents who visited the hotel include Theodore Roosevelt, who gave a speech off a hotel balcony in 1901,[13] and Warren G. Harding, William Henry Harrison, and William Howard Taft.[11] William Jackson Palmer died in 1909, after which Spencer Penrose attempted to buy the hotel but could not reach an agreement. Instead, he built The Broadmoor.[14] The second Antlers Hotel building was torn down after September 20, 1964, when the last guest checked out.[6][lower-alpha 3]

Third building (1967-present)

The current structure was built by Western International Hotels[15] and opened on March 20, 1967 as the Antlers Plaza Hotel.[1][6] The hotel is about 170 feet (52 m) tall with 14 floors.[16]

Western International operated the hotel until March 31, 1975, when it was taken over by the Broadmoor Management Company, which shuttled guests to and from The Broadmoor in a double-decker London-styled bus.[1] The Antlers hotel was remodeled for $24,000,000 in 1989-1990 (equivalent to $45,893,154 in 2015).[8][17] In 1998, the hotel, then operating as the Antlers Doubletree Hotel, was sold to the Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts for $35.4 million (equivalent to $51,481,053 in 2015).[17][18] It was renamed the Antlers Adam's Mark.

The hotel was purchased for $27.2 million (equivalent to $35,048 in 2015) in 2003 by a joint venture of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Group and Pyramid Hotel Group, which then spent an estimated $7.5 million (equivalent to $9,663,983 in 2015) in renovations.[9] When it announced the renovations to the 292 room hotel, the hotel changed its name from Antlers Adam's Mark Hotel to Antlers Hilton Hotel.[19]

A limited liability company of LNR Partners of Miami Beach, Florida, which was the hotel's lender, took control of the firm in 2007. The hotel went into foreclosure and was purchased by an entity of LNR Partners at a foreclosure auction in December 2013.[9]

On October 27, 2015, the property was purchased by attorneys Perry R. Sanders, Jr. and John Goede. The new owners quickly dropped the Hilton name, renaming the hotel simply "The Antlers". [20] On September 29, 2016, the hotel joined Wyndham Hotels as The Antlers, A Wyndham Hotel.[21]

In 1927, there were 24 hotels in downtown Colorado Springs, and as of 2015, the Antlers and the Mining Exchange are the only remaining downtown hotels.[22] The hotel has been a four-diamond rated hotel by the American Automobile Association (AAA) since 2007.[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Hilton site states that the hotel was founded in 1873,[5] but sources consistently state that it opened in 1883 or June 1883.[1][6] The 1879 City Directory for Colorado Springs does not have Antlers Hotel listed as a hotel. There is a hotel at Cascade and Pikes Peak, but it is the Colorado Springs Hotel and it is on the southeast corner.[7]
  2. ↑ It is also reported, without further substantiation, that the fire started when a cinder from a passing train fell on the hotel and that several people were killed in the blaze.[10]
  3. ↑ The Colorado Historic Hotels book states that the building was torn down as the result of a fire.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "History of the Antlers". Antlers Hilton. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ Judith C. Galas; Cindy West (1997). Walking Colorado Springs. Globe Pequot Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-56044-535-7.
  3. ↑ Claude Wiatrowski (15 June 2009). Historic Colorado: Day Trips & Weekend Getaways to Historic Towns, Cities, Sites & Wonders. MBI Publishing Company. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-61673-208-0.
  4. ↑ Insight Guides (May 1, 2014). "Colorado Springs". Insight Guides: Colorado. APA. ISBN 978-1-78005-804-7.
  5. ↑ "Antlers Hilton Hotel Colorado Springs". Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Thomas P. Lowry (August 2, 2007). "William J. Palmer: Forgotten Union General of America's Civil War". Civil War Times. Retrieved February 8, 2014 – via Weider History Network.
  7. ↑ "1879 Colorado Springs City Directory" (PDF). Pikes Peak Library District (digital copy). p. 123. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Judith C. Galas; Cindy West (1997). Walking Colorado Springs. Globe Pequot Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-56044-535-7.
  9. 1 2 3 Rich Laden (December 7, 2013). "Antlers Hotel taken over by a lender; Was sold in July at foreclosure auction" (PDF). The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado. p. E 2:1 – via Pikes Peak Library District.
  10. ↑ Stephanie Waters (2012). Ghosts of Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. The History Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-60949-467-4.
  11. 1 2 3 Alexandra Walker Clark (2011). Colorado's Historic Hotels. The History Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-60949-301-1.
  12. ↑ Western Fruit Jobber. Western Fruit Jobbers Association of America. 1920. p. 143.
  13. ↑ A. K. Sandoval-Strausz (2007). Hotel: An American History. Yale University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-300-10616-5.
  14. ↑ Bill Vogrin (December 7, 2014). "Side Streets: A Toast to Spencer Penrose on His 75th Anniversary for a Colorful and Important Life". The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  15. ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Westin_Hotel_Co.aspx
  16. ↑ "Antlers Hilton Hotel". Emporis. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  17. 1 2 Wayne Heilman (January 7, 2004). "Downtown's Antlers hotel changing hands". The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  18. ↑ Wayne Heilman (September 4, 1998). "Downtown Colorado Springs, Colo., Office-Shopping Complex Purchased.". Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  19. ↑ Wayne Heilman (July 31, 2004). "Antlers Hotel picks up Hilton brand". Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  20. ↑ "New owners of iconic Colorado Springs hotel make quick change". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
  21. ↑ http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article91350.html
  22. ↑ John Hazlehurst (June 12, 2009). "Colorado Springs lacking in downtown hotels". The Gazette. Colorado Springs, Colorado – via HighBeam Research. (subscription required (help)).
  23. ↑ "Antlers Hilton Hotel Colorado Springs". Colorado Springs Visitor and Convention Bureau. Retrieved February 10, 2015.

Further reading

External links

Media related to Antlers Hotel (Colorado Springs) at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 38°50′0.68″N 104°49′34.41″W / 38.8335222°N 104.8262250°W / 38.8335222; -104.8262250

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