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The history of Statler Hotel is gathered from many internet and text sources. Though every attempt is made to present up-to-date and accurate information, we cannot guarantee that inaccuracies will not occur. All rights reserved.
BuildingsOfDetroit.COM > Places > Statler Hotel
Statler Hotel
1539 Washington Blvd., Detroit 
Status: Demolished AKA: Statler-Hilton, Detroit Hilton, Detroit Heritage Hotel
Style(s): Italian, Adamesque Architect : George B. Post
Owner: N/A Architectural Firm: Unknown

  
  The exterior of the Statler Hotel on a warm November day in 2004  
  The exterior of the Statler Hotel on a warm November day in 2004  
  
This hotel was designed in Italian and Adamesque style for the Statler chain by George B. Post in 1914. The 800-room Detroit Statler looked nearly identical to Post's other Statler hotels, but this one was unique. The hotel had a bath and cold running water in every room and air-conditioning in all public areas, features nearly unheard of at the time it was built.

The hotel was so popular that a year later, an extension was built onto the hotel to create a total of 1,000 rooms.

The hotel became the Statler-Hilton when Conrad Hilton bought the chain of Statler Hotels for $111 million in 1954. By the early 1960s, hotel occupancy began to decline. After changing its name to the Detroit Hilton, and then to Detroit Heritage Hotel, the hotel finally closed Oct. 15, 1975, after the hotel's utilities were cut off.

The hotel stood silently empty overlooking Grand Circus Park for 30 years. Ahead of the 1984 Republican National Convention in Detroit, decorative awnings were placed over the Statler's windows to keep riders on the Detroit People Mover from seeing inside and to clean up its appearance. Over the years, those awnings became ragged and torn, making it look even worse.

The end came in January 2005, when the legendary Statler was demolished ahead of the Super Bowl and All-Star Game. The last of the hotel was brought down in late October 2005, leaving a two-story high pile of rubble. The site has been nothing but a barren, dirt lot ever since, leaving another gaping hole in the urban fabric of Grand Circus Park following the loss of the Hotel Tuller several years earlier.

In 2008, it was revealed that Quicken Loans (aka Rock Financial) plans to build on the site.