The Simon Benson House is a 19th-century house located in downtown Portland , Oregon . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
45-450: The Queen Anne style house was built of wood-frame construction in 1900. Norwegian immigrant Simon Benson (1851-1942) was a leading businessman, innovator, and philanthropist. Benson helped build Benson Polytechnic High School and gave the iconic bronze Benson Bubbler drinking fountains to the City of Portland. He had the house built as a residence for his family. The Benson family moved from
90-516: A Denver, Colorado -based company. Sage had been interested in the property long before the condominium conversion was attempted. The hotel's restoration process was quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage. Sage sought $ 22 million in tax increment financing from the Chicago Community Development Commission. They eventually were approved for $ 18 million in tax-increment financing. The final cost of
135-469: A cast-iron railing. This has been removed and replaced with red brick and white glazed brick, flush with the rest of the building. The mansard roof was originally decorated with small spires around the perimeter, and 2 very tall flagpoles . In addition to its celebrity guests and its contributions to political parlance, the Blackstone has a place in popular culture. Among its uses in cinema, it hosted
180-524: A 1999 inspection. The building's owner, Heaven on Earth Inns Corp, run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , looked into several options before selling the property to Rubloff, Inc., which in 2001 announced plans to convert the building into condominiums priced as high as $ 8.5 million (equivalent to $ 14.6 million in 2023). Rubloff's plans were unsuccessful due to financing difficulties and a lackluster market for buyers of Blackstone condominiums. Even two rounds of price cuts were not enough to spur interest in
225-473: A dozen 20th-century U.S. presidents have stayed at the hotel. In addition, the Blackstone has also become part of Chicago's history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating conventions (26) than any other two American cities, a history which goes back to the 1860 Republican National Convention hosted at the Wigwam . The hotel has a special room designed for use by presidents which
270-425: A renovation to update the look of the hotel with a historic meets-contemporary-feel by revitalizing the soft goods of the guest rooms, meeting spaces and lobby. The hotel formerly featured a bar in the lobby called Timothy's Hutch, paying homage to the hotel's namesake, Timothy Blackstone. The Blackstone Hotel has been dubbed "The Hotel of Presidents". It was once considered one of Chicago's finest luxury hotels, and
315-621: A wife, Esther Searles, and son Amos to care for. Having heard about abundance of the timber in the Northwest and with his experience working in the woods and sawmills of Wisconsin, Benson moved his family to Portland, Oregon in 1880. Simon and Esther had two more children, Alice and Caroline, before Esther died in 1891 after a long fight with tuberculosis. In 1894 Simon married Pamelia Loomis, and they had two children, Gilbert and Chester. Riding through two personal cycles of prosperity and poverty before his third and lasting success, Benson went into
360-453: Is cased in tile and plaster fireproofing. On the exterior south and east (front) elevations is a one-story base of pink granite , with high arched openings; it supports the red brick - and terra cotta -trimmed building shaft. Above the granite base are four stories of white, glazed terra cotta. The large windows of the second and third floor, which once poured natural light into the lobby, ballroom, and restaurants, had mostly been covered for
405-601: The Cuban Missile Crisis . The Blackstone Hotel was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, of Marshall and Fox , in 1909. Sources vary as to the precise style in which Marshall designed the building. According to the Landmarks Division of the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, the hotel's exterior and interior are considered an excellent example of neoclassical Beaux-Arts architecture ;
450-629: The Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois . Built between 1908 and 1910, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Blackstone is famous for hosting celebrity guests, including numerous U.S. presidents , for which it was known as the "Hotel of Presidents" for much of the 20th century, and for contributing the term " smoke-filled room " to political parlance. The hotel and
495-426: The statues and the original chandeliers, had been sold off. However, Sage was able to repurchase many of them on eBay and refabricate many others. The primary historic facades were fully restored, including the hotel's ornate terra cotta-clad exterior. All the guest-room floors were reconfigured and dramatically enlarged. Some have described the restoration as "garish". Only two guest rooms were preserved during
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#1733085076046540-855: The Blackstone Hotel again. In 1995, the Blackstone was sold to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi . 1995 was also the end of Jazz Showcase 's 14-year run at the hotel. On May 29, 1998, the Blackstone Hotel was designated as a Chicago Landmark . The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1986. It is also a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District . The hotel closed in 2000, after Occupational Safety and Health Administration building inspectors found safety problems during
585-519: The Blackstone Hotel as collateral for one loan in 1927. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 rippled into the hotel industry, leaving the Chicago Title and Trust Company with 30 Chicago hotels in receivership and causing the Drakes to default in 1932. The hotel ended up belonging to Metropolitan Life , which held the mortgage. MetLife leased the Blackstone to hotelier Arnold Kirkeby in 1936, and Kirkeby bought
630-584: The Chicago Theatre District at Michigan Avenue and Hubbard Court (which was first renamed 7th Street and later Balbo Drive). The hotel opened on April 6, 1910. It was named for Timothy Blackstone , a notable Chicago business executive and politician, who served as the founding president of the Union Stock Yards , president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad , and mayor of La Salle, Illinois . It
675-721: The Columbia River Gorge; and since 2012 one in Pendleton, Oregon . Conservationist Francis J. Murnane was instrumental in preserving the bubblers, his first successful project. Benson was chosen to represent Oregon at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, as the state's "First Citizen." In 1916, Benson gave the Portland School District $ 100,000 to help fund
720-632: The Friends of Simon Benson House and moved to the Portland State University (PSU) campus at SW Park and Montgomery in 2000. It houses a visitor's center and is home to the PSU Alumni Association. Now a wealthy man, Benson's interests expanded beyond the timber industry. In 1912, he began building a fine hotel because he felt it was needed in Portland to attract tourists and more commerce to
765-541: The Mayfair Theatre which was the home of the Chicago production of Shear Madness for 17 years from September 22, 1982, to November 11, 1999. The majority of the building rises as a 12-story shaft of red brick dotted with white, terra cotta window surrounds; above this section is a belt course of terra cotta and two stories of red brick. Above this, the original design included an intermediate terra cotta cornice topped by
810-468: The PSU Alumni Association. This Oregon -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Simon Benson Simon Benson (September 9, 1851 – August 5, 1942) was a Norwegian-born American businessman and philanthropist who was active in the city of Portland, Oregon . Simon Benson was born Simen Bergersen Klæve in the valley of Gausdal in Oppland county, Norway. He
855-533: The United States, the family had taken out naturalization papers, changed their family surname to "Benson" and proceeded to become United States citizens . Benson first went to work as a farm hand and later worked in logging camps and sawmills. At the age of 24, he opened a general store in Lynxville, Wisconsin . It did well until it was destroyed by fire three years later. Then 27, he was completely broke and now had
900-405: The adjacent Blackstone Theatre were built on the former site of railroad millionaire Timothy Blackstone's mansion in 1908. The owners were brothers John and Tracy Drake , sons of Blackstone's former business partner, the hotel magnate John Drake . John and Tracy Drake also developed the luxury Drake Hotel . At the time of the opening, the hotel and theatre were located at the southern edge of
945-588: The banquet where Al Capone smashes a guest's head with a baseball bat in the Brian De Palma film The Untouchables , a party in The Hudsucker Proxy , and Tom Cruise 's pre-pool tourney stay in The Color of Money . Also, the 1996–2000 television series Early Edition was set in this building, featuring a man (Kyle Chandler) who lives in the hotel and receives the newspaper a day in advance. The hotel
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#1733085076046990-513: The building of a polytechnic school. Finished in 1918, the school was first used for the training of soldiers for World War I. It was re-opened to high school students in January 1919 and renamed Benson Polytechnic . In 1921, after moving to Beverly Hills, California , Benson deeded the city of Portland nine acres overlooking the Willamette River between North Greeley and Going Streets. The land
1035-439: The business of logging near Clatskanie, Oregon and Oak Point, Washington , downstream from Portland, buying up tracts of timber wherever he could. He introduced a number of changes to Northwest logging, including the donkey steam engine which replaced the oxen that had previously been used to haul logs. He later built the famous Benson seagoing rafts which could carry up to six million board feet (14,000 m³) of timber, cutting
1080-718: The city. It was modeled on the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, a brick structure with the same type of French mansard roof. It opened in 1913 and was known as the Oregon Hotel. For sixteen months it lost money and finally Benson took over management, at which time it became known as the Benson Hotel . Benson later built the Columbia Gorge Hotel near Hood River in 1921. He brought Henry Thiele , later owner of his own famous restaurants in Portland, to be its head chef. Benson
1125-425: The condo opportunities and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's non-profit organization was unable to obtain financing. In 2005, it was announced that the hotel would undergo a $ 112 million renovation and acquisition ($ 22 million of the expected $ 112 million was the cost associated with the acquisition) with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott International/Renaissance Hotels and Sage Hospitality,
1170-551: The cost of transporting logs to markets in California . In 1898, he moved his family and his business headquarters back to Portland. The family lived in a rented house for two years until Benson decided to build a new home at the corner of SW Park and Montgomery. This is the home known as the Simon Benson House . Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, it was later saved from city condemnation and restored by
1215-534: The decision-making process, the reporter stated it had been made "in a smoke-filled room ". The phrase entered American political parlance to denote a political process which is not open to scrutiny. In addition, the Blackstone is where Franklin Delano Roosevelt's third-term Democratic presidential nomination was forged in 1940, where Harry S. Truman stayed when he received the 1944 Democratic vice presidential nomination and where Dwight D. Eisenhower heard
1260-524: The early 1920s, Benson moved to southern California to retire, but gradually became active in business again, buying and developing land and managing business properties. He died in Los Angeles, California in August 1942. Benson is buried at River View Cemetery in Portland. Benson is well remembered for his philanthropy. He has been quoted as having said: "No one has the right to die and not leave something to
1305-472: The hotel outright in 1941. Kirkeby sold the hotel to Sheraton Hotels in 1954 and it was renamed the Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel . The hotel endured troubles in the late 1960s, as the neighborhood surrounding it declined, and Sheraton finally sold the property to local hotelier Mark Friedman on September 12, 1973, for $ 5 million (equivalent to $ 34.3 million in 2023) , and the hotel became
1350-471: The house in 1913 when the Benson Hotel was completed. During the 1930s, the house was turned into a boarding house, and then later divided into apartments. The house was originally located at SW 11th and Clay Avenue. It was moved to its current location at SW Park and Montgomery Street at Portland State University (PSU) in 2000. It is currently owned by Portland State University and is the former site of
1395-579: The middle of the day. In 1912, Benson gave the City of Portland $ 10,000 for the installation of twenty bronze temperance fountains for clean drinking water. These fountains, known as " Benson Bubblers ", are still in use in downtown Portland. Today there are 52 Benson fountains, most in Portland but also one in Sapporo, Japan (since 1965), the first of Portland's sister cities; one at the Maryhill Museum of Art in
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1440-502: The news of his first-ballot 1952 Republican presidential nomination. In all, guests have included at least 12 U.S. presidents: Theodore Roosevelt , William Howard Taft , Woodrow Wilson , Warren Harding , Calvin Coolidge , Herbert Hoover , Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower , John F. Kennedy , Richard Nixon , and Jimmy Carter . During Kennedy's visit he was informed of
1485-431: The nomination form for the building's listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places classifies the structure as distinctly Second Empire . However, the two styles are related, and the Blackstone Hotel demonstrates elements from both schools. The design was influenced by Marshall's trip to Paris, after which he completed the hotel. The Blackstone is a 22-floor rectangular structure and its structural steel frame
1530-581: The public and for the public good." Benson purchased a 400-acre (1.6 km ) tract of land in the Columbia River Gorge , which included Wahkeena Falls and Multnomah Falls , and deeded it to the City of Portland for a public park. Subsequently, the land was divided to become the Wahkeena Falls Recreation Area, Benson State Park, and Multnomah Falls Recreation Area. Benson also paid for the masonry footbridge across Wahkeena Falls and
1575-410: The public on March 2, 2008, and celebrated its grand reopening on April 30, 2008, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The other parties involved in the restoration were local architect Lucien Lagrange and hotel interior design, development, and procurement firm Gettys, for design work. James McHugh Construction Co . was responsible for construction. The engineering firm handling the exterior renovation
1620-592: The reinforced concrete arch pedestrian bridge over the lower Multnomah Falls. In 1905 Benson donated the Forestry Building at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland. The building was the largest wooden building at the time and it burnt down in 1964. The interior was copied in the Glacier Park Lodge . Simon Benson was a tee-totaler and he wanted to discourage his workers from drinking alcohol in
1665-403: The renovation were a barbershop , which has been converted to a rentable meeting room named "the barbershop", and the theater, which was converted to the Blackstone's bar and restaurant. On June 7, 2017, The Blackstone was transferred from Marriott's Renaissance Hotels division to their Autograph Hotels division and returned to its historic name, The Blackstone Hotel . The transition included
1710-522: The restoration came to $ 128 million, of which the city of Chicago provided $ 13.5 million for street-front improvement, including the restoration and recasting of over 10,000 pieces of decorative terra cotta, and federal historical tax credits because the building is a historical landmark. The Chicago Landmark status necessitated renovation oversight by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks . The newly restored Renaissance Blackstone Hotel reopened to
1755-490: The restoration: the famous ninth-floor "smoke-filled room" and the original tenth-floor presidential suite. They both retained their original floors, fireplaces, and structural shapes. However, the Presidential Suite's famed hidden passage behind the fireplace—which allowed the president to exit through the hotel's eastern stairwell unnoticed—has been converted into closet space. Notable features that failed to survive
1800-424: Was Illinois-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. The restoration resulted in 332 rooms, 12 suites, and 13,230 square feet (1,229 m ) of meeting space. The 21-story hotel is now equipped with a health club, a business center, and a street-level cafe with outdoor seating area. As part of the restorations, sconces and chandeliers were restored. Many of the details, such as brass fittings, several of
1845-523: Was also an enthusiastic supporter of good roads and among a group of businessmen who encouraged the building of the Columbia River Highway . When citizens of Hood River County voted a $ 75,000 bond levy to construct the portion of the highway that would run from the Multnomah County line to Hood River, Benson purchased the entire bond issue within a month because the bonds were not selling. In
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1890-516: Was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox . The original construction was capitalized at $ 1.5 million (equivalent to $ 49.1 million in 2023) , including a $ 600,000 to $ 750,000 bond issue by the Drake Hotel Company. In the 1920s, the Drake Hotel Company undertook some financing arrangements which included extending their debt to construct the Drake Hotel. They used
1935-418: Was later dedicated as Madrona Park. The Simon Benson Award was created in 1999 to honor the region's contemporary pioneers of philanthropy. Portland State University's Simon Benson Award honors philanthropists who have made a lasting impact in the region. Blackstone Hotel The Blackstone Hotel is a historic 290-foot (88 m) 21-story hotel on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive in
1980-595: Was one of seven children in the Berger Iversen family. His eldest brother Jon immigrated to the United States in 1861, followed by his sister Mathea in 1865. In 1867, his parents and the rest of the family also followed – landing first in New York City , and then traveling to Black River Falls, Wisconsin , to join the oldest son and daughter. Simon Bergersen was 16 when he arrived in the United States. After arriving in
2025-603: Was separated from the rest of the hotel by hollowed out walls in which the Secret Service could operate. In 1920, Warren G. Harding was selected as the Republican candidate for the presidency at the Blackstone. Although the convention was being held at the Chicago Coliseum , a group of Republican leaders met at the Blackstone on the night of June 11 to come to a consensus. When Raymond Clapper of United Press reported on
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