Palace Hotel

You’re now standing in front of the entrance to the Palace Hotel. This splendid Beaux-Arts style hotel is definitely worth stepping into! Entrance is free and you might as well grab a coffee or brunch there under its sumptuous glass roof. This symbol of San Francisco’s ancestral luxury was born from the vision of William Chapman Ralston, director of the Bank of California, to have a hotel that matched the best in Europe. He was tired of hearing his international colleagues say that American hospitality could never match the greatness of European palaces. Oh boy, they really didn’t know to who they were talking to! William’s pride was stung, and the construction of the palace began for the modest amount of 5 million dollars. You have to imagine that, at the end of the 19th century, a dollar is roughly equivalent to 100 dollars today, so you can imagine the staggering amount of money involved in this project!! Things took a complicated turn when, on the same day, the Bank of California collapsed and Ralston drowned in the bay. A shady story, when you know that Ralston’s financial partner participated in the bank’s collapse by moving his shares, and ended up taking over both the bank and the almost finished hotel. I told you, shady story…In 1875, this giant of 755 rooms and 7,000 windows emerged, taking up an entire block. It’s the most impressive hotel ever seen, and the most expensive on the planet. Itwas equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as intercoms on each floor and hydraulic elevators. High society finally had an ultra-exclusive place to go, and celebrities flocked: Theodore Roosevelt, Charlie Chaplin, Sophia Loren, Rockefeller! Even the French actress Sarah Bernhardt came with her baby tigers. In 1906, the earthquake that shook San Francisco didn’t budge the palace an inch. It’s incredible, the giant is truly sturdy. But things took a turn when the fires broke out. It’s said that the palace, equipped with a fire prevention system, first helped its neighbors extinguish their flames, and when the fire finally reached it, it had run out of water and was completely burnt down. According to another urban legend, opera singer Enrico Caruso, who was staying there on the night of the earthquake, paced the corridors in his pajamas with a signed photo of President Roosevelt in hand, demanding special treatment!
The building you see in front of you is, of course, the Palace Hotel 2.0, rebuilt in 1909 even bigger and more beautiful! Renovated in 1991, it is still considered one of the most beautiful hotels in the United States today.