User:Ornoth/Sandbox/Hotel Vendome

Hotel Vendome

 * 160 Comm Ave
 * original cost $1m
 * Now condos & commercial space, virtually none of the original interior decor survives
 * 1882 first public building in Boston to have electric lights.
 * Notable guests included General Ulysses S. Grant, President Grover Cleveland, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, and John Singer Sargent.
 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original); J.F. Ober & R. Rand, 1881, expansion; Stahl Bennett renovation, 1971-1975
 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original); J.F. Ober & R. Rand, 1881, expansion; Stahl Bennett renovation, 1971-1975


 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original);
 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original);


 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original);
 * 1882 first commercial installation of electric lights in Boston from an 8hp generator
 * 1882 first commercial installation of electric lights in Boston from an 8hp generator


 * J.F. Ober & R. Rand, 1881
 * First commercial use of incandescent lamps in New England
 * 1972 fire, condos & commercial
 * 1972 fire, condos & commercial


 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original); J.F. Ober & R. Rand, 1881, expansion; Stahl Bennett renovation, 1971-1975
 * Original was facing Dartmouth Street
 * Redo extended 250 feet along Comm
 * 1882 Bosotn's first commercial building to install electric lights
 * 1972 fire destroyed much. 27 business & 110 condos
 * 1972 fire destroyed much. 27 business & 110 condos


 * Old building incorporated into new
 * Southwest corner of Comm & Dart
 * William G. Preston, 1871 (original); J.F. Ober & R. Rand, 1881, expansion;
 * Original French Second Empire
 * Original French Second Empire


 * The most fashionable place to stay in residential Back Bay in the 1890s
 * The most fashionable place to stay in residential Back Bay in the 1890s


 * 1871: 5-story E corner; 1880: 6-story along comm ave
 * Site of wedding receptions, senior proms, social events
 * Four fires in the 1960s
 * 5/3/1971 new owners bought, renovating for condos & shopping, & restaurant (Cafe Vendome)
 * 2:35 Box 1571 a worker rang
 * 2:44 working fire called in, 2:46 second alarm; 3:02 third, 3:06 fourth
 * total 16 engine cos, 5 ladder cos, 2 areiel towers, a rescue co
 * started in 3rd floor cieling enclosed space
 * Sat June 17 1972 (day before Father's Day)
 * Largely empty, worker renovating
 * Under control by 4:30pm, doing overhaul
 * 5:20 fire contained,
 * Men from Ladder 13, Engine 22 & 32 on cleanup
 * SE portion collapsed; 40x45' section, all 5 floors
 * Brought down a ladder, Buried a ladder truck (lad 15) & 17 firefighters, 2-story pile of debris
 * 9 dead, worst firefighting disaster in BFD history
 * District Fire Chief John Vahey filed the report
 * Cause of fire unknown; cause of collapse a 7" steel column, weakened during construction, plus water
 * Vendome rebuilt
 * Arc of dark granite monument on Comm Ave Mall, fire helmet & coat cast in bronze
 * Arc of dark granite monument on Comm Ave Mall, fire helmet & coat cast in bronze


 * Recently-filled Back Bay (20 years after)
 * Oliver Wendell Holmes was consulted on the naming and suggested Venetia.
 * Corner of Dartmouth (125') & Comm Ave (240')
 * Comm: white Tuckahoe marble; Dartmouth: Italian marble
 * Several elevators, 5 dining rooms, banquet hall 30x110 250 people
 * Built/owned by Charles Whitney, a Boston capitalist
 * Cost approaching $1m
 * Lessee and manager/Proprietor Col. J.W. Wolcott
 * Designed by J.F. Ober & George D. Rand
 * "The Vendome is not only imposing and palatial, but it is also fire-proof. [...] All interior partitions are of strictly incombustible materials"
 * 70 rooms per floor on the upper floors, each with a bay window
 * 70 rooms per floor on the upper floors, each with a bay window


 * collapse was at 5:28
 * 8 more firefighters injured
 * Lieutenant Thomas J. Carroll
 * Lieutenant John E. Hanbury, Jr.
 * Fire Fighter Thomas W. Beckwith
 * Fire Fighter Joseph E. Boucher
 * Fire Fighter Charles E. Dolan
 * Fire Fighter John E. Jameson
 * Fire Fighter Richard B. Magee
 * Fire Fighter Paul J. Murphy
 * Fire Fighter Joseph P. Saniuk
 * Fire Fighter Joseph P. Saniuk


 * Guests included Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, Sarah Bernhardt, John Singer Sargent, William Morris Hunt, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John D. Rockefeller, Sir Arthur Sullivan, P.T. Barnum, Thomas Edison, Louis C. Tiffany,
 * In 1882, three years after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent bulb; it had the additional distinction of being the first commercial building in Boston to install electric lighting and one of only three hotels in the United States to be lighted electrically.
 * In 1882, three years after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent bulb; it had the additional distinction of being the first commercial building in Boston to install electric lighting and one of only three hotels in the United States to be lighted electrically.


 * Fire in boiler room caused $5000 in damage, no injuries, into large dining room, on 10/13 11pm
 * Fire in boiler room caused $5000 in damage, no injuries, into large dining room, on 10/13 11pm


 * Hosted 1903 Pittsburg Pirates (sic) in the first World Series of baseball.
 * Hosted 1903 Pittsburg Pirates (sic) in the first World Series of baseball.


 * UNCITED
 * Memorial dedicated on June 17th 1997 (25th anniversary)
 * Guests included industrial tycoon Andrew Carnegie