Mayfair Hotel
About this property
The Magnolia Hotel St. Louis is a historic hotel in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Opened in 1925, it has been known for most of its existence as the Mayfair Hotel. The Mayfair was founded by hotelier Charles Heiss, a Bavarian who worked in hotels in Europe, Canada, and elsewhere in America. Heiss served as the assistant manager at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City and as the manager of the Detroit hotel of the Statler Hotels, an early American hotel chain. Statler transferred Heiss to St. Louis to manage its hotel there, which he did for some years before having a disagreement with Mr. Statler, in which he swore to build better hotels nearby in St. Louis. Designed by prominent St. Louis architect Preston J. Bradshaw, the hotel's 18-story building was built in 1924 and 1925. The concrete building is faced in red brick and terra cotta; it uses terra cotta extensively in its facing, window frames, ornaments, and cornices. The building had three high-speed elevators run by elevator operators. The Mayfair opened its doors on August 29, 1925, for a private reception and dinner for the 120 stockholders and contractors. The next evening, 4,000 guests were invited for a grand opening and dedication. The Mayfair Hotel featured a nine-chair barbershop, a six-booth beauty parlor (unlike at many hotels where these services would be located in a basement), and private dining rooms and a luxurious lounge in the mezzanine off the lobby. Among the hotel's guests throughout the years were Irving Berlin, John Barrymore, Douglas Fairbanks, Cary Grant, Harry Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1925, Radio station KMOX went on the air from a studio in the mezzanine. KMOX installed an $18,000 Kilgen organ and held recitals every day at noon and between 6 and 7 p.m. In 1977, the hotel was renovated. Some 85 rooms were removed and the interior redecorated, but original features were kept when possible, maintaining the building's historic value. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1979. The hotel was sold in 2003 to local businessmen Michael and Steven Roberts, who renamed it the Roberts Mayfair Hotel. The hotel was managed by Wyndham Hotels for a time during this period. The brothers built a condominium tower next to the hotel, which proved unsuccessful, forcing them to sell the hotel to UrbanStreet Group in 2012, who then resold it for $4 million to Magnolia Hotels in 2013. Magnolia renovated the hotel, and reopened it in 2014 as the Magnolia Hotel St. Louis.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Mayfair Hotel
This page lists Mayfair Hotel. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Mayfair Hotel listed on the National Register?
Mayfair Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 16, 1979.
What type of historic resource is Mayfair Hotel?
Mayfair Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Mayfair Hotel?
The period of significance for Mayfair Hotel is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Mayfair Hotel?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Mayfair Hotel will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in St. Louis County
Historic places, battles, and census history across St. Louis County.
Explore St. LouisCounty ›More historic places in Missouri
Browse all historic places in Missouri.
View Missourihistoric sites ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Mayfair Hotel will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.