Hotel Montgomery

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The city San Jose is located in California and well-known for its high quality of life. It was founded in 1777 as Pueblo San Jose and is considered the first civilian settlement in California. Due to its long history San Jose has a variety of cultural, recreational, educational and entertainment opportunities to offer. The City of San Jose also has the best safety record of any metropolitan area in the whole US. The city is also famous for its great ethnic diversity and its beautiful climate.

The city has a lot of tourist attractions to offer and a sightseeing tour is absolutely worth it. As part of the Silicon Valley San Jose has a Tech Museum of Innovation. Visiting the museum one can get a better understanding of the Silicon Valley, its meaning and its importance in the US. The museum is educational, but one can still have lots of fun in it. Another museum worth visiting is the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium. It exhibits the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the western United States and the building is inspired by Egyptian temples.

The Winchester Mystery House is well-known throughout whole California. The spooky story of the wealthy widow planning and owning the house, who believed that only eternal construction could defeat the death, is attracting many visitors. A tour trough the 160-rooms Victorian mansion is offered. One can see superfluous staircases and Sarah Winchester’s fascination with the number 13. Another famous building in San Jose is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph. It is located in downtown San Jose and is a beautifully restored 19th century cathedral.

Paramount’s Great America and California’s Great America are two theme parks located nearby San Jose. Lots of family fun is offered. Fun, thrill and family rides can be done and one can also visit the water park. Cheaper fun can be had all around the city. Hiking, biking, swimming and fishing can be done in the area. Because of the wonderful weather one can enjoy outdoor activities the whole year. Golfing, horseback riding and wild water rafting and many other exciting activities can be done in the area. One could say that having fun in San Jose is pretty easy.

San Jose is located in the sunny state California. The town has a lot of historical buildings to offer and one of which is the Hotel Montgomery. The Hotel Montgomery was built in 1911 by the well-known businessman T.S. Montgomery, who is sometimes called the father of the downtown, and the local architect William Binder designed the hotel. The historic building is located in downtown San Jose and is famous throughout the whole US.

The Classical Revival style and the handsome façade, which is brick-colored pergola, are the signature of the Hotel Montgomery. The building is u-shaped and has six balconies with balustrades. Originally the hotel had 142 rooms, a restaurant, a ballroom and two dinning rooms. Unfortunately the hotel was destroyed during the Loma Prieta Earth Quake in 1989.
The hotel is considered historically significant because of its early reinforcement of concrete construction, architectural style and its ties to important people in the towns’ history. The hotel is on the California Register of Historical Places and is eligible for the National Register.

The hotel had to close down after suffering extensive damage during the earth quake, but it was relocated in 2000. It was relocated only 186 feet from its previous location to First and San Carlos Streets. The move attracted a lot of media attention because of the significance the building has to San Jose.
A Redevelopment Agency hired an architect to redesign the first floor of the original building, which had to been demolished prior to the move. The first level included an elegant ballroom, which was torn down because of space limitations. An Architectural Resources Group documented design features and drawings and salvaged historical material for the inside of the hotel. These will be available for the architect, who redesigns the hotel. There are plans discussed to restore the building to a boutique hotel.
When staying in San Jose one should definitely take a look on the historic building. It is important to the history of the town and its inhabitants. One can get a better feeling for the town by exploring its past and Hotel Montgomery is part of it.