Saturday Travel Feature
Adagio in San Francisco
The Adagio Hotel in San Francisco was built in 1929 as the El Cortez Hotel.
Advertisements for the El Cortez were listed in editions of the 1951 and 1961 publications of the newspaper The Medesto Bee. In fact it was exactly the same ad. (See Link 1.) Later it was opened as the Shannon Court. Then in 2003 after an $11,000 renovation it became the Adagio Hotel.
The Adagio at 550 Geary Street is in the Union Square area of San Francisco. That makes it close to the theater district, the Powell Street Cable Cars, Moscone Convention Center, Chinatown, North Beach and Nob Hill. The hotel features Spanish Colonial Revival architecture on the outside. The ornate sculptured cement facade extends to the second floor. Tall detailed archways surround the three windows and the dark wood entrance doors. The same detailed archways are above the two windows on each side of the second floor that are below the traditional San Francisco bay windows on the third floor. In the middle above each of these pairs of arched windows there is featured a shield. These Spanish Colonial Revival features make the hotel unique even in the city of San Francisco. Inside the renovations have provide contemporary luxury.
This boutique hotel has 171 rooms and 16 floors. The luxury suites on the top floor have rooftop terraces. On the 16th floor are two event rooms. The larger room has windows on two sides, both will spectacular views of downtown San Francisco. On the interior wall is a six foot fireplace with carved legs holding up a wooden mantel with carved details. A wrought iron grill sits in front of the fire pit. For weddings the fire pit is filled with large pillar candles. Above the mantel is a large framed mirror.
Amy Wilson, daughter of Suzanne Wilson, and Jody Hart were married in this beautiful room on March 25th, 2006.
Link 1: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W0ghAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1H8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1265,258433&dq=history+of+san+francisco+el+cortez+hotel&hl=en
Link 2: http://local.yahoo.com/info-21334244-hotel-adagio-san-francisco
