Benicia Loses a Pink Place in History
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 10, 2004
BENICIA -- The old Anderson Hotel, long known for its elegant tea parties and pristine waterfront views, will collapse into a cloud of rubble today.
A demolition crew is expected to raze the large, two-story building, also known as the Pink Hotel or the Pink Palace.
The removal of the once-attractive structure signals the end of a 1920s-era hotel, one that had been the subject of a heated city debate over its historic value.
In the end, city officials said they did not consider the wood-shingled building historic and worth sparing, a blow to area preservationists.
A developer, Lenox Homes, plans to transform the prime piece of property at the foot of West F Street into a dozen homes. Even so, a large chunk has been set aside for use as a bed-and-breakfast inn.
Bill Thomason, who runs his own construction firm, owns property near where the hotel has sat since the turn of the last century. He fought to obtain the east wing of the Pink Palace, and dragged the roughly 4,000-square-foot piece about 100 feet away. There, he plans to restore the building using salvaged pieces of the old hotel. He wants to open a two-bed inn over the summer.
Over the past three weeks, Thomason has tirelessly sifted through the shell of the boarded-up hotel, fetching original bricks, marble tiles and double French doors.
"We wanted to redo this piece back to its original splendor," he said Tuesday, while snapping photos of the site.
Thomason, 43, spent part of the day in a backhoe, turning dirt and preparing a site for his building, which sat on blocks. He plans to live in the restored inn, which will offer outdoor seating with a sweeping view of the Carquinez Strait.
The hotel, meanwhile, looks nothing like it did only a few months ago when it was being used as a 16-unit apartment complex.
It's been ripped up inside and out, with punched-out or boarded-up windows.
In its heyday in the 1940s, the hotel was a wildly popular place known for its fine meals, tea parties and wedding receptions. The original structure went up in the 1880s; it was rebuilt in 1921 after a fire.
City preservationists had argued to spare the hotel as a historic building; city officials balked.
"It is nice that (Thomason) is going to keep part of it, but there is a concern that the town will start to define this as the way to handle its historic buildings," said Donnell Rubay, a Benicia writer and historic activist.
Colette Meunier, the city's community development director, said the building did not have any historic value.
"The council gave us direction to work with Mr. Thomason," she said, "and we are not calling this portion historic. We do allow people to move and recycle buildings."
Thomason, wearing a black T-shirt and a tape measure on his hip, was asked what he would call his slice of the old hotel. He paused.
"I kind of like the Pink Palace," he said.
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 10, 2004
BENICIA -- The old Anderson Hotel, long known for its elegant tea parties and pristine waterfront views, will collapse into a cloud of rubble today.
A demolition crew is expected to raze the large, two-story building, also known as the Pink Hotel or the Pink Palace.
The removal of the once-attractive structure signals the end of a 1920s-era hotel, one that had been the subject of a heated city debate over its historic value.
In the end, city officials said they did not consider the wood-shingled building historic and worth sparing, a blow to area preservationists.
A developer, Lenox Homes, plans to transform the prime piece of property at the foot of West F Street into a dozen homes. Even so, a large chunk has been set aside for use as a bed-and-breakfast inn.
Bill Thomason, who runs his own construction firm, owns property near where the hotel has sat since the turn of the last century. He fought to obtain the east wing of the Pink Palace, and dragged the roughly 4,000-square-foot piece about 100 feet away. There, he plans to restore the building using salvaged pieces of the old hotel. He wants to open a two-bed inn over the summer.
Over the past three weeks, Thomason has tirelessly sifted through the shell of the boarded-up hotel, fetching original bricks, marble tiles and double French doors.
"We wanted to redo this piece back to its original splendor," he said Tuesday, while snapping photos of the site.
Thomason, 43, spent part of the day in a backhoe, turning dirt and preparing a site for his building, which sat on blocks. He plans to live in the restored inn, which will offer outdoor seating with a sweeping view of the Carquinez Strait.
The hotel, meanwhile, looks nothing like it did only a few months ago when it was being used as a 16-unit apartment complex.
It's been ripped up inside and out, with punched-out or boarded-up windows.
In its heyday in the 1940s, the hotel was a wildly popular place known for its fine meals, tea parties and wedding receptions. The original structure went up in the 1880s; it was rebuilt in 1921 after a fire.
City preservationists had argued to spare the hotel as a historic building; city officials balked.
"It is nice that (Thomason) is going to keep part of it, but there is a concern that the town will start to define this as the way to handle its historic buildings," said Donnell Rubay, a Benicia writer and historic activist.
Colette Meunier, the city's community development director, said the building did not have any historic value.
"The council gave us direction to work with Mr. Thomason," she said, "and we are not calling this portion historic. We do allow people to move and recycle buildings."
Thomason, wearing a black T-shirt and a tape measure on his hip, was asked what he would call his slice of the old hotel. He paused.
"I kind of like the Pink Palace," he said.
posted by Corey at 1:57 PM
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