Built 1912 Added to NRHP November 20, 1986 | NRHP Reference # 86003175 | |
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Location 309 SW Broadway
Portland, Oregon Architect Doyle, Patterson & Beach | ||
The Benson Hotel is a 287-room historic hotel building in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It is owned and operated by Coast Hotels & Resorts. It was originally known as the New Oregon Hotel, and is commonly known as "The Benson". It has a reputation as one of Portland's finest hotels. The hotel is named after notable businessman and philanthropist Simon Benson. The Benson is the seventh largest hotel in Portland based on the number of rooms.
History
Simon Benson had wished to build a world-class hotel in Portland. During the population boom which occurred between the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition and the Great Depression, Benson fulfilled his wish.
The firm of Doyle, Patterson & Beach designed the main hotel building in French Second Empire style; Chicago's Blackstone Hotel served as an inspiration of the building's design. The hotel opened on March 5, 1913 as an annex to the adjacent Oregon Hotel, on the southern half of the block. It was known as the New Oregon Hotel for 16 months, then renamed The Benson Hotel after Benson took over management. Benson sold the hotel to William Boyd and Robert Keller in 1919. They, in turn, sold it to Seattle-based Western Hotels in 1944. In 1959, the old Oregon Hotel building next door was demolished by Western to make way for a 175-room annex to the 1912 building (Western was renamed Western International Hotels, and finally Westin Hotels). The Benson was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Westin Hotels sold the hotel to WestCoast Hotels (now Coast Hotels & Resorts) in 1988.
El Gaucho Restaurant is on the ground floor of the building.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell died in his hotel room at the Benson Hotel on November 12, 2008.