Nothing invokes midcentury Dallas more than The Statler hotel in Downtown Dallas. But like any 66-year-old Dallasite who’s had some professional restoration, she looks better than ever. Here’s her story.
Today we featured a walk-through of the stunning The Statler Residences. But let’s take a look back at The Statler through the years.
“Everyone wanted to see a future for what was once the coolest hotel in Dallas, the W-Ritz clone of its day — the Beatles stayed there, so did Elvis. It is also a nod back to the Stanley Marcus-drenched days of Dallas grandeur and sophistication,” Candy Evans once wrote.
The Statler Then
Completed in 1956 at a cost of $16 million, the Statler Hilton Hotel stood 19 stories high and included 1,000 guest rooms and a ballroom that could accommodate 2,200 standing. It was designed by New York architect William B. Tabler and the last hotel built by the famous Statler chain of hotels before it was acquired by Hilton.
The Statler Hilton Hotel opened in 1956 to great fanfare, as celebrities and locals to gather together for a four-day celebration. It was praised as the first modern American hotel, plus it was the first hotel to have elevator music. Muzak?
In 1988, Hilton Hotels sold the property, by that point known as the Dallas Hilton, to Hong Kong investors who renamed it the Dallas Grand Hotel. It closed in 2001. Then came years of neglect.
In 2008, The Statler Hilton was first placed on the endangered-building lists of local, state, and national preservation groups, including that of Preservation Dallas. These annual endangered building lists highlight the architecturally-significant properties that are not already designated as historical, are not located in conservation districts, or do not have any kind of protection against a developer purchasing the property for its land and tearing it down. The Statler was in danger.
In this Feb. 2022 column by Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi, he describes how vulnerable not just The Statler, but many Downtown Dallas buildings have become to the wrecking ball.
“[It …] was spurred on by unfortunate and surprise demolitions of several historic buildings in downtown Dallas in 2014 during a Sunday Cowboy’s game,” Preziosi wrote. “The shock of the wrecking ball tearing through century-old buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places angered many as there was no notice posted of the demolition or public discussion of alternatives to the demolition.”
But new decade, new lease on life for The Statler. Developer Leobardo Trevino purchased the property and the old Dallas Public Library next to it with preservation in mind.
In this April 2011 story from the archives, Candy spoke at length with Trevino, who sought to restore The Statler to its former glory, but was battling significant hurdles along the way.
Unfortunately the project was stalled by the trickiest of renovation complications — asbestos removal.
(Leobardo would later found Park Royal Custom Homes, who re-built this impressive Ursula Lane home that was in the Dallas tornado’s path.)
Then came Mehrdad Moayedi, St. Stoneleigh himself, to take on the exceedingly ambitious project in 2013. (Mehrdad bought the Stoneleigh Residences out of bankruptcy for $4.5 million in 2010, got the place going vertical again, and have been hot properties ever since.)
In this October 2013 archive article, Candy and Robert Wilonsky sniff out the details of the impending purchase by Moayedi’s Centurion American from Leobardo Trevino.
The Statler Today
At last — October 2017 — the hotel returned to its shining glory. Glitz, glam, and llamas.
Candy also took an exclusive tour through The Statler Residences.
From atomic-era glitz and glam, to neglect and grime through the grungy ’90s, The Statler has been through a lot. But she’s stronger and better than ever. She makes 66 years old look good.
