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Glossary · Architecture

Hotel President

Birge Clark’s six-story Spanish Colonial Revival hotel of 1929 on University Avenue, named in honour of Herbert Hoover.

The Hotel President opened in 1929, when Stanford’s Herbert Hoover was president. It had 125 rooms, a roof garden and a spiral staircase. As downtown hotels lost trade to motels on El Camino Real, it was turned into apartments in 1968.

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Questions people ask

Why is it called the Hotel President?

It opened in 1929 when Herbert Hoover, a Stanford man, was President of the United States.

Related terms

  • Birge ClarkThe architect (1893-1989) who designed much of Palo Alto in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, from the post office to the Lucie Stern Community Center.
  • University AvenueDowntown Palo Alto’s main street, with the 1941 train station at its foot and shops, restaurants, the Stanford Theatre and Lytton Plaza along its blocks.

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