Building History

The San Jose, California, City Directory, 1890, (p. 59), indicated that the Hotel Vendome operated on North 1st Street beyond the Southern Pacific Company's broad gauge tracks. It was one of thirty hotels listed in the city directory that year.

Building Notes

The three-and-a-half-story Hotel Vendome was visible in a film created before 1906 by the Edison Company; Andrew J. McIlvaine, one of the organizers of the Pony Express, has been credited by some sources as the planner of the Hotel Vendome; the San Jose Mercury, in its 01/31/1907 obituary on McIlvaine, indicated that he was employed by Jacob Lenzen to build the hotel. The hotel was done in the Queen Anne Style, and possessed a profusion of shapes, colors and textures. A photograph of the hotel appeared on p. 7 of the Polk's San Jose city and Santa Clara County directory (See Polk's San Jose City and Santa Clara County Directory, 1911-1912, [Oakland, CA: Polk-Husted Directory Company, 1911]. p. 7.)

The building was a grand, Queen Anne style building with a diverse array of cross-gabled roofs, turrets, towers and turned-wood porch posts. Multiple porches allowed guests to sit outside and take in the landscaped grounds and views to the

There were also hotels named the "Hotel Vendome" that operated in Bellingham, WA, Seattle, WA, and Oakland, CA. These hotels were named for the luxurious inns that operated on Paris's Place Vendôme, such as the prestigious Hôtel Ritz (established in 1898).

Alteration

An annex was added in 1903, but this did not survive the 1906 earthquake;

Demolition

The Hotel Vendome in San Jose, CA, was razed in 1930.

PCAD id: 1342