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Overview

The $4 million Beverly-Wilshire Apartment-Hotel opened in 1927, at a time that real estate deveopment in Beverly Hills, CA, had begun to expand sigificantly. The steel-frame, high-rise hotel suggested a new scale of investment that would occur in Beverly Hills. In later years the hyphens and word "Apartment" in the name were dropped. Designed by the prolific Los Angeles architectural firm of Walker and Eisen, the Beverly Wilshire anchored one end of what would become one of the most posh shopping districts in the world, at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.

Building History

The real estate development firm of Walter G. McCarty Corporation erected this well-known hotel on a portion of the former Beverly Hills Speedway site. The cornerstone-laying ceremony occurred on 04/16/1927. The Los Angeles Times described what the ceremony would entail: "The Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce will take part in the cornerstone laying of the $2,000,000 Beverly-Wilshire Apartment Hotel, Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, Saturday at 2 p.m. Fred Niblo will be master of ceremonies. Mrs. Walter G. McCarty will seal the corner-stone in which documents will be placed. The structure will be nine stories above the ground and two below. It will have 400 rooms in two to ten-room apartments. The Walter G. McCarty Corporation is building it. It is to be ready for occupancy December 1. Walker & Eisen are architects and William Simpson Construction Company, general contractors. The steel work for the structure already is up." ("Hotel Corner-Stone To Be Laid Saturday," Los Angeles Times, 04/13/1927, p. A14.) Completion occurred by the end of 1927, with its public opening occurring on 01/14/1928. A Los Angeles Times writer described the new hotel in 12/1927: The building is laid out in the form of a huge block letter 'E' with a 250-foot frontage on Wilshire and a depth on Rodeo and Speedway drives of 150 feet. The motif for the exterior design is modified French renaissance with the ground floor in replica of the famous Cafe Madrid of Paris." The writer continued "...the new establishment has 352 rooms grouped into various-sized apartments and hotel suite, ranging from single rooms with bath to de luxe ten-room apartments with private roof gardens." (See "Large New Apartment Opens Soon," Los Angeles Times, 12/25/1927, p. F4.)

In 1945, Arnold Sigurd Kirkeby (1901-1962) bought the Beverly Wilshire, adding it to the portfolio of owned by his Kirkeby Hotel Company. The Kirkeby chain would control 28 hotels across the US and in Cuba by 1954, including the Palmer House and Drake in Chicago, IL, and the Waldorf-Astoria, Plaza, Roosevelt, Sherry-Netherlands and Hampshire House in New York, NY. According to author Gus Russo, the Kirkeby Hotel Company was intertwined with many leading organized crime figures. (SeeGus Russo, Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers, [New York: Bloomsbury, 2006], p. 97-98.)

Hotelier Hernando Courtright (1904–1986) and an investment consortium bought the hotel in 1961, and a decade later embarked on an ambitious expansion project. Courtright sold the property to Hong Kong-based Regent International Hotels in 1985 for $125 million; this new owner poured another $100 million into its renovation. After the remodeling, it was rechristened the "Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel." In 1992, the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels, Limited, took over management of the hotel, and has remained involved on the management level since that time.

Ownership of the hotel changed hands several times during the 1986-1996 period, culminating in a sale of the property in 1996 for about $100 million, about half what earlier buyers had paid. Los Angeles Times writer Evelyn Iritani wrote in 1996: "The Beverly Wilshire's owners invested $225 million to $235 million in the hotel over the past decade. But the hotel's complex financial history and its relationship with Harunori Takahashi, a flamboyant Tokyo real estate speculator now facing criminal charges in Japan, make it difficult to determine exactly who suffered the loss. Since the hotel was bought from famed hotelier Hernando Courtright for $125 million in 1985 by Regent International Hotels of Hong Kong, its ownership has changed several times. Along the way, it was acquired by the Japanese entrepreneur, who had launched a worldwide buying spree financed with $6 billion in low-cost loans from Japanese banks." The sale on 02/15/1996 by a group of Tokyo-based banks under the name of the "Hotel Investment Corporation" was to B.W. Hotel L.L.C. This purchasing syndicate consisted of eight entities: the Lai Sun Group, Glorious Sun Group, the Hong Kong Parkview Group Ltd., Yin Cheong Group, Far East Consortium Group, Shui On Group, Sunnet Investment Group and Kailey Enterprises Group. The Lai Sun Group also bought the Four Seasons Hotel in New York in 08/1996, expanding its US portfolio with two important hotel properties.

In 2018, the hotel contained 395 rooms, of which 137 were suites. The hotel described its facility consisting of "two buildings: the 10-storey Wilshire Wing overlooking the fashionable corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, and the 14-storey Beverly Wing overlooking the lush residential area of Beverly Hills. The two side-by-side buildings are connected by a beautiful porte-cochère, featuring a majestic gate inspired by Buckingham Palace, gas lamps from Edinburgh, an original El Camino Real bell marker, and a cobblestone driveway with stone imported from Italy." (See Beverly Wilshire A Four Seasons Hotel, "Accommodations," accessedd 04/23/2018.)

Building Notes

The Florentine Room operated in the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel in the 1930s, and attracted well-known entertainers, such as Judy Garland who performed there 10/24/1934. The Dutch-born, Southern California artist, Anthony (Antoon) B. Heinsbergen, painted murals for the interior of the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel.

A Renaissance Revival Style building, the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, level of significance: Local.

The Richard Meier-designed steakhouse, CUT, opened in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 06/2006. The famed restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, managed the 104-seat eatery, that became a chic destination for the city's glitterati.

Tel: (310) 275-5200 (2007).

Alteration

Between 1946 and 1957, the Los Angeles architect Paul R. Williams made alterations and additions to the Beverly WIlshire Hotel. According to the web site, Paul R. Williams, American Architect, "Williams’ initial renovations cost the owners over $3,000,000 but his subsequent renovations would include a grand ballroom to accommodate dancing to the big bands of the 40s and 50s, the Copa Club, a, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and tennis courts." (See Paul R. Williams Project.org, "Gallery Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA," accessed 04/13/2018.)

Courtright expanded the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 1971, with the addition of a new, 248-room, tower named the Beverly Wing. The Los Angeles architect Welton Becket (1902-1969) designed this new 14-story tower, which took the place of tennis courts, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool and attendant cabanas. Suites at the top of the Beverly Wing were two stories in height. The Penthouse Suite in this wing was claimed to be the largest guest room in any hotel in Los Angeles, at 5,000 square feet. A cobbled, covered walkway, dubbed "El Camino Real, " edged by gaslights, joined the old and new towers. As noted by the Los Angeles Conservancy, the hotel addition was completed after Welton Becket's death, and became the tallest high-rise in Beverly Hills.

Renovations occurred in the 1989 and in 1998; the earlier work, reworked the original 1928 Wilshire Wing at a cost of $100 million; the latter, costing $35 million, focused on the 1971 Beverly Wing.

The creation of CUT accompanied a larger $35 million renovation of the Beverly Wilshire that happened betweeen 2005 and 2007. During this remodeling in 2006, it was rebranded from the "Regent Beverly Wilshire" to the "Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel." This renovation was kicked off by the opening in 03/2005 of the 140-seat Blvd Restaurant and Lounge, a street-level restaurant, bar and outdoor patio that focused on the ambiance of Rodeo Drive. A new spa, ironically called, "The Spa," was also added to property at this time. This 8,000-square-foot facility contained a pool equipped with a cafe and bar, a "tranquility lounge," nine spa treatment rooms, and aromatherapy steam chambers.