Next year marks the 150th anniversary of San Francisco’s Palace Hotel — a major milestone for the iconic Beaux-Arts landmark, first opened in 1909 as the New Palace Hotel.
Occupying the site of the original Palace Hotel — destroyed by the legendary 7.9 earthquake that struck the city in April 1906 — the hotel now has another new look following a series of updates and upgrades.
Grand and expansive, but designed with intimate spaces aplenty, the Palace is like a full-service resort in the heart of the City by the Bay.
The property is nothing if not history-rich: Back in 1919, Pres. Woodrow Wilson cast his support for the Treaty of Versailles and the then fledgling League of Nations — a precursor to the United Nations —following the end of World War I.
Just four years later, his successors, Pres. Warren Harding, died in room 8064. Two decades later, the Palace hosted a grand feast to mark the establishment of the United Nations.
Today, the Palace — now part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection Portfolio — still retains this sense of history and occasion.
Still, it’s especially suited for families.
My sons got lost in the street-level branch of San Francisco’s fabled Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory. They spent hours posing for selfies among the hotel’s dramatic ground floor, before heading up to the Palace’s indoor pool, one of the largest in the city.
We spent the evening dining next to a roaring fire at Pied Piper, the hotel’s upscale pub, where kids are made to feel as welcome as grown-ups.
The menu of comfort classics with a global twist (such as Croque Madame, braised beef ribs, Ricotta Cavatelli cacio e pepe and eggplant walnut meatballs) comes courtesy of newly appointed Executive Chef David Tieg, a veteran of Michelin-starred restaurants in France.
Our room — one of 556 rooms and suites throughout the hotel — was accessed via a dramatic central hallway that felt nothing less than palatial. Inside, the room was filled with luxe touches like solid oak doors and brass door knobs, 11-foot ceilings, Frette linens and marble baths. Best of all, oversize windows provide views of the fog rolling in across San Francisco Bay, a welcome memory of my own childhood in the city.
Of course, no visit to the Palace is complete without tea at the Garden Court Restaurant. Tucked in the heart of the hotel, it features neoclassical colonnades capped by a soaring European glass domed roof made of 80,000 panes along with acres of regal violet carpeting. Although entirely grown-up, the hotel offers the Prince and Princess Afternoon Tea—a fitting way to experience a landmark that feels nothing less than truly royal.
Rooms from $339.
