Omni Parker House

The Omni Parker House is a historic hotel in Boston, Massachusetts built in 1927. The original Parker House Hotel on the site opened in 1855. Founder Harvey D. Parker ran the hotel until his death in 1884, when the business passed on to his partners. Omni Parker House, Boston is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[1]

History

19th century

The original Parker House, the two buildings on the right, seen in the late 19th century.

Opened in 1855 by Harvey D. Parker and located on School Street near the corner of Tremont, not far from the seat of the Massachusetts state government, it has long been a rendezvous for politicians.^[2]

The hotel was home to the Saturday Club, also referred to as the Saturday Night Club, which consisted of literary dignitaries such as Charles Dickens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Charles Dickens resided in the Parker House for two years in his own apartments and first recited and performed "A Christmas Carol" at the Saturday Club at the Parker House. The Parker House currently holds possession of Charles Dickens lock and key to his apartment door and also his mirror.^[2]

The hotel introduced to America what became known as the European Plan. Prior to that time, American hotels had included meals in the cost of a room, and only offered them at set times. The Parker House charged only for the room, with meals charged separately and offered whenever the guest chose.^[2]

Actor John Wilkes Booth stayed at the hotel April 5–6, 1865, ten days before assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He was apparently in Boston to see his brother, actor Edwin Booth, who was performing there. While in Boston, Booth was seen practicing at a firing range near the Parker House.^[2]

The Parker House perfected Massachusetts’ state dessert, Boston cream pie,^[2] invented the Parker House roll; and coined the term "scrod".

Jacques Offenbach stayed at the hotel during an 1876 tour of the US, and inspired by the rolls, sang a tune to friends as a joke. He would later use it as a theme in his opera The Tales of Hoffman.^[2]

20th century

The Parker House in 1910, showing a later extension, with the earlier wings behind it on the left

The original Parker House building and later architectural additions were demolished in the 1920s and replaced with an entirely new building. "Four of the five buildings Harvey D. Parker built between 1854 and 1866 were demolished in 1926 by the Wittle Hotel Co., which purchased the property from Parker that year."^[3] One wing of the original hotel remained open until the new building was completed in 1927.^[4]

John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for Congress at the Parker House in 1946 and also held his bachelor party in the hotel's Press Room there in 1953.^[2]

The hotel was bought by Dunfey Hotels in 1968.^[5] In 1983 that chain bought Omni Hotels and reorganized itself, with the Dunfey name phased out and the Parker House placed in the Omni division.^[6]

21st century

The hotel currently has 551 rooms and suites.^[7] In 2009, AAA named the hotel one of the top 10 historic U.S. hotels.^[8] It is a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America program.

Famous people

Ho Chi Minh worked as a baker at the hotel from 1911 to 1913. Malcolm X, then going by the name Malcolm Little, worked as a busboy at the hotel in the 1940s.^[2]

In literature and music

Edith Wharton includes a private meeting between characters Mr. Newland Archer and Countess Ellen Olenska at the Parker House in her celebrated work of the early 20th century, The Age of Innocence.^[9] Archer is told that the Countess Olenska is staying in Boston at the Parker House, and he flees Newport to meet her there.^[10]

Stephen King's 1999 short story 1408 - about a writer who experiences a haunted stay at a New York hotel called the Dolphin - was based on the (now walled-off) Room 303 of the hotel and the supernatural events surrounding the room.

The 2011 Grammy award winning Parker Quartet is named after the hotel.^[11]

See also

• Harvey D. Parker (1805–1884), founder of the Parker House

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parker House (Boston, Massachusetts).

• Official Web site
• Secrets of Beantown, from Auddissey Guides

Coordinates: 42°21′29.50″N 71°03′35.07″W / 42.3581944°N 71.0597417°W / 42.3581944; -71.0597417