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Demolished But Not Forgotten. The Back-In-The-Day Operation of Houston's Luxurious Shamrock Hotel
Demolished But Not Forgotten. The Back-In-The-Day Operation of Houston's Luxurious Shamrock Hotel
The back-in-the-day
operation of Houston's luxurious Shamrock Hotel
The Shamrock Hotel was constructed between 1946 and 1949, southwest of
downtown Houston. It was the largest hotel in the United States when it was
built in the 1940s, and it served as an extravagant hub for many Houston
residents and guests from all over the country. Learn more about the 38-year
Not only did the tycoon own oil companies, but also a network of local
newspapers, office buildings, gas and chemical companies, a steel mill, and
other businesses. In 1949, his fortune was estimated to be over $200 million.
McCarthy's most famous project, however, was the Shamrock Hotel, built for
$21 million. It brought him national fame and inspired the creation of the
fictional character Jett Rink in Edna Ferber's 1952 novel Giant, which was
adapted into a film in 1956.
The hotel's architecture was both plain and unique. The lobby, spanning 1524
square meters, was designed in the Art Deco style. Spacious rooms, luxury
presidential "suites," public dining rooms for 10 people, an emerald room with
a banquet hall for 1000 people, and other areas were designed and decorated
by the city's greatest designers and craftsmen. The interiors of the rooms were
displayed in 63 different shades of green.
Behind the three main dining rooms, on the ground level or in the basement,
there were kitchens, a bakery, cold storage rooms, an ice maker, a laundry
room, dry cleaning, and other service facilities. The third floor featured small
dining rooms and kitchens, as well as a medical department. There were
single rooms for guests on the lower floors, "doublets" or one-room premises
on the middle floors, and separate apartments and penthouses on the upper
floors. Every room had air conditioning, a television, and a radio with four
radio stations, recorded music, or hotel entertainment. In total, there were
1,100 rooms.
The hotel held social events and had several restaurants, bars, and lounges. It
also had its own nightclub, the Emerald Room, and a private social club, the
Cork Club.
In 1949 and 1950, the pool hosted the National Junior Olympic Swimming and
Diving Championships. In addition, for several decades, Shamrock hosted
national synchronized swimming championships and other junior national
competitions. Top honors were given to the Shamrock Hilton Corkettes
synchronized swimming teams in recognition of their disciplined talent and
creative teamwork. Also, the hotel's swimming and diving teams and their rival
Dad's Club competed for state and national titles.
They shared the pool in the summer, and throughout the winter, they had to
clowns, and dancers entertained guests at every banquet and cocktail party
held by the hotel's pool, earning money for team trips to competitions.
Shamrock drilled two deep wells to provide the pool with 177,000 gallons of
water. The water was regularly recycled, and the filter system was updated
every 8 hours. Divers had access to two one-meter and two three-meter
jumps, as well as a diving structure with one 5-meter and one 10-meter diving
Local landmark
Shamrock was a popular destination for Houston's socialites, and it even had
its own radio show, "Saturdays at the Shamrock," produced by the ABC Radio
Network. At the time, it was the only national radio program that wasn't aired
in Los Angeles or New York. The show was recorded on location at the hotel.
It ran from 1949 to 1953.
pay off his debts, the entrepreneur sold the hotel to a life insurance company.
In 1954, Shamrock was bought out by the Hilton Hotels Corporation chain.
The corporation had ongoing difficulties in maintaining a level of occupancy
size, remote location from the downtown business district, and the rapid
The hotel was sold to Texas Medical Center in 1985, and while the garage
building was retained, the hotel, veranda, and pool gardens were demolished
lot. On St. Patrick's Day 1986, there was a protest against the demolition.
Then, 3,000 people came out to protest, including Glenn McCarthy, but the
Due to the outrage of many Houston residents over the hotel's demolition, the
to ensure that no other significant historical structure suffered the same fate
as Shamrock.