Hotel Adolphus

The Hotel Adolphus in Dallas is a monument to a king -- "the king of the brewers," Adolphus Busch.

In 1910, Dallas was a dusty cattle town that aspired to become a world-class city. Local businessmen, believing that such a city needed a world-class hotel, approached Busch, the president of the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company.

Busch was born in Germany in 1839 and emigrated to St. Louis in 1857, where he worked as a steamboat clerk and brewing supplies salesman. In 1861, he married Lilly, the daughter of wealthy St. Louis brewer Eberhard Anheuser, and a few years later was managing the Anheuser brewery with great success. By 1879 Busch's name was attached to the company, and by 1901 Anheuser-Busch was selling a million barrels of beer per year.

Adolphus was a beer baron with champagne tastes. He decorated his four lavish homes, in St. Louis, Pasadena, Calif., Germany and in the hops-growing region of New York, with exquisite furnishings and priceless paintings, and surrounded them with expansive gardens. A well-dressed, outgoing man with a carefully trimmed mustache and goatee, Busch welcomed into his homes Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, actress Sarah Bernhardt, singer Enrico Caruso, and the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, among others.

According to one account, "Adolphus was not particularly tall, but he was certainly commanding. He walked with the ramrod stiffness of a Prussian sergeant-major, relaxed with the loose-jointedness of an adagio dancer. He was stern in the hour of decision, jovial in the time for hospitality, and played the role of the merchant prince."

Busch had warm feelings for the citizens of Texas. Texans were thirsty people, and many of them shared Busch's German heritage, so it's not surprising that Texas was the first state to which A-B shipped beer in refrigerator cars. Busch's empire extended to real estate, and he already had financed several buildings in Dallas, so he agreed to build a hotel. Son-in-law Edward Faust, an A-B vice president, oversaw the project, and renowned St. Louis architects Barnett, Haynes and Barnett designed it.

The Hotel Adolphus opened on Oct. 5, 1912, and the American Institute of Architects declared it "the most beautiful building west of Venice." The luxurious, French Renaissance-style building cost Busch more than $1.8 million. Its 21 stories -- supposedly chosen because Busch was the 21st of 22 children -- towered far above everything else in Dallas. Brick, granite and slate adorned the exterior walls, which were crowned with a verde antique bronze mansard roof. Bas-relief and bronze figures, faces, floral designs and animals decorated the façade. Personal touches, in addition to the hotel's name, included a sculpted turret that resembles a beer bottle, and an ornate brass chandelier bedecked with images of eagles, part of the Anheuser-Busch trademark, and hops.

Unfortunately, Busch never got to stay at his namesake. He had been in poor health for half a decade, and he died in Germany on Oct. 10, 1913, leaving a fortune estimated at $60 million. The Busch family owned the hotel until 1949, when they sold it to real estate magnate Leo Corrigan.

In 1917, the Adolphus opened the first roof garden in Dallas for dining and dancing. The hotel and its ballrooms welcomed many of Dallas' richest and most famous visitors, from generals and presidents to actors and astronauts. It was here that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt stayed when visiting the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, that Rudolph Valentino made the ladies swoon, that Tommy Dorsey led his big band. The Century Room was famous for its retractable wooden floor, which had a layer of ice underneath. There, Olympic speedskater Dorothy Franey presented her Ice Revue three times a day for 14 years in the 1940s and '50s.

An extensive, $80 million renovation brought the hotel back to better than its original splendor in 1981, and that year, it was selected for the National Register of Historic Places. The renovation combined rooms to make them larger; today, they average 550 square feet and are decorated with Queen Anne- and Chippendale-style furnishings.

The hotel receives four diamonds from AAA, while its showcase restaurant, the French Room, is one of a handful of five-diamond restaurants in the nation. Diners who choose the French Room will feel like they're sitting in a palace, under a vaulted ceiling decorated with flowers, cherubim -- and hops -- and hung with chandeliers of handblown Venetian glass. The food is expertly prepared, the service impeccable. A recent meal included mesclun salad with Parma ham, avocado and goat cheese; pan-seared fillet of Dover sole with Sauteed fresh spinach, crabmeant and tomatoes in a brown butter caper sauce; pineapple ginger sorbet; and Hawaiian chocolate Kahlua crème brulee with fresh berries. The restaurant also hosts re-enactments of historic meals, such as a re-creation of the last meal served on the Titanic and a luncheon served at the Kennedy White House.

Lavish best describes the lobby, with its rich paneling, Brussels tapestries, English Regency furniture, fresh flowers and 1893 Steinway piano. Guests meet there for afternoon tea, or cocktails in the evening. It is a Christmas tradition for many Texans to stop in for tea after shopping at the original Neiman Marcus, down the street.

It seems appropriate that a hotel built by a king should be fit for a queen. In 1991, the Adolphus opened its doors to Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and Prince Philip. Their portrait hangs in the lobby, not far from a portrait of the king of brewers, Adolphus Busch.

The Adolphus Hotel
1321 Commerce St.
Dallas, Texas 75202
(214) 742-8200; (800) 221-9083
Rooms $250-$350