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A Hotel?
Occasionally
there are stories hinting that the Victorian Cliff House (1896-1907) may
have been a hotel, like this...
Item 1, a
post-earthquake newspaper column (April 22, 1906) that claims
someone stayed at the Cliff House:
New York Times - Apr 22, 1906
The NYT did not have a
follow-up story on Mrs. Joseph Schwab. But we do know that the
Cliff House did NOT slide into the sea as so many papers reported.
Item 2, a
stereoview (german?) which reads "Amrika, San Franzisko
Strand-Hotel "Cliff House":
German translation:
strand = beach
Item 3, The Cliff House is listed in the
telephone directory yellow pages under "hotels" (courtesy
Ron Filion,
sfgenealogy.com):
But John
Martini notes that the definition of "hotel" during this period
doesn't necessarily mean imply lodging.
I went on-line and found the
following supporting evidence:
"The word hotel derives from the French hotel,
which originally referred to a French version of a
townhouse, NOT a place offering accommodation (in
contemporary usage, hotel has the meaning of "hotel",
and hotel particular is used for the old meaning)."
Source: Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/hotel
Next, I found the following definition in Webster's
Revised Unabridged Dictionary for 1913, a date which is
pretty close to the time period we're concerned with:
"Hotel \Ho*tel"\, n. [F. h[^o]tel, OF. hostel.
See Hostel.]
1. A house for entertaining strangers or
travelers; an inn or
public house, of the
better class." {NB; a public house is a pub}
Finally, in Australia a hotel is defined as "a
tavern; pub." Again, no
lodging mentioned.
Actually, this definition of hotel continues in use
today at finer restaurants (albeit in an abbreviated
form) where the fellow in charge is called the "maitre
d", which is actually short for "Maitre d'Hotel", French
for "a headwaiter or house steward."
Given Sutro's insistence that his Cliff House was
designed as a "French chateau", this theory may have
legs.
-John M |
John Freeman chimes in...
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Listing the Cliff House as a hotel doesn't really mean
much, does it? The fashion of the time was to provide a
comfortable room for dinners to either sleep-off a night
of indulgence or for a little extra "dessert" with a
special dinner guest.
CASE CLOSED unless stronger evidence is found.
-John F |
A compelling supposition. But Zoe
digs up fairly damning evidence to the contrary...
San Francisco Call - Aug 26, 1905
San Francisco Chronicle - Dec 18 1896
For more on the Cliff House Cottage click
here
As to the earlier clipping it's likely that Mrs. Corey was
also staying at the
Cliff
House Cottage.
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