The Rice Hotel
Although today it is now known as "The Rice", and contains luxury apartments, this historic building got its start in 1913 as a 17 story, double winged hotel. Before that, two other buildings stood at this site…
- The Capitol Building (1837-1881) - Constructed by the Allen brothers and used by the Republic of Texas as it's capitol building, from 1837-1839, and from 1842-1845. After that, it was leased to various hotel operators and went through several name changes (a few being the Capitol Hotel, Houston House, and the Barnes House). It was demolished in 1881.
- Capitol Hotel (1881-1912) - A 5 story Victorian style hotel constructed by Col. Abraham Groesbeck. After Groesbeck's death in 1886, William Marsh Rice purchased the property and added a 3 story annex to it. After Rice's murder in 1900, the building transferred to the Rice Institute, which Rice had established in 1891, and was renamed to the Rice Hotel.
The Rice Hotel - circa 1910
In 1912, with the hotel losing money and having unpaid taxes, Jesse H. Jones leased the building from the Rice Institute and with their backing, demolished it and built a new 17 story building. The new Rice Hotel featured 4 restaurants, a concert hall, a banquet room and a rooftop deck.
The Rice Hotel - circa 1913
Over the years, Jones added improvements such as a third wing, which increased the number of rooms to over 1000, air conditioning, escalators, a barber shop, and an 18th floor. After Jones' death in 1956, the hotel was conveyed to his family's nonprofit foundation, the Houston Endowment. More improvements were made, including adding a 5 story annex and a second grand ballroom. In 1971, the Houston Endowment donated the hotel to Rice University
The Rice Hotel (with the 3rd wing) - circa 1942
During the next 45 years, the Rice Hotel went from being abandoned and nearly demolished to being bought and sold by numerous investors, and is currently owned by Crow Holding Capital Partners. During this time, the hotel was converted in lofts, and went from 1,000 hotel rooms to 312 apartments. The public spaces on the first floor were modeled after the 1913 version of the hotel, which included restoration of the former 2 story lobby and the Crystal Ballroom, and adding cast iron awnings to cover the sidewalks.
Notable occurrences:
1946-1963: Home to the Petroleum Club of Houston
1962: NASA's Astronaut Group 2 had its first meeting inside the hotel. Among that group were Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Pete Conrad.
1963: President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy spent time here on November 21, 1963, just a day before the president was assassinated.
1977: Closed by court order in 1977 after Houston's new stringent fire codes caused it to be declared unsafe.
1978: Added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Besides the Kennedys, other famous people who stayed or performed here include Groucho Marx, Shirley Temple, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tommy Dorsey, Perry Como, Laurence Welk, Liberace, Richard Nixon and Mick Jagger.
To claim this cache, you will need to perform the following steps:
1. Take and post a picture of yourself with the building in the background. You do not have to show your face if you do not want to but make the picture unique. Posts with duplicate pictures will be deleted.
Email/Message me the following:
2. Locate the plaque to the left of "The Rice" entrance door. What are the dates listed on the 4th line? (from the top)
3. The number of white light fixtures located on the patio ceiling along both Texas Ave. and Main St. (See pic #1 in the Gallery)
4. Briefly describe the sculptures on either side of the 909F entrance. (Near Texas Ave. and Travis St.
(Please do not post the answers in your log. Otherwise I'll be forced to delete it and ask you to repost.)
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018 This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtual Caches created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.