Fort Worth, TX: The Blackstone Hotel

Address: 601 Main St, Fort Worth, TX, 76102

Location: 32° 45.228′ N, 97° 19.837′

Opened: October 10, 1929

Status: Open, now The Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth Downtown

Elvis Dates: 1950s

I Visited On: February 25, 2023

My experience

In the heart of downtown, this Fort Worth treasure is surprisingly easy to get to. Haha

Parking near the hotel was fairly easy to find on a weekend, although it cost a small fortune.

The exterior of the hotel is completely original, although the most recent interior renovation’s goal was to “modernize” the interior, and in my opinion, has left the building without personality, internally. Regardless of this, the current owners made sure to save part of the original lobby staircase, which is kept right inside the entry door on the right, along with pictures of some of the Blackstone’s famous visitors and a historic landmark plaque.

History of the site

Built on the site of the original Fort Worth Rialto Theatre, the Blackstone Hotel, a 23-story art deco skyscraper was opened on October 10, 1929, just days before the stock markets crashed and the Great Depression began. The building features tons of terraces and a rooftop pool, and was so popular when it opened that all 800 rooms were booked by the end of the first day.

The hotel also hosted the WBAP radio show on the 22nd floor, which is where Bob Willis supposedly composed and/or recorded the song “San Antonio Rose.”

The building’s original owner and builder was a cattleman, oilman, and real estate developer, Christopher Augustus O’Keefe, who died on December 24, 1929, just 2 months after the Blackstone opened to the public.

The hotel has changed ownership a couple times through the last 93 years. From 1952-1962, the Hilton Hotel chain remodeled the interior and base of the building and built a 5-story annex on the south side of the building. The Hilton remodel left very little of the original interior, except a 2nd-level stairway and some plaster ceilings.

The hotel was then vacant from 1982-1999 and then renovated, again, and reopened as the Courtyard Hotel by Marriott, which is what it is to this day. A Corner Bakery Cafe also occupies the entire retail frontage space along Main St.

Finally, in 1984, the Blackstone Hotel was put on the National Register as a City of Fort Worth landmark.

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The famous people that stayed at the Blackstone Hotel include Elvis Presley, every president from Hoover to Nixon, Steve Allen, Bob Hope, John Wayne, Clark Gable, and many more.

Pictures I took on February 25, 2023

Photos of the original building, including the stairs

Photos of the current hotel lobby

Sources:

1. Hometown. “Black and Blue: Blackstone Hotel Began as the Bluebonnet.” Hometown by Handlebar, 12 Nov. 2018, hometownbyhandlebar.com/?p=12752.

2. “Blackstone Hotel.” OurFWcom, ourfw.com/listing-item/blackstone-hotel/. Accessed 13 May 2023.