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The Hotel ICON.... downtown. Who's familiar?


ZeroTX

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Hi guys,

Is anyone familiar, intimately or otherwise, with the Hotel ICON downtown? I know it is an old early 20th century bank building that they rennovated into a hotel a few years ago. I would call the style, sorta french parlor-ish, but the overall feeling is very plush and LOTS of character. It is a luxury hotel that doesn't have the "sterile" feeling of a Hilton or Marriot.

So, what's the rest of the story? I know it hasn't been a bank on a long, long time... what else was it? Who owns it? Was it used as a hotel before the ICON?

I really stumbled upon it when looking for a downtown hotel to stay in for our wedding night. The ICON was a lot neater than the Hilton or Hyatt, so I chose a small suite for us to stay in. It was awesome. Like no place I've ever been and the service was great... people stumbling overthemselves practically to make sure you're a pleased customer... especially in the restaurant downstairs. Best restaurant experience of my life, too.

Here's their website:

http://www.hotelicon.com

So, anyone have the scoop or some good pictures? I was a bit "occupied" on my wedding day, so I didn't get to spend a lot of time outside our room :)

-Michael

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i bought a picture at a resale shop a few weeks ago. It looks like it was the Calico hotel in the pic. The sign on Main goes from the top of the 1st floor to the 8th floor. on the northern side of the building it reads "Serving All Texas - Calico - Continental American"

The pic was taken sometime after 1962 as the Exxon and Tenneco buildings are also in the pic. They were built in 1962 according to another skyline pic i have.

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It wasn't used as a hotel before. This was originally the Union National Bank building from 1910. The same architects also designed the original wings of the Rice Hotel and the Chronicle building. The keystones on the arched windows feature Hermes, the god of trade, commerce, cunning, and trickery. Appropriate for a bank, I suppose. ^_^

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The Hotel Icon was redeveloped by Randall Davis' team. It was their first hotel project. It's a GREAT place to stay. The original team just recently (in the last 3 months or so) sold the hotel to a group of investors from L.A.

The restaurant/bar were developed by Cindy Crawford's husband.

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  • 1 year later...
Cool ,so that's what the scaffolding was for last time I walked by it...

Is the lighting still up? I was under the impression that the lighting was installed just for the opening of their new restaurant (Voice) which was last Thursday night.

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