The Montgomery Hotel, Designed by local architect William Binder, was
built in 1911 by prominent businessman C.T. Montgomery, sometimes called the father of the
downtown. The Classical Revival style structure had 142 rooms, a restaurant, a ballroom and two
dining rooms. The U-shaped building has six balconies with balustrades and brick-colored pergola
on the building's handsome facade.
The Montgomery is considered historically significant because of its early
reinforced concrete construction, architectural style and ties to important people in San Jose’s
history. It is eligible for the National Register of Historical Places and is on the California
Register. In January 2000 the hotel was relocated 186 feet South of its previous location
to First and San Carlos Streets, an event that received extensive media attention. The building
had been closed after suffering damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earth Quake.
The San Jose Redevelopment Agency has hired an architect to redesign the first level of the
structure which had to be demolished prior to the move. This included an elegant ballroom annex
which was torn down because of space limitations. The Francisco based Architectural Resources
Group has salvaged historical material from inside the building and documented drawings and
design features which will be available for the architect. Present plans call for the building
to be restored to a botique hotel. The black and white photographs shown here were taken in
1943 during the heydays of Downtown Hotels.
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