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Hotel Savoy Bed & Breakfast Kansas City, Missouri An elegant and impressive small hotel filled with antiques and warmth! Contact Info | Email this page to a Friend | Click to see a map  | Additional Pages... Introduction Guest Rooms/Rates

The Hotel Savoy was built on the corner of Ninth and Central Streets in 1888 by the Arbuckle Brothers of the Arbuckle Coffee Company. It offered turn-of- the-century elegance to political and stage personalities as well as cattlemen, grain merchants and travelers heading west.

In 1903 the hotel was remodeled and a west wing and the Savoy Grill dining room were added to the original east wing. Imported marble and tile, brass fixtures and stained glass windows are some of the original features of the hotel decor. Art Nouveau style stained glass in the skylight was designed in Kansas City by Frank Anderson for the hotel lobby.

At the turn of the century, The Savoy was the first hotel seen by travelers as they came from the old Union Depot. It was a luxury hotel, with a rooftop garden, ballroom, Italian tile floors, marble walls, its stained glass skylight and carved oak woodwork. During the early years, The Hotel Savoy served such celebrities as Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Marie Dressler, W. C. Fields, Will Rogers, Lillian Russell, Sara Bernhardt, and John D. Rockefeller.

Over the years, The Hotel Savoy's most enduring feature has been The Savoy Grill restaurant. Dating back from 1903, it is the oldest restaurant in Kansas City. Impressive features of the restaurant are its stained glass windows, high beamed ceilings, lanterns that were once gaslights, and an enormous carved oak bar. Booth No. 4, known as the president's booth, has been host to Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

The original Grill Room is surrounded by The Savoy Murals, painted by Edward Holslag in 1903. These murals depict the pioneers' departure from Westport Landing and their journey along the Santa Fe Trail. Holsag is represented at the Congressional Library in Washington, D.C. The Savoy Grill Murals have been included in the Smithsonian Institution's "Bicentennial Inventory of American Paintings." The Hotel Savoy and The Savoy Grill were entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 1985 Don Lee, who purchased the Savoy Grill restaurant in 1960 and the Hotel in 1965, began renovating The Hotel Savoy, turning existing rooms into luxurious Bed and Breakfast suites. Each room is finished in Victorian turn-of-the-century style, uniquely decorated and filled with antiques from within the hotel. Because of The Savoy's historic appeal, recent movies such as "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" and "Cross of Fire" have filmed scenes here.

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