Westin Hotel High Street

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PWMFlyer

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Looks like the Hotel is going to construct an outdoor roof deck with access from the top of the east. Its on the agenda for the Historic Preservation Comm. They have been talking about this for the past few years. Probably on the old Pool site that was filled in due to leaking issues. This would be a great attraction north of Boston. Only a few sites in Boston offer a public outdoor deck..
 
That would be awesome and long overdue. I always thought they should have enclosed the entire roof and turned it into an event center after their plans for the park got shot down. Would be a great place for wedding receptions and smaller meetings and conventions with the best views in northern New England.
 
I believe the Holiday Inn By the Bay turned part of the topmost level of their parking garage into an outdoor deck this summer, but that would be much lower than the Top of the East. I don't think the new Westin deck will be on the actual pool site, though... that was at the far end from the Top of the East, over the concrete northern extension of the hotel near the Gateway garage.
 
The southwest corner of the roof allowing views towards the harbor and west end for sunsets would make the most sense. The roof edge lip is only a couple of feet high so some heavy duty railings or half walls will need to be constructed to prevent the guests from accidentally free falling 140 feet!
 
This is great news--a view of the White Mountains and sunsets. I talked to a bartender at the Top of the East a while back and he told me that when it was a pool in the 70s, Ozzy Osbourne and his group stayed at the hotel. And what did they do? Like the rockers of old did with their hotel stays, they trashed things. They threw deck chairs from that pool to High Street below, and soon after it was closed. They could put up a large-framed picture of the group along with the story copy of the incident in the lounge. That would be cool. The first 10 years of the Civic Center's life saw many iconic rockers perform, and many probably stayed at this hotel. Tony Shalhoub, the television actor who starred in "Monk," worked at the Top of the East in the 80s. Post a picture of him too.
 
Proposed 2,200 square foot rooftop patio addition in 2 phases. Shown below is phase 1. Phase 2 wraps around the corner. For further info and drawings you can go to the portlandmaine.gov Agendas-Minutes ~ Historic Preservation Board Meeting of 12/16/2020. Also, there is an article about the Westin rooftop patio on today's Maine Biz website.
 
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Went here with friends this past Saturday night. I asked a bartender about this and he said they are closing the lounge in March, and reopening in June. Not only will the outdoor area be done (not sure if both phase 1 and 2), but the entire interior will be renovated. The problem with this lounge is that the lighting reflects onto the windows, and at night, you can't see much unless you put your face up to the window. Also, the bar itself is underwhelming. "Bar design 101" has a back shelf lit from behind or underneath. Currently, the bottles are not lit and within hideous polished green wood shelving. If they get this right, and I think they will, it will be as good a hang as Bayside Bowl's rooftop. And, one of the best rooftop bars northeast of NYC. Boston primarily has the Envoy in the Seaport District, and that is okay, but not spectacular. Although, the new Cambria's rooftop deck in South Boston will be cool when it opens. And, the completed renovation of the Prudential Center one. One of the worst rooftop lounges I've been to? That's easy. The top of the Hancock Tower in Chicago (100th floor). It's so high up it's like looking at ants on the ground. And, it's not too large, so it actually sways with a whistling sound. I don't want to drink my Negroni on a roller coaster.
 
Thanks for the update and I agree with your "too tall" height assessment. The Westin rooftop is around 300' above sea level which affords excellent views of Greater Portland while still maintaining the visual details at street level. The Top of the East has always been on my to do list when I have friends and family visiting Portland and it has never disappointed even though I have noticed the worn out appearance over the past few years.
 
Another rooftop bar in Boston that some have said good things about here is the one at the hotel at the Hub on Causeway. I haven't been but it was well spoken of in that thread. Best of luck to the Westin Eastland crew!
 
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I want that table near the fireplace, to watch the sun set next to the White Mountains. Epic.
 
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Too bad they removed the original roof top wall which enclosed the entire roof of the hotel when it opened in 1927. I'm guessing that it was taken down in the early 60's to blend the roofline with the new apartment addition (concrete slab) on the lower High Street end. The original wall would have been perfect for the new outdoor seating area and I also wish the architect would have matched all of the windows for uniformity when the Top of the East was expanded.
 
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When viewed from Goggle Earth, this has to be one of the most concentrated urban blocks in New England outside of Boston. The number of buildings that are all interconnected is quite impressive and the amount of bricks used to construct this super block is off the charts! This also shows the extra height of the boiler shaft that rises above the Top of the East level. It pains me to this day that previous owners went the cheap route and painted (pink) over the former Sonesta and Eastland Motor Hotel signage on both sides instead of restoring the brick back to it's original appearance.
 
Haven't some of those blocks along Forest been connected internally?
 
They were connected, but I haven't been in the Congress Square Apartment building in decades and I'd rather not venture into it now.
 
Portlander said:
They were connected, but I haven't been in the Congress Square Apartment building in decades and I'd rather not venture into it now.
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Is that the Congress Square Hotel building, that fronts on Congress? ISTR it was initially apartments for the elderly; is it still?
 
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The entire complex was a hotel and was also home to WCSH Radio and in 1953 the television studios were built on the top floor and they were utilized until 1977 when WCSH 6 moved operations to their current location. I think this was also around the time the building was converted to senior housing with little fanfare and it's use as a functioning hotel ended a few years prior.
 
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Shaw's was actually located on Congress Street in the building to the left of the Congress Square Hotel and eventually became Paul's Food Center. There was also another Shaw's on the site where the Fidelity Building was built after moving from a location on Middle Street due to a fire.
 
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