February 11, 2004

Architect William Tabler, Sr., who designed over 400 hotels, including the 46-story New York Hilton near Rockefeller Center, died on February 3. He was 89. A Harvard graduate, Tabler joined the Chicago firm Holabird & Root in 1939 where he worked on the 1,000-room Statler Hotel in Washington. He would later head Statler's in-house architecture department before starting his own practice in 1955. Tabler designed Hilton hotels in Baltimore, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Washington and St. Paul; Statler hotels in Dallas and Hartford; and InterContinental hotels worldwide.

By Tony Illia

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