HISTORY OF THE HOTEL

From it modest beginnings as a 12-room adobe boarding house to its current stature consisting of 239 guest rooms, the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa has been the keystone of Downtown Riverside since 1876. In the late 1800’s wealthy easterners and Europeans flocked to Riverside in search of a warmer winter climate along with the desire to invest in the area’s profitable citrus industry. By the 1890’s Riverside was the richest city per capita in the United States. This consistent influx of tourists to Riverside made Frank Miller, the Master of the Inn, recognize the dire need for a grand resort hotel.

Frank Miller opened the first wing of his new hotel in 1903. The Mission wing was built in Mission-Revival style architecture and sought to incorporate different structural elements of the 21 California Missions. Mr. Miller went onto add three more wings to his hotel: the Cloister, Spanish and completed it with the Rotunda wing in 1931.

Over the years the hotel has served as host to numerous celebrities and dignitaries.

The Presidential Lounge pays homage to the 10 U.S. Presidents that have passed through the doors of the Mission Inn. The current bar stands where President Theodore Roosevelt once slept during his visit to the hotel in 1903 and the lounge is also the site of Richard Nixon’s wedding to his wife Patricia. Whether it’s the JFK Cosmopolitan or the Herbert Hoover lemon drop, the lounge’s signature cocktails will leave you feeling very stately.

In the middle of the lobby sits a rather unique chair made especially for President Taft who weighed roughly 350lbs. and stood six-foot-five. Frank Miller heard the rumors of President Taft getting stuck in the White House bathtub, so he had a special chair commissioned for this very prestigious and rotund guest for the banquet that was to be held in his honor. A prime example of arts & craft style furniture, the Taft chair has been a spacious photo spot for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Robert Redford, couples and countless schoolchildren.

Frank Miller traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia on family vacations. Mr. Miller would always return with more “stuff” than he went with. Whether it was antique furniture, paintings, statuary or a bell, Frank could never resist a great bargain. The Miller family bell collection once exceeded 800 and today 400 of the Miller family’s’ bells can be seen strewn throughout the exquisite grounds of the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. Las Campanas, the hotel’s authentic Mexican restaurant, is home to an array of historic bells. The Nanking temple bell nicely adorns the Cantina section of the restaurant. This bell was one of the first items to leave China after the Boxer Rebellion in 1912 and Louis Comfort Tiffany once wrote Mr. Miller a blank check in an attempt to purchase this bell in which Frank ultimately declined. Another prized bell in the Miller family collection can be seen in its new location. The oldest dated bell in Christendom, A.D. 1247, is now being showcased right outside the Mission Inn Restaurant in the California lobby. On a trip to England, Mr. Miller purchased this bell and two others for around twenty-five dollars. When Mr. Miller returned to pickup the bells that he’d purchased, the shopkeeper only brought out two. The shopkeeper realized his mistake and told Frank that the bell wasn’t for sale. Frank objected with a written receipt of purchase and returned proudly to the Mission Inn with the oldest dated bell in the world.

Located a floor above the lobby, the hotel’s wedding chapels grace the Spanish-colonial inspired courtyard known as the Atrio. With its smooth travertine flagstones and Italian inspired bronze Bacchus fountain, the Atrio serves as a majestic backdrop for a timeless wedding. Part of the Rotunda wing, completed in 1931, the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel is embellished with priceless treasures from around the world. Precious Tiffany stained glass panels, which Mr. Miller acquired directly from Louis Comfort Tiffany, magnificently accent the grand walls of the chapel. The 18-karat-gold leafed Raya’s altar dates back to the mid-eighteenth century and was commissioned for a family home in Guanajuato, Mexico. Gleaming with gold and meticulously gilded, allow this altar to make your wedding glow.

Frank Miller successfully ran the Mission Inn Hotel from its early stages as an adobe boarding house in 1876 into the destination hotel it became until his death in 1935. His ingenuity and keen hospitality knowledge made the Mission Inn an institution in Riverside and a destination for everyone. After the Miller family sold the hotel in 1956 it changed hands numerous times and was on the brink of being demolished. The legacy of private family ownership was renewed by Duane Roberts and the business principles of Frank Miller have been revived

“It is the most unique hotel in America. It’s a monastery, a museum, a fine hotel, a home, a boardinghouse, a mission, an art gallery and an aviator’s shrine. It combines the best features of all of the above. If you are ever in any part of California, don’t miss the famous Mission Inn of Riverside.”
Will Rogers

“It has been left to Frank Miller, a genuine Californian, to dream of the hotel that ought to be, to turn your ideas into plaster and stone and to give us a mountain-belted Riverside the hotel which a Californian can recognize as his own.”
David Starr Jordan-First President of Stanford University