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When we arrived in Cincinnati for the homeschool convention there last week, Ray dropped our stuff and me off at the Hilton Netherland Plaza while he parked the car. As I told you the other day, they had wonderful rates for the convention. Almost immediately I felt like Dorothy when she and Toto landed in the Land of Oz. I told Ray, “I don’t think we’re in Gainesboro anymore!”

This beautiful staircase was the first thing I noticed.

On the Staircase
Ray and I stand on the staircase on Saturday night after the convention.

Behind me you can catch a glimpse of one of the tall matching towers of light . . . .

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. . . that stood on either side.

Grand Staircase

French art deco details are on display throughout the hotel — in lighting . . .

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. . . and swirly railings . . .

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and ornate something-or-others . . .

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. . . and even in the frame of the window of the guest business center.

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So you would think that with all this attention to detail, by the time the developer opened the hotel on January 28, 1931, he would have gotten everything figured out about what to call it. The plan was to call the new hotel the St. Nicholas Plaza. By opening day, the hotel was stocked with linens, bedspreads, tableware, and menus bearing the hotel’s logo and the monogram St. NP. However, five days later another company sued the hotel because they had the rights to the name St. Nicholas Hotel.

The solution was to change the name to something that could use the same monogram. Therefore, the hotel was renamed Starrett’s Netherland Plaza, after the developer. When the Starrett company got into financial difficulty and lost ownership in November of 1932, the Starrett was dropped and the hotel became the Netherland Plaza.

Ever beat yourself up because you didn’t take care of an important detail? Give yourself a break. At least you haven’t ordered linens for 800 bedrooms and then scrambled to find a name to fit the monogram.

Rest in the One Who has all the details under control.

Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?
And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31

 

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