Checking in: The Press Hotel, Portland, Maine

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Central art focus on the main floor and the lobby louge is a huge art installation comprising sprialing typewriters. photo courtesy Press Hotel
The typewriter art installation in downtown Portland’s Press Hotel spirals between two floors and sets the Marriott Autograph property’s design theme. photo courtesy Press Hotel.

The Press Hotel, on the corner of Congress and Exchange Streets, puts most of downtown Portland’s must-see sights, must-eat restaurants, and must-do experiences within easy reach. Once home to the state’s largest newspaper, the Press Hotel, a member of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, honors its past while giving guests a comfy, contemporary yet retro arts and letters newspaper-themed experience.

Arts and letters merge at the Press Hotel in downtown Portland. photo courtesy press hotel
A letterpress art installation fills the wall behind the front desk at the Press Hotel. It sets the tone for the overall decor theme. photo courtesy Press Hotel

Location, location, location

The newspaper theme is carried throughout the Press Hotelo. ©hilary Nangle
The Press Hotel occupies the former Press Herald newspaper building at the corner of Congress and Exchange streets in downtown Portland. ©Hilary Nangle

Sited at the head of Exchange Street, which connects the Olde Port and Waterfront with downtown, the Press Hotel works equally well for business travelers (City Hall is across Congress Street) as vacationers. It’s an easy walk west on Congress to the Arts District or east to Munjoy Hill and all the new restaurants, breweries, distilleries, coffee/tea houses and independent shops now populating that area.

Valets make parking a cinch, and the daily rate includes as many ins and outs of the garage as you wish. (You usually can find overnight parking on the street, with no charges between 6pm and 8 or 9am, but read signs carefully for any restrictions. Day parking requires feeding a meter or pay station or opting for a garage).

Step into the Press Hotel, and the newspaper theme is obvious. ©hilary Nangle
Guests are introduced to the Press Hotel’s newspaper theme in the lobby, with art installations and other thematic decor. ©Hilary Nangle

The inside scoop

The ghosts of the Portland Press Herald linger inside the Press Hotel, but in a good way. The newspaper-themed decor with an artsy edge begins in the lobby. There’s a letterpress relief artwork behind the front desk; a typewriter cases work adjacent to it; and a spiral of typewriters installation filling an open stairwell wall.

The lobby lounge, called the Inkwell, continues the theme, with a typewriter set up for guest usage and tabletops displaying old newspaper pages with appropriate headlines, such as Goodbye, about the last edition of the long-ago Evening Express.

Inkwell does double duty: In the morning it’s a coffee bar, with house-made pastries until noon. At 4pm, it morphs into a cocktail lounge. The cozy seating areas, especially by the fireplace, invite relaxing with a glass of wine, beer, or a cocktail and perhaps choosing a nibble or two from the snack menu.

The Press Hotel in Portland, Maine, is decorated with a newspaper theme honoring the building's former life as home to the state's largest paper. ©Hilary Nangle
On the guestroom floors at the Press Hotel, headlines fill the walls and type tumbles into the carpets. ©Hilary Nangle

Read all about it

Elevators access guest rooms on the second to sixth floors. Step off the elevator, and read the walls. The directional signs are in a typesetter relief like the one in the lobby. The wallpaper comprises old Portland Papers headlines. Among my favorites: Elderly lobster set free; This time, dogs all dressed up with someplace to go; and Honest warden, the doe really had an antler. The headlines and type get closer together reading from down the wall, and it appears as if the type spills out in a jumble on the hallway carpet.

Robes, turn-down service, and Frette linens are some of the guestroom perks at The Press Hotel. ©hilary Nangle
Some of the handsome guestrooms in the Press Hotel, including the Penthouse Suite, have private terraces. ©Hilary Nangle

Sleep on it

Even the desk chairs carry out the arts and letters theme at the Press Hotel. photo courtesy press hotel
Room chair detail at the Press Hotel. photo courtesy Press Hotel

Guestrooms in The Press Hotel continue the theme, although it’s more subtle. On the back of desk chairs is the classic learn-to-type exercise: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

I’ve stayed here a couple of times, once in a king and another time in a junior suite, and I’ve toured the splurge-worthy penthouse suite. I find the guestrooms very comfortable and well equipped. They’re soothingly decorated in navy, white, and beige and display art from contemporary Maine artists.

Among the guestroom amenities: Frette linens, Cuddledown comforters, bathrobes, large flatscreen TVs, marble bathrooms with rain showers, mini refrigerators, bottled water, and coffee makers. A few rooms have wet bars and rooftop terraces.

The newspaper and writing theme is also present in phrases posted here and there. For example, on the Inkwell’s morning menu: “I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee,” Carly Simon; inside the closet: Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them,” Marc Jacobs; by the in-room Keurig: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give,” Winston Churchill; on a sign noting complimentary ice delivery: “Don’t skimp on the ice. I prefer beautiful, big squares for my cocktails,” Jost Andres.

You'll pass the typewriter art instalation when walking down to the hotel's lower level. photo courtesy Press Hotel
From the lobby, walk down the stairs to the hotel’s lower level, where there’s a fitness room, art gallery, and meeting rooms. The typewriter art installation fills the back wall. Photo courtesy Press Hotel.

The rest of the story

The hotel’s lower floor houses a fitness center, hallway art gallery, and meeting rooms with names such as Editorial and Composing.

Other amenities include complimentary airport and transportation center transfers, free Wifi, guest bicycles, and concierge and evening turn-down services.

Union at the Press Hotel in downtown Portland serves New American fare. photo courtesy Press Hotel
Union Restaurant, in the Press Hotel, features an open kitchen where diners can watch Executive Chef Josh Berry work his magic. photo courtesy Press Hotel

Union rules

Union Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Executive Chef Josh Berry draws heavily from local, sustainable farms, fisheries, and foragers for his New American menus. I’ll interview him for a post at a later date.

Just the facts

If you can swing the room rates, I think you’ll enjoy staying here. The service is friendly and efficient, the location superb, and rooms are nice to return to after a day of exploring.

Off-season rates start at around $179; peak-season rates begin around $479.

double room. photo courtesy Press Hotel
A double room, above, standard king room below, at the Press Hotel in downtown Portland, Maine. photos courtesy Press Hotel

Standard king room at the Press Hotel.