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If you blink you could almost miss the 5th floor. There are only a few rooms here, all in the center section of the hotel, grouped around the elevators. At least one of the rooms has a balcony. Unless you have a room on this floor there is only one thing of interest on this floor. Look for the emergency exit signs and head out into the stairwell. While all the stairs up to the 5th floor are bare concrete with a simple steel pipe hand railing, the stairs between the 5th and 6th floor are finished with marble! If you go up them you will probably find the door at the top to the 6th floor is locked. To get to the 6th floor, you will need to take the elevator... and hope nobody really rich or famous has the entire 6th floor rented!
The 6th floor of the Ahwahnee is incredible. Originally designed as a ballroom, it was converted into a penthouse home for the president of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company (Donald Tresidder) and his wife (Mary Curry Tresidder ) one year after the hotel opened. It remained a private home until the 70´s, when it was converted into guest rooms and suites. Because the entire floor can be used as a single large suite, it may be off-limits at times, so you may not be able to get to it. The first thing you will notice when you look around the 6th floor lobby is that the rooms up here all have names, in addition to room numbers. The 4 guest rooms take their names from persons connected to the hotel´s history. The rooms are
The Mather (Stephen Mather was head of the Park Service, he proposed and pushed for construction of the hotel),
The Spencer (she created much of the art work in the hotel),
The Underwood (the hotel´s architect), and
The Mary Curry Tresidder (this room was her bedroom!) The Tresidder Room has a large bathroom that still has her built-in wardrobe drawers for her fine dinner outfits. It also has a small steel balcony with a view of Upper Yosemite Fall. The remaining two parlor rooms are named for their original use,
the Library, and
Sunporch. The Library connects with the Underwood Room to become a suite. The Sunporch connects with the Mather Room and/or Spencer Room to become a suite. The Mather, Spencer and Sunporch can be combined into a 3-room suite. The Underwood, Tresidder, and Library can also be combined into a large 3-room suite. And the entire 6th floor can become a single 6-room suite. The room in this photo is the Spencer Room.
Another photo of the Spenser room. The 6th floor lobby has a few unique photos, and a sign next to the elevator gives a brief description of the 6th floor's history and rooms. Like the 5th floor there are no windows in the lobby, so you can´t check out the view unless you have a room (or quickly make friends with someone who does!) We stayed in the Spencer Room during our visit, it is a great room! There are more photos of it on the
Ahwahnee Hotel Additional Photos page.
The 6th floor rooms all have the original windows. Look closely at the panes of glass, each one is a slightly different size.
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