5 things you didn’t know about the Round Hotel Towers in Maine

If you’ve ever driven past the Maine Mall on the Maine Turnpike, you’ve no doubt noticed the iconic round towers of a hotel on the east side of the highway. This hotel has been part of the Portland landscape for over 50 years. But how much do you know about this famous hotel?

Here are 5 things you didn’t know about South Portland’s round hotel towers.

It was opened in 1973 with only one tower

Today, the Double Tree by Hilton has two towers, but it wasn’t always that way, as this aerial photo of the Maine Mall shows. If you look across the street, you’ll see just one tower, and there’s nothing to the left of it that’s fully built up today.

The two towers are different heights

The first tower opened in 1973 and has 9 stories. The second tower, the one closer in this photo, was built in the early 1980s closer to the Maine Turnpike and has only 7 stories. There are a total of 220 rooms in the two towers.

Elvis Presley was supposed to stay at the hotel

Elvis Presley was scheduled to perform at the Cumberland County Civic Center on August 18, 1977 and was scheduled to stay at this legendary hotel. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack the day before the show in Portland.

You can see what the hotel looked like as well as shots of Portland in the film. This is Elvis.

The towers used to be made entirely of dark glass

In 2012, a $3.7 million renovation was carried out, giving the hotel towers a more modern look with red exterior cladding. This is a close-up, once again from the movie This is Elvis. I somehow like this look better, but it screams 70s and 80s.

The hotel has changed its name three times

New ownership usually meant new names for hotels, and these iconic towers were not immune. For many people in Maine, this will always be the Sheraton Hotel, but it was renamed the Wyndham Hotel and then its current name, Doubletree by Hilton.