Chittenden Hotel

Last updated
Chittenden Hotel
Chittenden Hotel, Columbus, Ohio.png
The third Chittenden Hotel building
Chittenden Hotel
Present-day site of the hotel
General information
Address205 N. High St., Columbus, Ohio
Coordinates 39°57′59″N83°00′08″W / 39.966515°N 83.002206°W / 39.966515; -83.002206
Opened1889
Closed1972
Demolished1973
Technical details
Floor count8 (3rd building)
Design and construction
Architecture firm George Bellows Sr. (2nd building)
Yost & Packard (3rd building)

The Chittenden Hotel was a hotel building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The hotel, located at Spring and High streets, was in three succeeding buildings. The first was built in 1889; the second in 1892; and the third in 1895. [1]

The Chittenden was created by Columbus businessman Henry Treat Chittenden, known for owning the Columbus Railway Company, in the horsecar and streetcar business. He was also involved in real estate and the arts, and was educated in and practiced law. [2] Chittenden had seen William Neil, a stagecoach entrepreneur, make a second fortune with his Neil House hotel, inspiring Chittenden to follow suit. [3] In 1873, he purchased the five-story Parker Building, an office building with retail space. In the late 1880s, he converted it into the first Chittenden hotel, adding two floors among other extensive renovations. It opened in 1889. [2] The building was gutted in a large fire in 1890. The next building was constructed in 1892 in a more lavish style by Columbus architect George Bellows Sr. [1] Chittenden built theaters around it the Henrietta on Spring St. and the Park on High St.; he also built a massive auditorium nearby. [3]

A block-wide fire demolished the second hotel on November 25, 1893, spreading from the unfinished auditorium to the hotel and Henrietta Theater. The city block had damage of about $300,000; Chittenden had only insured the hotel for $50,000. [3] Undeterred by the fires, Henry Chittenden built his third hotel in 1895, using solid materials including stone, steel, concrete, and brick. [1] The eight-story building was held under the Chittenden family's ownership, past his death in 1909, until it was sold in the early 1950s. [1] It was sold to the Temple of Good Will, which planned to build a skyscraper in Columbus. The organization struggled with operating the hotel. It restricted any liquor sales there, and found it difficult to have commercial and other travelers in its rooms and restaurants without alcohol sales. [4]

Just after 1960, the hotel's Moorish towers and eaves were removed to lower maintenance costs. The third hotel was the longest-lasting. It closed on March 15, 1972 and was demolished in February 1973. [1]

The high-rise William Green Building stands at the site of the hotel.

The Chittenden Hotel in 1963 Chittenden Hotel 1963.tif
The Chittenden Hotel in 1963

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Sullivan</span> American architect

Louis Henry Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism." He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture." The phrase "form follows function" is attributed to him, although the idea was theorised by Viollet le Duc who considered that structure and function in architecture should be the sole determinants of form. In 1944, Sullivan was the second architect to posthumously receive the AIA Gold Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LeVeque Tower</span> Skyscraper in Columbus, Ohio

The LeVeque Tower is a 47-story skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. At 555 feet 5 inches (169.29 m) it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Street (Los Angeles)</span> Historic district in Downtown Los Angeles

Spring Street in Los Angeles is one of the oldest streets in the city. Along Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, from just north of Fourth Street to just south of Seventh Street is the NRHP-listed Spring Street Financial District, nicknamed Wall Street of the West, lined with Beaux Arts buildings and currently experiencing gentrification. This section forms part of the Historic Core district of Downtown, together with portions of Hill, Broadway, Main and Los Angeles streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Currey (architect)</span> British architect

Henry Currey (1820–1900) was an English architect and surveyor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Southern Hotel & Theatre</span> Hotel and theater in Columbus, Ohio

The Great Southern Hotel & Theatre is an historic hotel and theater building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The building currently operates as the Westin Great Southern Columbus and the Southern Theatre.

William Boone was an American architect who practiced mainly in Seattle, Washington from 1882 until 1905. He was one of the founders of the Washington State chapter of the American Institute of Architects as well as its first president. For the majority of the 1880s, he practiced with George Meeker as Boone and Meeker, Seattle's leading architectural firm at the time. In his later years he briefly worked with William H. Willcox as Boone and Willcox and later with James Corner as Boone and Corner. Boone was one of Seattle's most prominent pre-fire architects whose career lasted into the early 20th century outlasting many of his peers. Few of his buildings remain standing today, as many were destroyed in the Great Seattle fire including one of his most well known commissions, the Yesler – Leary Building, built for pioneer Henry Yesler whose mansion Boone also designed. After the fire, he founded the Washington State chapter of the American Institute of Architects and designed the first steel frame office building in Seattle, among several other large brick and public buildings that are still standing in the Pioneer Square district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogers and MacFarlane</span> US architectural firm

Rogers and MacFarlane was an architectural firm based in Detroit, Michigan, founded in 1885 by James S. Rogers and Walter MacFarlane. The firm produced commissions in Detroit and southern Michigan from 1885 until 1912.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elbridge Boyden</span> American architect

Elbridge Boyden (1810–1898) was a prominent 19th-century American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts, who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works are the Taunton State Hospital (1851) and Mechanics Hall (1855) in Worcester.

Wilfred E. Mansur (1855–1921) was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th century Bangor, Maine.

Rocheford & Gould were brick manufacturers and construction contractors in early Omaha, Nebraska. The firm built numerous brick structures during Omaha's transition from the wooden buildings of Nebraska's territorial days to more permanent structures. The buildings the firm built included breweries, schools, packing houses, business blocks, Vaudeville theaters, street car barns and power houses, and civic buildings. Many of the structures the firm built have been demolished but a few of their earliest structures still exist and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad Station</span> Historic site

The Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad Station, today named Station 67, is a union meeting space and event hall located in Franklinton, near Downtown Columbus, Ohio. Built by the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad from 1895 to 1896, it served as a passenger station until 1930. It served as an office and shelter for Volunteers of America from 1931 to 2003, and has been the headquarters of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 67, a firefighters' union, since 2007. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. During its history, the building has experienced fires and floods, though its relatively few owners have each made repairs and renovations to preserve the building's integrity. The building is the last remaining train station in Columbus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbus Buggy Company</span> American automobile manufacturer

The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and automotive manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victorian Downtown Los Angeles</span> Historical neighborhood in California, US

The late-Victorian-era Downtown of Los Angeles in 1880 was centered at the southern end of the Los Angeles Plaza area, and over the next two decades, it extended south and west along Main Street, Spring Street, and Broadway towards Third Street. Most of the 19th-century buildings no longer exist, surviving only in the Plaza area or south of Second Street. The rest were demolished to make way for the Civic Center district with City Hall, numerous courthouses, and other municipal, county, state and federal buildings, and Times Mirror Square. This article covers that area, between the Plaza, 3rd St., Los Angeles St., and Broadway, during the period 1880 through the period of demolition (1920s–1950s).

S.G. Loewendick & Sons, also known as Loewendick Demolition Contractors, is a demolition company based in Grove City, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. The company is the largest specializing in demolition in Central Ohio. It has torn down most of the landmark buildings in Columbus in recent decades, including Union Station, the Ohio Penitentiary, the Christopher Inn, the Deshler Hotel, and the Ohio State University Drake Performance and Event Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Market (Columbus, Ohio)</span> Public market in Columbus, Ohio

Central Market was a public market in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The market operated from 1814 to 1966, was the location of Columbus's first city hall for two decades, from 1850 to 1872. It moved three times, each time into successively larger buildings. The third market building stood the longest time, from 1850 to 1966, when it was demolished as part of the Market-Mohawk Urban Renewal project. North Market remains, the only one left of four public markets that operated in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil House</span> Former hotel in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

The Neil House was a historic hotel on High Street in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The hotel operated on Capitol Square from 1842 to 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Heart Church (Columbus, Ohio)</span> Catholic parish church

Sacred Heart Church is a parish church of the Diocese of Columbus in the Italian Village neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The parish was founded in 1875, making it the third-oldest parish in the diocese. The current Tudor Gothic church was completed in 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartman Building and Theater</span> Buildings in Columbus, Ohio

The Hartman Building and Theater was a pair of historic buildings on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The structures were commissioned by Samuel B. Hartman, designed by Richards, McCarty and Bulford in the Renaissance Revival style. The theater was demolished in 1971, followed by the office building in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">171-191 South High Street</span> Historic buildings in Columbus, Ohio

171-191 South High Street is a pair of historic buildings in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The commercial structures have seen a wide variety of retail and service uses through the 20th century, including shoe stores, groceries, opticians, hatters, jewelers, a liquor store, and a car dealership. Both exhibit early 20th century façades; 185-191 South High was constructed in 1906, while 171-177 South High was constructed sometime in the 19th century and was remodeled in the second decade of the 20th century. The latter building was once part of the Lazarus Block, holding the original Lazarus department store. The store grew to encompass a group of seven buildings on the site until it moved to the Lazarus Building in 1909. The same building was again noted in the 1930s, for housing the first Kroger store in Downtown Columbus, which was considered the first supermarket in the city. The buildings, the nearby Ohio National Bank building, and a garage building were sold to a development company in 2023. The developer plans to renovate the bank building and demolish all other structures on the block. In June 2023 the buildings were placed on the Columbus Landmarks Foundation's Most Endangered List.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Chittenden Hotel".
  2. 1 2 Historic Hotels of Columbus, Ohio. Arcadia. 2015. ISBN   9781626198968.
  3. 1 2 3 "As It Were: Hotelier's tenacity paid off at last".
  4. "AEP Site Almost Became National Protestant Center". The Columbus Dispatch. August 1, 1980. Retrieved May 16, 2023.