Thomas Jefferson Hotel

Last updated
Thomas Jefferson Tower
Thomas Jefferson Hotel
Leer Tower, Birmingham, AL.jpg
Thomas Jefferson Hotel in 2008, with the now-gone signage for the defunct "Leer Tower" plan, and the stump of the Zeppelin mooring mast visible on the roof.
Thomas Jefferson Hotel
Former namesHotel Thomas Jefferson, Cabana Hotel
General information
Architectural styleSpanish revival
Address1623 2nd Avenue North
Town or city Birmingham, Alabama
CountryUSA
Current tenantsN/A
Construction startedMay 1926
OpeningSeptember 7, 1929
Cost$2.5 million
ClientUnion Realty Company
OwnerBurt Ordorff
Height87.48 m (287.0 ft)
Technical details
Structural systemsteel
Floor count19
Design and construction
Architect(s) David Oliver Whilldin
Architecture firmN/A
Main contractorThe Foster-Creighton Company
Other information
Number of rooms350

Thomas Jefferson Tower, originally the Thomas Jefferson Hotel and then the Cabana Hotel, is a 19-story building on the western side of downtown Birmingham, Alabama. It was completed in 1929 as the 350-room Thomas Jefferson Hotel and is at 1623 2nd Avenue North. [1] It has a tower in its roof intended to be a zeppelin mooring mast.

Contents

History

The Thomas Jefferson Hotel was planned and developed by the Union Realty Company, headed by Henry Cobb. The company was organized in November 1925 in the office of architect David O. Whilldin, who prepared the design for the $1.5 million project. The Foster-Creighton Company of Nashville, Tennessee was selected as contractor and work began on the site in May 1926. Progress was halted in April 1927 when one of the projects financiers, the Adair Realty and Trust Company of Atlanta, Georgia failed. A new holding company was formed and work resumed in July 1928. Costs reached $2.5 million before it opened on September 7, 1929. The hotel's opening week featured nightly banquets and dances featuring an orchestra from New York. It was originally called The Thomas Jefferson Hotel, then the Cabana Hotel, the Leer Tower, and finally the Thomas Jefferson Tower. [2]

Design

The hotel featured an ornate marble lobby, a large ballroom, and a rooftop mooring mast intended for use by dirigibles. The ground floor incorporated space for six shops and the basement included a billiard room and barber shop. The ballroom and dining rooms on the second floor opened out onto roof terraces from which the main tower rose. A Corinthian colonnade in glazed white terra-cotta set off the base of the tower, with the hotel entrance marked by a metal canopy. The fourth floor created an entablature, punctuated by the rhythm of windows that continued in brick for 13 more floors. The tower was capped on the top two floors with ornamented terra-cotta, including a balustrade and arched deep-set openings. The corners of the tower were clad in white brick to provide visual supports for the upper portion of the tower, while the narrow strips of brick between the windows were tan in color, each capped with a white acanthus leaf at the top. The edge of each corner was softened with a twisted-rope moulding, rising to a sculpted satyr at the top. The cornice rests on tightly spaced brackets with a shallow overhang of red mission tile suggesting a sloped roof.

Early years

A $35,000 improvement project was undertaken in 1933. Some of the retail spaces were subsumed into a larger hotel lobby with an electric fireplace. The dining room was similarly expanded and a banquet room was constructed over part of the roof terrace. It was only the first of several renovations for numerous owners. The Stirrup Cup lounge opened at the hotel on October 4, 1940. Birmingham newspapers declared the 200-room Thomas Jefferson Hotel as one of the finest in the country. Built to host huge gatherings, the $2.5 million facility was stocked with 7,000 pieces of silverware, 5,000 glasses and 4,000 sets of linen. As an affiliate of the National Hotels chain and under the management of Austin Frame, the Thomas Jefferson advertised rooms from $9 to 18 a night and multi-room suites for $18 to 35. All rooms were air conditioned and provided with a private bath, radio, television and Muzak. The hotel operated a laundry and valet service and housed a coffee shop, lounge, pharmacy and barber shop. Nightly dinner dances were held in the Windsor Room. Other rooms available for events included the Terrace Ballroom, Jefferson Room, Green Room, Gold Room, Board Room and Director's Room.

"Southern charm and hospitality at its happy best, wonderful best. That's the pride of Birmingham The Hotel Thomas Jefferson", an early newspaper ad boasted.

A large vertically oriented painted sign for the Thomas Jefferson Hotel is still visible on the brick-clad west side of the tower. At one time the letters were outlined with neon tubes, fabricated and installed by Dixie Neon. "It had an excellent chef. Among the bellboys, they were especially known for pecan pies", a man who was a bellboy in 1943 says with a smile, as if just being offered a piece. "Oh man, they were delicious."

Its luxury status made the Thomas Jefferson a prime spot for celebrities visiting the city, including Mickey Rooney and Ethel Merman. U.S Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover and singer Ray Charles have also stayed at the hotel. But most of the guests were businessmen, often salesmen who rented one room for sleeping and another as an office for peddling their inventory.

The hotel was a showplace with unparalleled amenities. And when the employees were not carrying luggage and serving guests, they operated a popular side business at the hotel. In the age of Prohibition, clever methods were used to meet the needs of thirsty guests. Bellboys would buy "Pensacola rye" from the nearby police station to sell to hotel guests.

Cabana Hotel

The 1970s marked a period of decline for the aging luxury hotel, renamed the Cabana Hotel in 1972. A new rooftop sign advertising the hotel was then added, along with a main hotel sign. The original ornate carpets were now replaced with shag carpets, and dropped ceilings were added. The economy had slowed, and a shift of attention to the northern end of town left older hotels, such as the Cabana, struggling. The scene was typical nationwide, as corporate mergers and new projects prompted the closing of many old buildings.

During its peak, the Cabana hosted Mickey Rooney and Ethel Merman during visits to Birmingham. A special suite was reserved for Bear Bryant during games at Legion Field. In Birmingham, the Cabana was the last of the perennial hotels to fade away following the demise of the original Tutwiler Hotel in 1974, and the Bankhead Hotel conversion into senior housing. Its demise was also quickened by the opening of the BJCC complex to the north, taking all of its business to the Hyatt House Birmingham Hotel (now Sheraton Birmingham) and the Holiday Inn Civic Center (now gone) as well. It was a slow death that stripped it of most of its former glory. The hotel had suffered two major fires during this period of decline: one large one in 1980 and a smaller one in 1981.[ citation needed ] By 1981, the Cabana was a second-rate, $200-a-month apartment building with fewer than 100 residents. The hotel was shut down on May 31, 1983, by city health officials after it was declared uninhabitable on account of "bad plumbing, insufficient lighting, some inoperative smoke detectors and failure to upgrade to city fire codes".

Leer Tower

In 2005 the Leer Corporation of Modesto, California, announced a $20 million proposal to convert the building into upscale condominiums, to be known as the Leer Tower. That proposal was delayed by a dispute over control of the building and the owner's inability to secure local financing. The property went into foreclosure in July 2008. Subsequently the property had fallen further into disrepair, with the basement flooded with water and vagrants squatting in the upper floors.

Non-Profit seeks to renovate

In 2012, it was reported that a nonprofit corporation, Thomas Jefferson Tower Inc., was raising funds to buy the building and renovate it into a hotel, possibly as part of a mixed-use development including retail, a grocery store, and apartments. [3] These efforts would ultimately prove unsuccessful.

Thomas Jefferson Tower

In August 2013, the building and its annex were acquired by TJTower LLC, a group of investors from Little Rock, Arkansas and New Orleans including former professional basketball player Brian Beshara. The former hotel was one of the first projects in Alabama to utilize new state and federal tax credits designed to spur redevelopment of historic structures.

Pre-construction plans called for mixed-use conversion into 100 apartments, ground floor restaurant and retail space, and event/entertainment space in the former dining room and ballroom.

It is one of multiple revitalization projects occurring in downtown Birmingham, along with the renovation of the long-closed Lyric Theater and the nearby Pizitz Building.

Construction began on February 12, 2015. As of May 2015, the "Leer Tower" signage as well as the ground floor siding had been removed.

On August 6, 2016, the top portion of the rooftop mooring mast was replaced, and the structure returned to its original appearance. The structure features LED lighting that can be remotely changed in color and intensity to mark specific occasions, much like is done at the Empire State Building in New York. [4] It reopened in 2017. It became one of America's Prime attractions from Alabama. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney's Coronado Springs Resort</span> Resort Hotel at Walt Disney World

Disney's Coronado Springs Resort is a resort hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort that opened on August 1, 1997. The resort is located in the Animal Kingdom Resort Area. Its theme is American colonial Spanish and southwestern American. This hotel is categorized as a 'moderate' resort. This was Walt Disney World's first attempt at a 'moderate' resort with a convention center. It is the only moderate level Disney resort with suites, a cafeteria-style restaurant, a formal dinner restaurant, a gift shop, an arcade, one large pool, three quiet pools, a salon, fitness center, and a dance club. The resort is owned and operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadview Hotel (Toronto)</span> Canadian hotel

The Broadview Hotel is a 58 room boutique hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Broadview Avenue and Queen Street East in Toronto's Riverside neighbourhood. Built in 1893, the building was originally a hall with retail and office space and later converted into a hotel. Until 2014, the establishment was occupied by the New Broadview House Hotel, a hotel and boarding house housing low-income persons with a strip club named Jilly's on its ground level. It was closed and converted to an up-scale establishment with several restaurants and a roof patio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Davenport Hotel (Spokane, Washington)</span>

The Davenport Hotel is a hotel located in Spokane, Washington. Originally a successful high-end restaurant, it is one of the possible places where the first Crab Louis was created and served. The hotel was designed by architect Kirtland Cutter, and built in 1914 for $2 million. It was built with an opulent lobby, and new amenities for the time such as air conditioning, a central vacuum system, pipe organ, and dividing doors in the ballrooms. Commissioned by a group of Spokane businessmen to have a place to host and entertain their guests, the hotel is named after Louis Davenport, an influential businessman, the first proprietor and overseer of the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peabody Hotel</span> Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, United States

The Peabody Memphis is a historic luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, opened in 1925. The hotel is known for the "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop and make daily treks to the lobby. The Peabody is a member of Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westin Book Cadillac Hotel</span> Skyscraper in Detroit

The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is an historic skyscraper hotel in downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Washington Boulevard Historic District. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, and opened as the Book-Cadillac Hotel in 1924, the 349 ft (106 m), 31-story, 453-room hotel includes 65 exclusive luxury condominiums and penthouses on the top eight floors. It reopened in October 2008, managed by Westin Hotels, after a $200-million restoration.

Martineau Galleries is a proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England which was shelved in 2009 but re-approved in 2020. It was to connect the Eastside to the city centre core, a major retail area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Roosevelt New Orleans</span>

The Roosevelt New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 504-room hotel owned by AVR Realty Company and Dimension Development and managed by Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts. The hotel was originally built by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant, and opened in 1893 as "The Hotel Grunewald."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilton San Francisco Union Square</span> Hotel in San Francisco

The Hilton San Francisco Union Square is a skyscraper hotel located several blocks south-west of Union Square in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1964, the 18-story, 1200-room original building was known as a "motel within a hotel", allowing guests to park directly next to their upper-story rooms. Filling an entire city block, it remains one of the tallest structures representing Brutalist architecture, though it has been extensively altered since its construction. A second 46-story tower was added in 1971, while a third smaller 23-story connecting tower was completed in 1987. Renovated in 2017, it is the largest hotel on the West Coast, with 1,921 rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle House Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa, is a historic hotel in Mobile, Alabama. The current structure was built in 1908 as the Battle House Hotel. It is the second hotel by that name to stand in this location, replacing an earlier Battle House built in 1852, which burned down in 1905. It is one of the earliest steel frame structures in Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Plaza (Detroit)</span> United States historic place

The Lee Plaza is a vacant 16-story high-rise apartment building located at 2240 West Grand Boulevard, about one mile west of New Center along West Grand Boulevard, an area in Detroit, Michigan. It is a registered historic site by the state of Michigan and was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 1981. Designed by Charles Noble and constructed in 1929, it rises to 16 floors and is an excellent example of Art Deco architecture of the 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlanta Biltmore Hotel and Biltmore Apartments</span> United States historic place

The Atlanta Biltmore Hotel and Biltmore Apartments is a historic building located in Atlanta, Georgia. The complex, originally consisting of a hotel and apartments, was developed by William Candler, son of Coca-Cola executive Asa Candler, with Holland Ball Judkins and John McEntee Bowman. The original hotel building was converted to an office building in 1999. The building is currently owned by the Georgia Institute of Technology and is adjacent to Technology Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoenix City Square</span> Mixed-use high-rise in Arizona

Phoenix City Square, formerly Kent Plaza and the Rosenzweig Center, is a mixed use high rise complex covering 15 acres at 3800-4000 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix, Arizona. The project was developed by the Del Webb Corporation in 1962. The complex features 3 office towers, a hotel, an open-air retail plaza, and a 1200-car parking garage. City Square was designed by the architectural firm of Flatow, Moore, Bryan, and Fairburn. The towers were constructed in 1962, 1964, and 1971. 3800 Tower is 194,482 square feet (18,068.0 m2); 3838 Tower is 236,094 square feet (21,933.9 m2); and 4000 Tower is 295,797 square feet. There is also a large 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) Fitness Center, known as Sports Club at City Square, that is part of the complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Leland Hotel (Detroit)</span> United States historic place

The Detroit-Leland Hotel is a historic hotel located at 400 Bagley Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in downtown Detroit, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The ballroom of the Detroit-Leland has hosted a nightclub, the Leland City Club, since 1983. The hotel is now named The Leland and no longer rents to overnight guests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackstone Hotel (Fort Worth, Texas)</span> Historic high-rise building in Fort Worth Texas

The Blackstone Hotel is the tallest hotel in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, at 268 ft (82 m) tall. Located on the corner of Fifth and Main Streets, it is noted for its Art Deco design with terracotta ornamentation and setbacks on the top floors. The hotel was constructed in 1929 and operated for over 50 years before it sat vacant for nearly 20 years. The Blackstone Hotel guest list is full of notable people including Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. The hotel was also host for a few movie stars such as Bob Hope, Clark Gable, and Elvis Presley. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 2, 1984. The building was restored in the late 1990s and is still in use today as the Courtyard Fort Worth Downtown/Blackstone, although it is still known as the "Blackstone Hotel" to those who live in or have ties to Fort Worth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Redmond Hotel</span> United States historic place

The New Redmond Hotel is a historic commercial hotel in Redmond, Oregon, United States. The hotel was built in 1928 after the original Redmond Hotel, was destroyed in a fire. It is a three-story Georgian-style brick masonry building located on 6th Street in downtown Redmond. It has been in continuous use as a commercial hotel since it first opened. Today, the New Redmond Hotel is a major landmark in downtown Redmond. Because of its importance to the history of Redmond, the New Redmond Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On August 1, 2019, Soul Community Planet announced that after a two-year, $7 million renovation, The New Hotel Redmond by SCP opened in the Fall of 2019. The 41,000 square-foot, 49-room hotel, was redeveloped in partnership with the city of Redmond. The Rooftop, a 1,500 square-foot rooftop social garden, was added, opened in August. The redevelopment was made possible through a public-private partnership between the city of Redmond and the developer – a partnership managed by Alpha Wave Investors and RevOZ Capital. The city of Redmond, through its Redmond Urban Renewal Agency, provided a $3.53 million investment in the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W New York Union Square</span> Hotel in Manhattan, New York

The W New York Union Square is a 270-room, 21-story boutique hotel operated by W Hotels at the northeast corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street, across from Union Square in Manhattan, New York. Originally known as the Germania Life Insurance Company Building, it was designed by Albert D'Oench and Joseph W. Yost and built in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Hotel, Birmingham</span> Grade II* listed hotel in Birmingham, England

The Grand Hotel is a Grade II* listed Victorian five star hotel in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The hotel occupies the greater part of a block bounded by Colmore Row, Church Street, Barwick Street and Livery Street and overlooks St Philip's Cathedral and churchyard. Designed by architect Thomson Plevins, construction began in 1875 and the hotel opened in 1879. Extensions and extensive interior renovations were undertaken by prominent Birmingham architecture firm Martin & Chamberlain from 1890 to 1895. Interior renovations included the building of the Grosvenor Room with Louis XIV style decoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel John Marshall</span> Building in Richmond, Virginia

The Hotel John Marshall, first opened in 1929, was one of the leading hospitality establishments in downtown Richmond, Virginia. After the hotel closed in 2004, the building was renovated into upscale residential apartments that opened in December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palisade Hotel</span> Historic pub in Sydney, New South Wales

Palisade Hotel is a heritage-listed pub and hotel located at 35–37 Bettington Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point of New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to Barangaroo Reserve. Administratively, the hotel is in the City of Sydney local government area. It was designed by H. D. Walsh and built in 1915–16. It is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilton Columbus Downtown</span> High-rise hotel in Columbus, Ohio

The Hilton Columbus Downtown is a high-rise hotel in Columbus, Ohio. The Hilton hotel includes two buildings, one west of High Street, which opened in 2012, and a new tower east of High Street, which opened in September 2022. The tower addition gives the hotel a total of 1,000 guest rooms, making it the largest hotel in Ohio.

References

  1. "2013 Tax Records". Jefferson County Tax Assessor. Gaynell Hendricks. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  2. 1 2 Poe, Kelly (January 26, 2017). "See the progress on Thomas Jefferson Tower after first residents move in". al.com.
  3. "Nonprofit wants to buy and renovate Leer Tower - Birmingham Business Journal". Archived from the original on 2012-07-16.
  4. "The change you may have noticed on Bham's skyline - Birmingham Business Journal" . Retrieved 2016-08-16.

33°30′46″N86°48′38″W / 33.51280°N 86.81069°W / 33.51280; -86.81069