Traymore Hotel | |
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![]() The Traymore Hotel, c. 1930. The Madison Hotel, which remains standing, is visible to the left. | |
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Alternative names | The Skyscraper By The Sea |
General information | |
Location | Illinois Ave. and Boardwalk, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
Address | Park Place & The Boardwalk |
Coordinates | 39°21′25″N74°25′43″W / 39.35694°N 74.42861°W |
Estimated completion | 1930 |
Opening | December 1906 |
Renovated | 1956 |
Demolished | 1972 |
Owner | TJM Properties |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 24 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | William Lightfoot Price |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 400 |
Number of suites | 400 |
Parking | 500 |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
Architect | Price, William L. |
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Architectural style | Art Deco |
NRHP reference No. | 71001049 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 13, 1971 [1] |
Removed from NRHP | January 1, 1972 [2] |
The Traymore Hotel was a resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Begun as a small boarding house in 1879, the hotel expanded and became one of the city's premier resorts. As Atlantic City began to decline in its popularity as a resort town, during the 1950s and 1960s, the Traymore diminished in popularity. By the early 1970s the hotel was abandoned and severely run down. It was imploded and demolished between April and May 1972, a full four years before the New Jersey Legislature passed the referendum that legalized gambling in Atlantic City.
Like most of the pre-casino Atlantic City resorts, the Traymore went through several incarnations. It started off as a modest ten-room wooden cottage boarding house located at Illinois Avenue and the Boardwalk. The name "Traymore" came from the hotel's steadiest customer, "Uncle Al Harvey", a rich Marylander who had named his estate "Traymore" after his home town in Ireland.
The first hotel was rather flimsy, as it was destroyed by a severe winter storm on January 10, 1884. [3] It was quickly rebuilt and enlarged. When rebuilt, the owners made the hotel stronger and more modern, adding indoor plumbing and bathrooms. They also added a spacious lawn between the hotel and the Boardwalk that proved to be valuable when a September 1889 storm struck the city. The lawn protected the hotel from any serious damage. The hotel's modern appointments led to it becoming very popular. It stayed open year-round, and by 1898 it grew into the city's largest hotel with over 450 rooms. By 1906 the Traymore's owner, Daniel White, hired the firm of Price and McLanahan to construct a new tower which brought the hotel right up to the boardwalk.
By 1914, the Traymore, which had been the city's most popular hotel, now had stiff competition from the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel, located across from the Traymore on Ohio Avenue and the Boardwalk. Owner Josiah White III, Daniel White's half brother, had contracted the services of Price and McLanahan to build an extension to his Marlborough House which had opened in 1902. The result was the modern Blenheim hotel which was one of the first hotels constructed using reinforced concrete.
Built during the autumn and winter of 1914–15, White contracted with Price and McLanahan to replace the existing wooden-frame Traymore with a massive concrete structure that would rival the Marlborough-Blenheim. Price's Traymore was built directly behind the 1906 tower, and was designed to take advantage of its ocean views: hotel wings jutted out further from the central tower toward Pacific Avenue, thus affording more guests ocean views. The new Traymore opened in time for the 1915 season, and was a success. Built with tan brick and capped by yellow-tiled domes, the Traymore instantly became the city's architectural showpiece when it opened in June 1915. The hotel was such a success that White commissioned a 25-story additional tower to be built, [4] but was unable to secure funding for the project due to World War I.
The Traymore catered to an upscale clientele, and was described in 1924 as "the Taj Mahal of Atlantic City," decades before Donald Trump opened a casino resort with that name.
The Traymore featured four faucets in every bathtub: hot and cold city water, hot and cold ocean water. There was a fifth faucet in the sink for ice water.
The Traymore was leased by the US Military during World War II, as part of Army Air Force Basic Training Center No. 7. The forty-seven Atlantic City resort hotels taken over by the United States Military [5] were collectively dubbed "Camp Boardwalk". [6] The Traymore was operated jointly with the adjacent Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Hotel as the England General Hospital, which opened on April 28, 1944. [7] The hospital was named for Lt. Col. Thomas Marcus England, who had worked with Walter Reed researching yellow fever in Cuba in 1900. The Traymore served as the convalescent reconditioning section of the hospital. [8] The last patients left the hospital in June 1946 and the Traymore was returned to its owners and reopened soon after. [9]
The Traymore Hotel Outdoor and Indoor Swimming Pools were built 1954 to designs by architect Samuel Juster of New York City. [10]
The hotel remained popular well into the 1950s, but as Atlantic City declined in the 1960s, the Traymore did as well. The availability of home air conditioning and swimming pools, coupled with inexpensive and frequent airline services to destinations in Florida and the Caribbean, led to the decline of Atlantic City as the premier ocean resort. By the early 1970s, the hotel was defunct and was causing its owners large financial deficits. It was decided to demolish the hotel, despite a campaign to save the architectural landmark.
On April 27, 1972 the hotel experienced the first of three planned controlled implosions implemented by Jack Loizeaux. By May 1972 the hotel was completely demolished. [11] For a time, the once-famous hotel held the Guinness World Record for largest controlled demolition—with a capacity of nearly 6.5 million cubic feet (180,000 m3), the Traymore was the largest (though not highest) structure yet demolished. [12] The spectacle is captured in the 1980 film Atlantic City . As well as the 1974 Walt Disney Film Herbie Rides Again in the beginning of the film where Alonzo Hawk demolishes numerous buildings.
Caesars Atlantic City purchased the land in the late 1970s and utilized it as a parking lot. The casino intended to develop a hotel there, however, the plan did not materialize. In 2006, Pinnacle Entertainment announced that it purchased the Traymore site and the adjacent Sands Atlantic City casino hotel. Pinnacle demolished the Sands and planned to develop a new casino on the combined parcels. Harsh economic times later caused Pinnacle to delay construction of the new resort. [13] In February 2010, the company announced that it had canceled its construction plans and would instead seek to sell the land. [14] Most of the Traymore site remains a parking lot.
Traymore Hotel is one of the locations featured in Grace Livingston Hill's 1911 novel Aunt Crete's Emancipation.
It can be seen in several exterior scenes of the 1972 Bob Rafelson film The King of Marvin Gardens , which was shot in Atlantic City only a few months before the building was demolished.
Footage of the Traymore's demolition features in the opening of Louis Malle's 1980 film Atlantic City . Nevertheless, the Traymore was demolished in 1972 for financial reasons and not in anticipation of legalized gambling (a 1974 referendum to allow casinos throughout the state was not approved by New Jersey voters). Gambling was legalized four years after the demolition in 1976 with Resorts International being the first legal casino to open in 1978.
The HBO drama Boardwalk Empire used the Atlantic City skyline, circa 1920, as the back drop for the series opening titles, including both the Traymore and the famed Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel.
Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located in South Jersey on Absecon Island, the city is prominently known for its casinos, nightlife, boardwalk, and Atlantic Ocean beaches and coastline. Atlantic City inspired the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, which uses various Atlantic City street names and destinations in the game. New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City in 1976, and the first casino opened two years later. Atlantic City had been the home of the Miss America pageant from 1921 to 2004, which later returned to the city from 2013 to 2018.
Atlantic City is a 1980 romantic crime film directed by Louis Malle from a screenplay by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon in the leading roles, with a supporting cast featuring Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren and Al Waxman. A co-production between French and Canadian companies filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in September 1980 and in the United States later that year by Paramount Pictures.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. was a gambling and hospitality company. The company previously owned and operated the now-demolished Trump Plaza and Trump World's Fair, the now-closed Trump Marina, Trump Casino & Hotel in Gary, Indiana, Trump 29 in Coachella, California, and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. It was founded in 1995 as Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts by Donald Trump, who after 2004 held only a minority ownership. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, 2009 and 2014. It became a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises in 2016. Since then, all of the company's properties have been closed and sold.
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The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with cinematography by László Kovács.
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Caesars Atlantic City is a luxury hotel, casino, and spa resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, it has an ancient Roman and ancient Greek theme. Atlantic City's second casino, it opened in 1979 as the Boardwalk Regency. The 124,720 sq ft (11,587 m2). casino has over 3,400 slot machines, and is one of the largest in Atlantic City. The resort has experienced much expansion and renovation in the past decade, including a new hotel tower, a new parking garage, and a new shopping center, Playground Pier.
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Sands Atlantic City was a casino and hotel that operated from August 13, 1980 until November 11, 2006 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was formerly known as the Brighton Hotel & Casino. It consisted of a 21-story hotel tower with 532 rooms and a 5-story podium housing the 57,045 sq ft (5,299.7 m2) casino, restaurants, shops, and various other amenities. It was adjacent to The Claridge Hotel and its parking garage was adjacent to the Madison Hotel.
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The Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel was a historic resort hotel property in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built in 1902–1906, and demolished in October 1978.
William Lightfoot Price was an American architect, a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete, and a founder of the utopian communities of Arden, Delaware and Rose Valley, Pennsylvania.
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'William L. Price: Arts and Crafts to Modern Design' New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. pp. 164 - 171, 236 - 251. Includes numerous reproductions of architectural renderings and construction photographs.
'William Price's Traymore Hotel: Modernity in the Mass Resort' The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Miami: Wolfson Foundation, 2005. (Issue 25, The American Hotel) pp. 183 - 211.