Old Hotels

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The HOLLENDEN HOTEL, once the most glamorous and colorful of Cleveland's hostelries, opened on 7 June 1885. It was the first large hotel for transients east of PUBLIC SQUARE and offered accommodations for permanent residents as well. LIBERTY E. HOLDEN purchased land from Philo Chamberlain and formed a corporation to build the 8-story Hollenden Hotel at Superior and Bond (E. 6th) St. It boasted electric lights, 100 private baths, and fireproof construction, a lavish interior with paneled walls, redwood and mahogany fittings, and crystal chandeliers. Politicians claimed the dining room and made it famous as a meeting place. The hotel hosted 5 presidents, industrial giants, and celebrities of stage and platform.

In 1926 a $5 million annex was built on the east side of the hotel, and the main building was modernized. The hotel had several owners over the years until the 600 Superior Corp. bought it in 1960, but two years later, with only about 350 of the 1,000 rooms in use, the owners closed the Hollenden and demolished it. The 600 Superior Corp., along with developer Jas. M. Carney, then built a new 14-story, 400-room Hollenden House and parking garage on the site, which opened in Mar. 1965. The Hollenden House did not survive the decline of downtown Cleveland, and when it became unprofitable in the mid-1980s, Carney closed it permanently in May 1989. Later that year the relatively new building was demolished, making room for developer John W. Galbreath to build a 32-story office building.

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On June 5, 1946, a raging fire at the stately, luxurious, and upscale LaSalle Hotel, at the northeastern corner of LaSalle and Madison Streets, claimed the lives of 61 people, including numerous children and one of the firefighters. The 23-story hotel was erected in 1909 and trumpeted as the most modern hotel in the country outside of New York City. Emblematic of a new age in the hospitality industry, it offered guests bell-hop services, a barber shop, fine dining, evening entertainment, and a host of other services. Its Blue Fountain Room was a favorite watering hole for the city's elite, and President William Howard Taft once turned the Presidential Suite on the third floor into a temporary White House annex during an extended stay in Chicago.

The fire started below ground in an elevator shaft at about 11:30 p.m. on June 4. The lobby was quickly engulfed in flames, and the fire spread upwards from two interior staircases. All 886 rooms were occupied at the time, and there was no sprinkler system. Some of the victims jumped to certain death from higher floors in the building, including a woman who leaped with a child in her clutches. Most of those who perished died from asphyxiation after opening their doors to plumes of thick black smoke. A first-aid station and makeshift morgue was set up down the street at City Hall. The hotel had apparently been cited for a host of fire code violations about a month before the fire, none of which had been corrected. In the wake of the tragedy, the City of Chicago implemented a host of new fire safety measures, including automatic alarm systems, the posting of evacuation instructions in all rooms, and the increased use of two-way radios.

The LaSalle Hotel was refurbished after the fire, but never recaptured its previous level of notoriety. It was ultimately demolished in 1976 to make room for the massive commercial office building located there today.

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The Monticello Hotel, which opened at the corner of City Hall Avenue and Granby Street on September 27, 1898, was the largest and finest hotel in Norfolk for over 60 years. The hotel was built on filled land. By 1885 Town Back Creek had been filled to Granby Street. Construction of the hotel spurred additional development along the new City Hall Avenue. The hotel suffered a devastating fire on January 1, 1918. In addition to the flames, fire fighters had to deal with bitter cold and ice. When it reopened in 1919, two additional floors had been added, including a large dining room and horseshoe-shaped ballroom known in later years as the Starlight Room. This became a favored location for balls, dances, and community events. The grandly appointed mahogany bar doubled as a billiards parlor during Prohibition. During the 1933 hurricane, the hotel and a broad area of downtown suffered considerable flood damage. The Monticello Hotel was the first building in Norfolk to be imploded in January 1976 to make way for the Norfolk Federal Building now on this site.