Jump to content

Sir Walter Hotel

Edit links
Coordinates:35°46′31.4″N78°38′22.5″W/ 35.775389°N 78.639583°W/35.775389; -78.639583
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel
Sir Walter Apartments, 2008
Sir Walter Hotel is located in North Carolina
Sir Walter Hotel
Sir Walter Hotel is located in the United States
Sir Walter Hotel
Location400-412 Fayetteville St.,Raleigh,North Carolina
Coordinates35°46′31.4″N78°38′22.5″W/ 35.775389°N 78.639583°W/35.775389; -78.639583
Arealess than one acre
ArchitectB. H. Griffin, J. A. Salter
Part ofFayetteville Street Historic District
NRHP referenceNo.78001980[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 11, 1978

TheSir Walter Hotelis the oldest surviving hotel building inRaleigh,North Carolina.Constructed between 1923 and 1924 onFayetteville Streetand named afterSir Walter Raleigh,the hotel was nicknamed North Carolina's "third house of government", due to its location and being a focal point for state political activity until the 1960s.

History

[edit]
The Hotel Sir Walter, shortly after its enlargement in 1938

The Capital Construction Company was formed in 1923 to build a hotel in Raleigh to attract convention traffic that had been going toGreensboroandDurham.In January 1924, theHotel Sir Walteropened. It was the largest building in the southern portion of Raleigh's business district. The hotel became the unofficial headquarters of theNorth Carolina Democratic Party,at the time the dominant political force in the state. By 1925, the Sir Walter was home to over 80 percent of thestate legislature.In addition to legislators, the hotel was home to lobbyists, aides, jurors, newspapermen, businessmen and other influential individuals over the next three decades.[citation needed]For years liquor lobbyists rented Room 215 and every week delivered nine cases of bourbon there. Lobbyist would then distribute the bottles to legislators in brown paper bags. U.S. SenatorSam Ervinreferred to the hotel as "the most politically saturated inn in America".[2]

TheGreat Depressionforced the building's owners into bankruptcy in 1934. The hotel was leased to the North State Hotel Company in 1935 and fully renovated. After the company added 50 rooms in 1938, the hotel became the largest in the state and gave the Sir Walter a reputation as one of North Carolina's top convention hotels.

In 1956, the hotel was sold to the Robert Meyer hotel chain.[3]During the 1960s, suburban motel development, the completion of the new stateLegislative Building,and general downtown decline affected the hotel's business. The Meyer chain sold the hotel in 1964,[3]and in 1967 owner John A. Williams donated the Hotel Sir Walter to theNorth Carolina State UniversityFoundation.[4]The $2 million hotel continued operating under the same management and employees. Profits from the hotel went to support student scholarships and financial aid.[5]On February 13, 1968,[6]the hotel briefly joined the Sheraton chain and was renamed theSheraton-Sir Walter Hotel.[7]In early 1969, the university sold the hotel to Plaza Associates for $1.84 million.[8]Plaza then traded the hotel to developerKidd Breweron March 28, 1969[9]for the land on which theCrabtree Valley Mallwould be built.[10]The hotel left Sheraton soon after, returning to its original name.

By 1975, as downtown Raleigh decayed and demand for hotel rooms plummeted, the majority of the building had been converted to offices for theNorth Carolina Department of Transportationand other businesses.[11]The building was sold to Goldsboro developer David Weil in 1978[11]and converted into theSir Walter Apartments,housing 140 apartments for seniors.[12]It was sold in 2017 to an Ohio-based developer who announced plans to restore it, possibly returning it to use as a hotel, offices or apartments.[13]It was sold again on January 2, 2019, for $16.8 million to Capital Realty Group,[14]which announced plans to renovate the structure but continue using it as senior housing.[15]

Design

[edit]

The Sir Walter is typical of American hotels of the 1920s. It is a 10-story imposing L-shaped building primarily made of brick, with classical stone ornamentation at the street and roof levels.[16]It was placed on theNational Register of Historic Placeson August 11, 1978, as theSir Walter Raleigh Hotel.[1]The Sir Walter Hotel is now a designated Raleigh Historic Landmark.[17]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ab"National Register Information System".National Register of Historic Places.National Park Service.July 9, 2010.
  2. ^Christensen 2010,p. 196.
  3. ^ab"National Register of Historic Places: Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel"(PDF).Hpo.ncdcr.gov.Retrieved14 July2018.
  4. ^"The NC State University Foundation, Inc".Giving.ncsu.edu.Archivedfrom the original on 4 October 2015.Retrieved14 July2018.
  5. ^"Sir Walter Hotel".Technician.NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center, Raleigh, NC. North Carolina State University. 9 December 1966.
  6. ^"The Danville Register from Danville, Virginia on February 14, 1968 · Page 3".Newspapers.com.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2018.Retrieved14 July2018.
  7. ^"Sir Walter Hotel".Technician.NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center, Raleigh, NC. North Carolina State University. 16 February 1968.
  8. ^"Sir Walter Hotel".Technician.NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center, Raleigh, NC. North Carolina State University. 1 April 1969.
  9. ^"The Danville Register from Danville, Virginia on March 30, 1969 · Page 12".Newspapers.com.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2018.Retrieved14 July2018.
  10. ^"Sir Walter Hotel - NCpedia".Ncpedia.org.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2018.Retrieved14 July2018.
  11. ^ab"N.C.'s powerful gathered at inn".Bizjournals.com.Archivedfrom the original on 24 August 2017.Retrieved14 July2018.
  12. ^"Sir Walter Hotel Now Used For Apartments May Return As Hotel".Wral.com.8 April 2002.Archivedfrom the original on 18 November 2018.Retrieved14 July2018.
  13. ^"Developer wants to buy Sir Walter Apartments, elderly residents ask what's next".Newsobserver.com.Archivedfrom the original on 15 July 2018.Retrieved14 July2018.
  14. ^"A history of the Hotel Sir Walter in Raleigh, NC".2 October 2020.
  15. ^"Raleigh's historic Sir Walter building sold, affordable senior housing to remain".2 January 2019.
  16. ^Catherine W. Bishir and Jim Sumner (n.d.)."Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel"(PDF).National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory.North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2019-05-08.Retrieved2015-05-01.
  17. ^"Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel – Raleigh: A Capital City: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary".Nps.gov.Archivedfrom the original on 24 October 2012.Retrieved14 July2018.

Works cited

[edit]
  • Christensen, Rob (2010).The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections, and Events That Shaped Modern North Carolina(second ed.). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.ISBN978-0-8078-7151-5.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toSir Walter Raleigh Hotel.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_Walter_Hotel&oldid=1185008938"