Category Archives: Hotels

Hotel Northampton (1927)

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Daniel

Hotel Northampton

The Hotel Northampton, at 36 King Street in Northampton, was first opened in 1927. The hotel was funded by a five-year subscription drive by the local chamber of commerce to provide Northampton with an appropriately substantial and luxurious hotel. The Colonial Revival-style Hotel Northampton is one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Historic Hotels of America.” Attached to the hotel is the old Wiggins Tavern, a building which dates back to 1786 and was moved to Northampton from Hopkinton, New Hampshire. The Tavern had been opened by Benjamin Wiggins, an ancestor of Lewis Wiggins, the entrepreneur who had built the Hotel Northampton.

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Maplewood Hotel, Holyoke (1890)

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Daniel

Built c. 1889-1890 at 328 Maple Street, at the end of a group of row houses in Holyke, the former Maplewood Hotel was modeled on the elegant residential hotels of larger cities. It was constructed by Frank Beebe, of the Beebe, Webber & Co. woolen mill. He lived in the hotel from 1890 to 1906.

Next to the former hotel, at 330 Maple Street, is a Queen Anne-style house, built earlier in the 1880s. Since 1924, the house and the hotel have been connected on the interior and are regarded as a single property. 330 Maple Street is currently rented by Templo Emanuel Inc.

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Hotel Nonotuck (1915)

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Daniel

The Hotel Nonotuck opened in Holyoke in 1915 and featured such amenities as a fine restaurant and the rooftop Indian Garden, advertized as a “Glass Enclosed Restaurant” that “Affords Comfort from Wind and Chill” and provides a “Wonderful View of the Picturesque Connecticut” with “Perfect Cusine” and “Dancing.” The building became a Roger Smith Hotel in the 1940s and from the ate-1960s was known as the Holyoke House. Continue on to see some more pictures of this historic building: (more…)

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Hotel Hamilton (1850)

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Daniel

This building in Holyoke, now vacant and condemned, was built around 1850 as a hotel called the Holyoke House. Located on Dwight Street, between Main and Race streets, it was later known as the Hotel Hamilton and was extensively remodeled and expanded around 1890. The building was purchased in 1911 by Joel Russell and then housed the J. Russell Hardware Company. The hotel closed in 1943 and the building was drastically renovated in 1947, when the top floor was removed (except from the wing on the left). Recently used by several social service agencies, the building is now unsafe and may not long survive. (more…)

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The Perry (1855)

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Daniel

The building at 85 Amity Street in Amherst was built in 1855 as a two-story residence. In 1898, Egbert Perry began taking in boarders and in 1912 the building, by then known as the Hotel Perry, was expanded two more stories. In 1938, it was acquired by William Richters, who had owned Drake’s Restaurant in Times Square. He renamed the hotel the Drake, after the famous New York hotel of the same name. It continued to be known locally as the Drake, even after later owners changed its name to the Village Inn in 1959. The Drake was home to a legendary basement bar called the Rathskeller, a popular student hangout whose infamous reputation eventually led to the sale of the building in 1985 and its conversion into apartments under the name the Perry. Student reaction at the time can be judged by the still visible graffiti on the nearby Amherst Cinema Building, which declares “Save the Drake” and “For Willy [the Drake's bartender] For Humanity!”

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Hawthorne Hotel (1925)

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Daniel

In 1809, the corner of Washington Square and Essex Street, off Salem Common in Salem, became the site of the Archer Block. Later called the Franklin Building, it was a commercial and residential building constructed under the direction of Samuel McIntire. Destroyed by fire in 1860, it was replaced with an Italianate-style successor. From 1833, the property was owned by the Salem Marine Society, which later agreed to raze the building and sell the land for construction of a new hotel. In return, the hotel built a room for the society’s use on the top floor. The hotel, built in 1924-1925, was named the Hawthorne Hotel, in honor of the famous Salem author. It was designed by architect Philip Horton Smith of the firm of Smith & Walker.

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The Tudor, Boston (1887)

Posted on May 14, 2010 by Daniel

The Tudor Apartments, designed by S.J.F. Thayer and built in 1885-1887, are at 34½ Beacon Street at Joy Street in Boston. Construction of the nine-story building so close to the Massachusetts capitol led to a height restriction law for the area. The Queen Anne-style building combines a variety of architectural styles. The design makes particular advantage of natural light on the Joy Street side of the building. Built as an apartment hotel, for much of the twentieth century the Tudor housed both apartments and offices. In 1999, it was renovated and converted into seventeen exclusive luxury condominiums.

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