Hotel Jerome
Encyclopedia
The Hotel Jerome is located on East Main Street (Colorado State Highway 82
) in Aspen
, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 1880s that is often described as one of the city's major landmarks, its "crown jewel". In 1986 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is currently operated by RockResorts
; its owner is nominally Jerome Property LLC pending the outcome of litigation with the city of Aspen over whether its decision to foreclose on its wholly owned subsidiary, which had owned the hotel, was in fact a tax dodge
.
It was built by Jerome B. Wheeler, at the time co-owner of Macy's
and a major investor in Aspen during its early boom
years. He wanted the city to have a hotel that equaled European ones in its refinements and amenities. It was one of the first buildings west of the Mississippi
to have full electric lighting and it has the only aboveground ballroom
in Aspen. It was the only hotel to remain open through the city's "quiet years" in the early 20th century, as a family business
run by a former bartender and his son that often served as the town's social center. At one point it was also used as a temporary morgue
; there are claims the building is haunted
.
During Prohibition
a celebrated spiked drink, the Aspen Crud, was invented at its J-Bar. Later, the drink and bar became popular with members of the Tenth Mountain Division while they trained in the area. After the war, Aspen and its new ski resort
became a popular destination, and celebrities vacationing in Aspen like Gary Cooper
and John Wayne
often stayed at the Jerome, and it became known as a place where they and the locals freely mingled. Hunter S. Thompson
used the J-Bar as his de facto office; later the hotel ballroom hosted his memorial service
. Bill Murray
partied there while portraying Thompson in a film, and the J-Bar also inspired a song by Glenn Frey
, who had gone there often with his bandmates while a member of The Eagles.
two blocks
to the east, Aspen City Hall
to the southeast, Collins Block
and Wheeler Opera House
to the south along Mill Street, have been listed on the Register themselves. At the opposite end of the block, across the street, is the Thomas Hynes House
, a former miner's cottage now used as a restaurant and also on the Register. To the north the terrain, level between the hotel and the slopes of Aspen Mountain
, begins to slope gently toward the Roaring Fork River
, which flows through Rio Grande Park two blocks to the north.
The building itself is a three-story 12-by-11-bay
brick structure, with a small hyphen
connecting the main block to a north wing of similar shape and size. Both are topped by a flat roof. The slight grade to the north exposes their basement
s slightly.
Its south (front) facade
has a wooden hood, topped with a balustraded balcony, covering the sidewalk at the centrally located recessed main entrance. It is flanked by two small aspen
trees on either side at the street. Smooth round columns on square bases support a molded
cornice
with metal letters spelling "Hotel Jerome" on the east and west.
The middle six bays of the facade project slightly. On either side of the front entrance are large windows with a small rectangular pane atop a larger one. All have sills of locally quarried rough cut peachblow sandstone
, which continues aroundthe building as a course
and water table
. Sandstone also forms a frieze
, interrupted by the windows, below the wooden cornice which continues around the building. At the ends of the facade are wood and glass storefronts, housing two of the hotel's three restaurants, the J-Bar on the west and Library on the east.
Windows on the second story's central projection are one-over-one double-hung sash window
s with transoms and sandstone sills and lintels. In the middle two the words "Hotel" and "Jerome" are carved. They are recessed slightly between brick pilaster
s with sandstone bases and capitals
with decorative carvings. On the flanks the windows are set in round segmental arches laid with several rows of splayed brick. They, too have sandstone sills and a sandstone course runs around the building at the arches' springline.
At the third story the four-pane center windows, also recessed, have a similar round-arched treatment as the flanking second-story windows. On the sides are four one-over-one sash windows with sandstone sills and small decorations between them. At the lintel is a dentil
led, fluted
wooden frieze that continues around the entire building save the front portico. Above it is another molded cornice that marks the roofline. It is topped by a parapet
with four rows of recessed square panels. A flagpole is located in the center of the roof at the front.
Inside many original finishes remain. The lobby has been restored to its original appearance; the ashes of a longtime pastry chef are kept behind a clock. From the lobby hallways lead to the Garden Terrace restaurant in a western annex, with an adjacent outdoor terrace
south of the swimming pool. The first floor is also home to several meeting spaces, including the 3450 square feet (320.5 m²) Grand Ballroom
in the northeast corner of the rear block, the only aboveground ballroom in Aspen, with 16 feet (4.9 m) ceilings.
On the upper floors there are 94 guest rooms. They range from 500 to 750 sq ft (46.5 to 69.7 ) in size, from single rooms to suites
. Standard amenities include marble
vanities in the bathrooms, high-speed Internet access, a DVD player, fully stocked mini-bar
and beds with 300-thread count linens.
s venturing west from Leadville
in search of silver veins crossed the Continental Divide
at Independence Pass
and continued down the Roaring Fork Valley
to establish several mining camps. One of them, at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Castle Creek, became the area's pre-eminent settlement by 1879. At first it was called Ute City, after the local Native American
tribe, but by the early 1880s it had been renamed Aspen, after the trees abundant in the area.
Jerome Wheeler, at the time co-owner of Macy's
, visited Aspen in 1883 while on vacation in Colorado. He was impressed by the potential he saw, and began investing in the community, completing a smelter started earlier so that ore did not have to be taken back to Leadville. After winning a legal battle over the rights to the Smuggler Mine, the richest lode in the area, and leaving Macy's, he commissioned the building of the hotel and the Wheeler Opera House
, both bearing his name, and a house
in the city's residential West End.
Wheeler meant for the hotel to be the equal of great European hotels such as Claridge's
in London and the George-V in Paris. He loaned $60,000 ($ in modern dollars) to another local innkeeper to build the hotel. Costs escalated to more than twice that, and a month before the hotel was set to open the builders left town unexpectedly, leaving Wheeler owing approximately $150,000 ($ in modern dollars). "[He had] discovered the first rule of building in Aspen: it always costs way more than you planned", observed a commentator over a century later.
It was one of the first buildings west of the Mississippi
to have full electric lighting. Other amenities included running water and indoor plumbing, steam heat and an elevator. At the time of its opening, on the night before Thanksgiving
, it had 90 rooms, which rented for up to $4 ($ in modern dollars) a night. Early guests included Wheeler's business friends from the East
, theater stars of the era and wealthy travelers. As its builder had intended, it occupied the most commanding location in the city.
Three years after its completion, in 1892, Wheeler sold the hotel to a Denver
man named Archie Fisk for $125,000 ($ in modern dollars) as part of a general liquidation
of his Aspen assets after losing a lengthy lawsuit over a mining deal. The next year, in response to the Panic of 1893
, Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
, ending the Colorado Silver Boom
and with it Aspen's early boom years. Fisk could not pay taxes
on the property, and it soon became the property of Pitkin County
, and then became Wheeler's again. It remained the center of the city's social life, partially because it had the only public bathroom downtown.
drummer with a travelling band who had stopped in Aspen, taken a job as the Jerome's bartender, and later acquired the hotel from Wheeler, who had by this time long left the city and was unable to pay the taxes as he had gone bankrupt
.
In 1918, the Jerome's parlors served as morgue
s during the flu epidemic. The next year Elisha threw a welcome-home dance for local soldiers returning from World War I
in 1919. Prohibition
had started by then, and to survive the J-Bar became a soda fountain
. Liquor service continued, in the form of a popular drink called the Aspen Crud, still served there today, that is essentially a vanilla ice cream soda
or milkshake
generously spiked with bourbon
. Whole families were known to stop by after church and share one.
Mansor Elisha died in 1935, leaving his son Laurence in charge of the hotel. The following year the seeds were planted for the city's recovery when Tom Flynn, a former resident trying to sell some of his mining claims, showed pictures of them to Billy Fiske
, a U.S. Olympic bobsledder who had competed at the Winter Olympics
earlier that year. He saw perfect terrain for a ski resort, and went out to Aspen and bought some land. Over that winter the newly formed Highland Bavarian ski club built its first ski near Ashcroft
. Its first two guides, Swiss skier André Roch
and Austrian mountaineer Gunther Langes, lived in the Jerome for five weeks while the lodge was finished.
A crude ski lift was later built in Aspen itself, the beginnings of today's ski resort
. The outbreak of World War II
put further skiing development on hold, but not skiing itself as the U.S. Army's Tenth Mountain Division's "soldiers on skis" began training at nearby Camp Hale
. After one long cross-country skiing
exercise over the mountains the soldiers went, still on skis, straight to the Jerome where Laurence Elisha, then the owner, let them spend the night and offered them free drinks. Many were struck by the vintage decor. "The only thing missing was a bunch of trail-worn cowboys or dirt-stained miners bellied up to the bar", one observed. Throughout their training, Elisha offered them a room and a steak dinner for a dollar a night. It became a popular for the Tenth's trainees on weekend leave
, since Leadville was off-limits and Denver was a lot farther away.
, then president of the Container Corporation of America
, visited the city with his wife Elizabeth. The couple were looking for a place in the mountains of Colorado that would be ideal for an American counterpart to the Salzburg Festival
. Aspen had many rundown neglected buildings lat the time, but they saw a lot of Victorian charm that could be brought back to life. They were cheap, and Paepcke bought or leased many, including the Jerome. Pfeifer also convinced him of the area's skiing potential, and Paepcke invested the money in the Aspen Skiing Company
that Pfeifer had founded. That allowed the completion of Ski Lift No. 1
, claimed to be the longest in the world. Its gala opening in January 1947 was the end of Aspen's "quiet years".
As he had done with his other Aspen acquisitions, Paepcke commissioned Austrian Bauhaus
architect Herbert Bayer
to renovate the Jerome. Bayer's main change was to paint the exterior a light grey color, with blue accents on the window arches in a color called "Bayer blue", a change that was not popular with most longtime residents, who preferred the original brick. Inside, the maple
bar was completely restored.
A new swimming pool was built, and it soon became the first place in Aspen where celebrities could be seen. In addition to movie stars of the era like Gary Cooper
, Lana Turner
and John Wayne
, intellectual Mortimer Adler
, helping to lead the Aspen Institute
in its early days, could be seen lounging around it. The actors routinely stayed in the same suite on the second floor, and children in the city frequently knocked on its door to collect autographs. Writer Evelyn Ames called the Jerome during this period "a surprisingly heady brew ... of Europe and the corner drugstore, of poets and cowboy boots."
In the 1960s, as the city steadily grew as a ski town, the Jerome declined. It was closed for several years. When John Gilmore bought it in 1968, rooms went for a mere $5 ($ in modern dollars) a night. Many of the younger people who were increasingly drawn to Aspen sneaked in to take showers on the third floor. He tried to interest investors in rehabilitating the building, but could not.
The influx of newcomers to Aspen at the time were largely hippie
s and other countercultural
types of the era. They were attracted to Aspen by its natural beauty, skiing and remoteness from larger population centers. It had been popularized in the writings of gonzo journalist
Hunter S. Thompson
, himself a transplant to the area who had almost been elected Pitkin County
on a promise to put profiteering drug dealers in the stocks on the lawn of the county courthouse
. During the 1970s, he was a regular at the J-Bar, coming in from his home in nearby Woody Creek
to pick up his mail and then hang out at the bar, drinking, eating and watching television as it had the best reception in the area prior to cable
becoming widespread. "It was his office", one bartender from the time recalled. "If people wanted to meet Hunter, they'd come to the Jerome."
Early in the decade, a new Los Angeles band known at the time as Teen King and the Emergencies went up to Aspen to perfect their country rock
sound before releasing their first album as The Eagles. Their members also became familiar sights at the J-Bar, along with fellow musician Jimmy Buffett
and another rising Hollywood star, Jack Nicholson
. Aspen's first disco
, The Rocking Horse, was opened in the basement along with a Moroccan-themed restaurant featuring belly dancers. Bill Murray
stayed at the Jerome in 1980 while filming Where the Buffalo Roam
, based on Thompson's life, and the nightly parties that started in the J-Bar continued in his suite. After the Eagles broke up, Glenn Frey
took the "large convention of young monsters" at the J-Bar as inspiration for his 1982 single "Partytown". "Everybody getting high on whatever's there, everything, all the time."
Gilmore had tried to begin 17 years earlier, a project that cost more than quadruple the purchase price. The structural system
was restored. All the original finishes on the inside were brought back to their original appearance. On the outside, Bayer's paint scheme was blasted off in favor of the original brick. The last change was as popular with the community as the original paint scheme had not been. In her 1991 romance novel Aspen Gold, Janet Dailey
praised the result: "... once again, the Hotel Jerome stood in stately dignity ... no longer a symbol of Aspen's rich past but a vital part of its present."
Around the turn of the 20th century two further renovations took place. The first, in 1998, used photographs over a century old to restore the J-Bar's original appearance. Four years later, a $6 million project added a new rear wing and grand ballroom, and restored the guest rooms.
Hunter S. Thompson
, who had worked out of the J-Bar for so many years, died in 2005; his memorial service
was held in the ballroom. That year the Gaylord family, publishers of The Oklahoman
newspaper, bought the hotel for $33.7 million. They sought to further expand and renovate it with a fourth floor. Two years later, the Gaylords tired of the city's delays in approving their project and sold the hotel for $52.2 million.
The buyers were two Chicago-based entities, Elysian Worldwide LLC and Lodging Capital Partners LLC (LCP), headed by David Pisor, owner of the Elysian, Chicago
. They hired RockResorts
, a subsidiary of Vail Resorts
, owner of the Vail Ski Resort
, Aspen's principal competitor in that area, to manage the Jerome. To finance the purchase they took out a mortgage
with Morgan Stanley
. The note later became the property of Lehman Brothers
. When that firm went bankrupt
in 2008 as a result of that year's financial crisis
, a new entity, Jerome Property LLC, emerged as the holder of the debt.
Jerome Property soon filed for foreclosure
against the two owners, citing nonpayment of the $36 million balance remaining. LCP and Elysian at first contested the filing, saying that they had not defaulted
, but later a sale was approved. LCP-Elysian conveyed the trust deed
, with which it had originally collateral
ized the loan, to Jerome Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of its creditor, in exchange for the forgiveness of the remaining debt in 2009.
The new owner applied to the city for an exemption from the real estate transfer tax
it charges, on the grounds that it had acquired the property through foreclosure proceedings. It was granted, because the city normally does not charge lenders in those situations since they usually resell the property. Later, however, the city learned that Jerome Properties in fact intended to retain and benefit from ownership. In 2010, it told Jerome Property that the sale might indeed be taxable.
Jerome Property then took the unusual step of foreclosing on its own subsidiary. It also filed in state court for a declaratory judgement that that transfer wasn't subject to the tax, either. The city responded that the foreclosure had been a fraudulent conveyance in order to avoid a tax bill estimated at around a half million dollars. In 2011 the judge ruled in favor of Jerome Property, saying the city had interpreted its own statute too narrowly. The city is considering whether to appeal.
Among the other ghosts said to haunt the Jerome include Henry O'Callister and Katie Kerrigan. O'Callister was supposedly a broke silver prospector who dug up a 1500 pounds (680.4 kg) silver nugget. With his new fortune, he moved into the Jerome and fell in love with a Boston heiress, Clarissa Wellington. The two wanted to marry, but her father would not give permission. She returned to the East
; he stayed in Aspen heartbroken for the rest of his life and died as broke as he had been when he found the nugget. His ghost supposedly wanders the halls, sobbing, some nights.
Kerrigan supposedly began working at the hotel at the age of 16 in 1892. She was an attractive young woman, and many of the wealthy guests at the hotel took notice, making her coworkers jealous. They played mean-spirited pranks on her. On one night another maid told Kerrigan her pet kitten had fallen through the ice on a nearby pond. Kerrigan went out to save the animal, falling through herself in the process. She was rescued but died of pneumonia
a week later. Current maids say that sometimes, when they enter a room to turn down the bedsheets, they find the job already done.
Travel writer Chris Gray Faust reported a similar mysterious occurrence in her room, which also overlooks the pool, during a 2010 stay. After she returned from an "Aspen Dark Side" evening walking tour
, which focused in part on the Jerome's ghost stories, a friend she was traveling with who had not been on the tour and left prior to her asked why she had turned the heat on. She had not, and the two found as well that the sink was full of soapy water although the soaps themselves had not been used. They were so scared they left the television and bathroom light on all night.
around the clock. The main desk with concierge
service is also staffed at all times. Valet parking
is available outside, and a shuttle service in chauffeur
ed SUV to the ski slopes, Aspen-Pitkin County Airport
and other areas of downtown. During ski season, guests can store their skis on the mountain as well.
Exercise facilities include, in addition to the outdoor heated pool, two Jacuzzi
hot tub
s and a weight room. Guests also have privileges at the nearby Aspen Club & Spa, a 77000 square feet (7,153.5 m²) health club
with indoor lap pool that offers spa
treatments. Some rooms are also accessible
.
Room rates vary by the type and time of year. They are generally on the high end. According to a recent travel guide, a single room can go for as low as $175 a night in the off-season (spring and fall). At the upper end, the more lavish suites cost almost ten times that much during summer or ski season. The hotel offers special packages for both summer and ski seasons, as well as for golfers.
, sounding a common theme. Fodor's
gives it a Fodor's Choice, calling it "[o]ne of the state's truly grand hotels."
"Fancy digs aren't my priority when I travel," wrote Phil Marty of the Chicago Tribune
, "but then you walk into something like Room 302 and think, 'Well, maybe I should spend more time in my room.'" He praised the staff's helpfulness in finding another place to valet-park his car with two bicycles on top, and the two half-liter water bottles and Toblerone
candy bars on the desk when he came in. He had a few minor complaints: at the time (2007) the hotel did not have free Wi-Fi
, the room's light switch could not function as a dimmer, and the hotel would stock the mini-bar only on a guest's request.
Colorado State Highway 82
State Highway 82 is an 85.29 mile long state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado.-Route description:SH 82 provides the principal transportation artery of the Roaring Fork Valley on the Colorado Western Slope, running from Interstate 70 at Glenwood Springs southeast past Carbondale, Basalt...
) in Aspen
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 1880s that is often described as one of the city's major landmarks, its "crown jewel". In 1986 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is currently operated by RockResorts
Rockresorts
RockResorts is a hotel brand with roots in the 1950s. Laurance Rockefeller, founder, began building a series of resorts in 1956 with the establishment of Caneel Bay on St. John in the United States Virgin Islands...
; its owner is nominally Jerome Property LLC pending the outcome of litigation with the city of Aspen over whether its decision to foreclose on its wholly owned subsidiary, which had owned the hotel, was in fact a tax dodge
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
.
It was built by Jerome B. Wheeler, at the time co-owner of Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
and a major investor in Aspen during its early boom
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
years. He wanted the city to have a hotel that equaled European ones in its refinements and amenities. It was one of the first buildings west of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to have full electric lighting and it has the only aboveground ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
in Aspen. It was the only hotel to remain open through the city's "quiet years" in the early 20th century, as a family business
Family business
A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....
run by a former bartender and his son that often served as the town's social center. At one point it was also used as a temporary morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
; there are claims the building is haunted
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
.
During Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
a celebrated spiked drink, the Aspen Crud, was invented at its J-Bar. Later, the drink and bar became popular with members of the Tenth Mountain Division while they trained in the area. After the war, Aspen and its new ski resort
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
became a popular destination, and celebrities vacationing in Aspen like Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
often stayed at the Jerome, and it became known as a place where they and the locals freely mingled. Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
used the J-Bar as his de facto office; later the hotel ballroom hosted his memorial service
Memorial service
Memorial service is often used to describe a secular or non-religious funeral. A funeral is a religious service that is held with or without the body of the deceased present...
. Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
partied there while portraying Thompson in a film, and the J-Bar also inspired a song by Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
, who had gone there often with his bandmates while a member of The Eagles.
Building
The Jerome is located on the northwest corner of the North Mill Street intersection. The neighborhood is densely developed with many other commercial properties. Some of them, such as the Pitkin County CourthousePitkin County Courthouse
The Pitkin County Courthouse is located on East Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a large brick building erected in the late 19th century that serves as offices not just of Pitkin County's courts but its other governmental agencies, and the Aspen police...
two blocks
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
to the east, Aspen City Hall
Aspen City Hall
Aspen City Hall, known in the past as Armory Hall, Fraternal Hall, is located at the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hopkins Avenue in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a brick building dating to the 1890s...
to the southeast, Collins Block
Collins Block
The Collins Block is located at the intersection of East Hopkins Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a brick and stone structure erected in the early 1890s...
and Wheeler Opera House
Wheeler Opera House
The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke...
to the south along Mill Street, have been listed on the Register themselves. At the opposite end of the block, across the street, is the Thomas Hynes House
Thomas Hynes House
The Thomas Hynes House on East Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States, is a wooden building from the 1880s. In 1987 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of a group of historic properties in the city.It is one of Aspen's remaining miner's cottages from its early...
, a former miner's cottage now used as a restaurant and also on the Register. To the north the terrain, level between the hotel and the slopes of Aspen Mountain
Aspen Mountain (Colorado)
Aspen Mountain is a mountain in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the United States. One of the foothills of the Elk Mountains, it is located just south of the town of Aspen, which is situated at the foot of the mountain at the southeast end of the valley of the Roaring Fork River in Pitkin County...
, begins to slope gently toward the Roaring Fork River
Roaring Fork River
Roaring Fork River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately long, in west central Colorado in the United States. The river drains a populated and economically vital area of the Colorado Western Slope called the Roaring Fork Valley or Roaring Fork Watershed, which includes the resort...
, which flows through Rio Grande Park two blocks to the north.
The building itself is a three-story 12-by-11-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
brick structure, with a small hyphen
Hyphen (architecture)
In architecture, a hyphen is a connecting link between two larger building elements. It is typically found in Georgian style architecture, where the hyphens form connections between a large central house and end pavilions in the Georgian five-part house, which was in turn derived from Palladian...
connecting the main block to a north wing of similar shape and size. Both are topped by a flat roof. The slight grade to the north exposes their basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
s slightly.
Its south (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
has a wooden hood, topped with a balustraded balcony, covering the sidewalk at the centrally located recessed main entrance. It is flanked by two small aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
trees on either side at the street. Smooth round columns on square bases support a molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
with metal letters spelling "Hotel Jerome" on the east and west.
The middle six bays of the facade project slightly. On either side of the front entrance are large windows with a small rectangular pane atop a larger one. All have sills of locally quarried rough cut peachblow sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, which continues aroundthe building as a course
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
and water table
Water table (architecture)
A water table is a masonry architectural feature that consists of a projecting course that deflects water running down the face of a building away from lower courses or the foundation...
. Sandstone also forms a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
, interrupted by the windows, below the wooden cornice which continues around the building. At the ends of the facade are wood and glass storefronts, housing two of the hotel's three restaurants, the J-Bar on the west and Library on the east.
Windows on the second story's central projection are one-over-one double-hung sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s with transoms and sandstone sills and lintels. In the middle two the words "Hotel" and "Jerome" are carved. They are recessed slightly between brick pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s with sandstone bases and capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
with decorative carvings. On the flanks the windows are set in round segmental arches laid with several rows of splayed brick. They, too have sandstone sills and a sandstone course runs around the building at the arches' springline.
At the third story the four-pane center windows, also recessed, have a similar round-arched treatment as the flanking second-story windows. On the sides are four one-over-one sash windows with sandstone sills and small decorations between them. At the lintel is a dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
led, fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
wooden frieze that continues around the entire building save the front portico. Above it is another molded cornice that marks the roofline. It is topped by a parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
with four rows of recessed square panels. A flagpole is located in the center of the roof at the front.
Inside many original finishes remain. The lobby has been restored to its original appearance; the ashes of a longtime pastry chef are kept behind a clock. From the lobby hallways lead to the Garden Terrace restaurant in a western annex, with an adjacent outdoor terrace
Terrace (building)
A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...
south of the swimming pool. The first floor is also home to several meeting spaces, including the 3450 square feet (320.5 m²) Grand Ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
in the northeast corner of the rear block, the only aboveground ballroom in Aspen, with 16 feet (4.9 m) ceilings.
On the upper floors there are 94 guest rooms. They range from 500 to 750 sq ft (46.5 to 69.7 ) in size, from single rooms to suites
Suite (hotel)
A suite in a hotel or other public accommodation, denotes a class of luxury accommodations, the key feature of which is multiple rooms. Many properties have one or more "honeymoon suites", and sometimes the best accommodation is called the "presidential suite".Suites offer multiple rooms, with more...
. Standard amenities include marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
vanities in the bathrooms, high-speed Internet access, a DVD player, fully stocked mini-bar
Mini-bar
A mini-bar is a small, private snack and beverage bar often found in upscale Western-style hotel rooms.-Overview:Typically, a mini-bar comes in the form of a counter and small refrigerator stocked with a precise inventory. The room's guests can take a beverage or snack at any time during their stay...
and beds with 300-thread count linens.
History
The Jerome's history parallels Aspen's. It was opened with grand ambitions in the city's early boom years and survived as Aspen's only hotel during the city's long "quiet years" in the early 20th century, under the ownership of the Elisha family. With the development of skiing after World War II, it began to see a new potential realized only with major renovations at the end of the 20th century that made it the upscale hotel it is today.1889–1892: Construction and early boom years
In the late 1870s, prospectorProspector
Prospector may mean:*Prospecting, exploring an area for natural resources such as minerals, oil, flora or fauna*Prospector , a unified catalog for Colorado and Wyoming...
s venturing west from Leadville
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
in search of silver veins crossed the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
at Independence Pass
Independence Pass (Colorado)
Independence Pass, elevation , is a high mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado in the United States.The pass crosses the ridge of the Sawatch Range between Aspen and Leadville, on the border between Pitkin and Lake counties, and is within the White River National Forest...
and continued down the Roaring Fork Valley
Roaring Fork Valley
The Roaring Fork Valley is a geographical region in western Colorado in the United States. The Roaring Fork Valley is one of the most affluent regions in Colorado as well as one of the most populous and economically vital areas of the Colorado Western Slope. The Valley is defined by the valley of...
to establish several mining camps. One of them, at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Castle Creek, became the area's pre-eminent settlement by 1879. At first it was called Ute City, after the local Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe, but by the early 1880s it had been renamed Aspen, after the trees abundant in the area.
Jerome Wheeler, at the time co-owner of Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
, visited Aspen in 1883 while on vacation in Colorado. He was impressed by the potential he saw, and began investing in the community, completing a smelter started earlier so that ore did not have to be taken back to Leadville. After winning a legal battle over the rights to the Smuggler Mine, the richest lode in the area, and leaving Macy's, he commissioned the building of the hotel and the Wheeler Opera House
Wheeler Opera House
The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke...
, both bearing his name, and a house
Wheeler–Stallard House
The Wheeler–Stallard House is located on West Bleeker Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is an 1880s brick structure built in the Queen Anne architectural style, and renovated twice in the 20th century. In 1975 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.It was built by...
in the city's residential West End.
Wheeler meant for the hotel to be the equal of great European hotels such as Claridge's
Claridge's
Claridge's is a luxury hotel in Mayfair, central London. It is located at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street.-History:Claridge's is a traditional grand hotel. Its extensive and old connections with royalty have led to it being referred to as an "extension to Buckingham Palace"...
in London and the George-V in Paris. He loaned $60,000 ($ in modern dollars) to another local innkeeper to build the hotel. Costs escalated to more than twice that, and a month before the hotel was set to open the builders left town unexpectedly, leaving Wheeler owing approximately $150,000 ($ in modern dollars). "[He had] discovered the first rule of building in Aspen: it always costs way more than you planned", observed a commentator over a century later.
It was one of the first buildings west of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to have full electric lighting. Other amenities included running water and indoor plumbing, steam heat and an elevator. At the time of its opening, on the night before Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
, it had 90 rooms, which rented for up to $4 ($ in modern dollars) a night. Early guests included Wheeler's business friends from the East
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
, theater stars of the era and wealthy travelers. As its builder had intended, it occupied the most commanding location in the city.
Three years after its completion, in 1892, Wheeler sold the hotel to a Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
man named Archie Fisk for $125,000 ($ in modern dollars) as part of a general liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
of his Aspen assets after losing a lengthy lawsuit over a mining deal. The next year, in response to the Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
, Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted on July 14, 1890 as a United States federal law. It was named after its author, Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee...
, ending the Colorado Silver Boom
Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville...
and with it Aspen's early boom years. Fisk could not pay taxes
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
on the property, and it soon became the property of Pitkin County
Pitkin County, Colorado
Pitkin County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named in honor of the late Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. The county population was 14,872 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Aspen...
, and then became Wheeler's again. It remained the center of the city's social life, partially because it had the only public bathroom downtown.
1893–1946: The quiet years
Over the next several decades, a period that came to be known later as "the quiet years", the town's population declined from thousands to hundreds. The Jerome remained open, the city's only hotel, often becoming by default a boardinghouse. In 1911 ownership passed to local businessman Mansor Elisha, a Syrian AmericanSyrian American
Syrian Americans are residents of the United States of Syrian ancestry or nationality. This group includes Americans of Syrian ancestry, Syrian first generation immigrants, or descendants of Syrians who emigrated to the United States. Syrian Americans may be members of a number of differing...
drummer with a travelling band who had stopped in Aspen, taken a job as the Jerome's bartender, and later acquired the hotel from Wheeler, who had by this time long left the city and was unable to pay the taxes as he had gone bankrupt
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
.
In 1918, the Jerome's parlors served as morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
s during the flu epidemic. The next year Elisha threw a welcome-home dance for local soldiers returning from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1919. Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
had started by then, and to survive the J-Bar became a soda fountain
Soda fountain
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores...
. Liquor service continued, in the form of a popular drink called the Aspen Crud, still served there today, that is essentially a vanilla ice cream soda
Ice cream soda
An ice cream soda or float , coke float , or spider , is a beverage that consists of one or more scoops of ice cream in either a soft drink or in a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.-Origins:The ice cream soda was invented by Robert M...
or milkshake
Milkshake
A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage which is made from milk, ice cream or iced milk, and flavorings or sweeteners such as fruit syrup or chocolate sauce....
generously spiked with bourbon
Bourbon whiskey
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey – a barrel-aged distilled spirit made primarily from corn. The name of the spirit derives from its historical association with an area known as Old Bourbon, around what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky . It has been produced since the 18th century...
. Whole families were known to stop by after church and share one.
Mansor Elisha died in 1935, leaving his son Laurence in charge of the hotel. The following year the seeds were planted for the city's recovery when Tom Flynn, a former resident trying to sell some of his mining claims, showed pictures of them to Billy Fiske
Billy Fiske
William Meade Lindsley "Billy" Fiske III was the 1928 and 1932 Olympic champion bobsled driver and, following Jimmy Davies, was one of the first American pilots killed in action in World War II...
, a U.S. Olympic bobsledder who had competed at the Winter Olympics
Bobsleigh at the 1936 Winter Olympics
At the 1936 Winter Olympics, two bobsleigh events were contested. The competitions were held from February 11, 1936 to February 15, 1936.-Medal summary:-Participating nations:...
earlier that year. He saw perfect terrain for a ski resort, and went out to Aspen and bought some land. Over that winter the newly formed Highland Bavarian ski club built its first ski near Ashcroft
Ashcroft, Colorado
Ashcroft originally known as Castle Forks City and then Chloride until 1882, was a mining town located ten miles south of Aspen near Castle Creek, in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. A few buildings remain standing as a testament to the town's past.-The early years:In the spring of 1880 two...
. Its first two guides, Swiss skier André Roch
André Roch
André Roch, , was a mountaineer, avalanche expert, skier, resort developer, engineer, and author...
and Austrian mountaineer Gunther Langes, lived in the Jerome for five weeks while the lodge was finished.
A crude ski lift was later built in Aspen itself, the beginnings of today's ski resort
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
. The outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
put further skiing development on hold, but not skiing itself as the U.S. Army's Tenth Mountain Division's "soldiers on skis" began training at nearby Camp Hale
Camp Hale
Camp Hale, between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley in Colorado, was a U.S. Army training facility constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. It was named for General Irving Hale....
. After one long cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
exercise over the mountains the soldiers went, still on skis, straight to the Jerome where Laurence Elisha, then the owner, let them spend the night and offered them free drinks. Many were struck by the vintage decor. "The only thing missing was a bunch of trail-worn cowboys or dirt-stained miners bellied up to the bar", one observed. Throughout their training, Elisha offered them a room and a steak dinner for a dollar a night. It became a popular for the Tenth's trainees on weekend leave
Leave (military)
In military, leave is a permission to be away from one's unit, either for a specified or unspecified period of time.The term AWOL, standing for absent without leave, is a term for desertion used in armed forces of many English speaking countries....
, since Leadville was off-limits and Denver was a lot farther away.
1946–1984: Ski resort and celebrity hangout
After the war some veterans of the Tenth returned to Aspen, including Friedl Pfeifer, another Austrian who had been involved in developing the ski resort before the war. In 1946 Walter PaepckeWalter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
, then president of the Container Corporation of America
Container Corporation of America
Container Corporation of America was founded in 1926 and manufactures corrugated boxes. In 1968 CCA merged with Montgomery Ward & Company, Inc., in a move that was largely intended to thwart takeover bids against either company. MARCOR maintained separate management for the operations of each...
, visited the city with his wife Elizabeth. The couple were looking for a place in the mountains of Colorado that would be ideal for an American counterpart to the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
. Aspen had many rundown neglected buildings lat the time, but they saw a lot of Victorian charm that could be brought back to life. They were cheap, and Paepcke bought or leased many, including the Jerome. Pfeifer also convinced him of the area's skiing potential, and Paepcke invested the money in the Aspen Skiing Company
Aspen Skiing Company
The Aspen Skiing Company, known locally as "Ski Co", is a commercial enterprise based in Aspen, Colorado in the United States.-History:Founded in 1946 by Walter Paepcke, it operates the Aspen/Snowmass resort complex, comprising four ski areas near the town of Aspen...
that Pfeifer had founded. That allowed the completion of Ski Lift No. 1
Ski Lift No. 1
The former Ski Lift No. 1 begins on Aspen Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States, and climbs up the slopes of Aspen Mountain. It was built in the late 1940s on the site of Aspen's first ski lift, known as the Boat Tow...
, claimed to be the longest in the world. Its gala opening in January 1947 was the end of Aspen's "quiet years".
As he had done with his other Aspen acquisitions, Paepcke commissioned Austrian Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
architect Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental & interior designer, and architect, who was widely recognized as the last living member of the Bauhaus and was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's...
to renovate the Jerome. Bayer's main change was to paint the exterior a light grey color, with blue accents on the window arches in a color called "Bayer blue", a change that was not popular with most longtime residents, who preferred the original brick. Inside, the maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
bar was completely restored.
A new swimming pool was built, and it soon became the first place in Aspen where celebrities could be seen. In addition to movie stars of the era like Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, intellectual Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Adler
Mortimer Jerome Adler was an American philosopher, educator, and popular author. As a philosopher he worked within the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. He lived for the longest stretches in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California...
, helping to lead the Aspen Institute
Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...
in its early days, could be seen lounging around it. The actors routinely stayed in the same suite on the second floor, and children in the city frequently knocked on its door to collect autographs. Writer Evelyn Ames called the Jerome during this period "a surprisingly heady brew ... of Europe and the corner drugstore, of poets and cowboy boots."
In the 1960s, as the city steadily grew as a ski town, the Jerome declined. It was closed for several years. When John Gilmore bought it in 1968, rooms went for a mere $5 ($ in modern dollars) a night. Many of the younger people who were increasingly drawn to Aspen sneaked in to take showers on the third floor. He tried to interest investors in rehabilitating the building, but could not.
The influx of newcomers to Aspen at the time were largely hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s and other countercultural
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
types of the era. They were attracted to Aspen by its natural beauty, skiing and remoteness from larger population centers. It had been popularized in the writings of gonzo journalist
Gonzo journalism
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style...
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
, himself a transplant to the area who had almost been elected Pitkin County
Pitkin County, Colorado
Pitkin County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named in honor of the late Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. The county population was 14,872 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Aspen...
on a promise to put profiteering drug dealers in the stocks on the lawn of the county courthouse
Pitkin County Courthouse
The Pitkin County Courthouse is located on East Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a large brick building erected in the late 19th century that serves as offices not just of Pitkin County's courts but its other governmental agencies, and the Aspen police...
. During the 1970s, he was a regular at the J-Bar, coming in from his home in nearby Woody Creek
Woody Creek, Colorado
Woody Creek is a census-designated place and a U.S. Post Office located in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States part of the Roaring Fork Valley...
to pick up his mail and then hang out at the bar, drinking, eating and watching television as it had the best reception in the area prior to cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
becoming widespread. "It was his office", one bartender from the time recalled. "If people wanted to meet Hunter, they'd come to the Jerome."
Early in the decade, a new Los Angeles band known at the time as Teen King and the Emergencies went up to Aspen to perfect their country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
sound before releasing their first album as The Eagles. Their members also became familiar sights at the J-Bar, along with fellow musician Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
and another rising Hollywood star, Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. Aspen's first disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, The Rocking Horse, was opened in the basement along with a Moroccan-themed restaurant featuring belly dancers. Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
stayed at the Jerome in 1980 while filming Where the Buffalo Roam
Where the Buffalo Roam
Where the Buffalo Roam is a 1980 American semi-biographical comedy film which loosely depicts Hunter S. Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta. Art Linson directed the picture, while Bill Murray portrayed the author and Peter...
, based on Thompson's life, and the nightly parties that started in the J-Bar continued in his suite. After the Eagles broke up, Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
took the "large convention of young monsters" at the J-Bar as inspiration for his 1982 single "Partytown". "Everybody getting high on whatever's there, everything, all the time."
1985–present: Renovation and restoration
In 1985 a group of investors headed by a local developer, Rick Butera, bought the Jerome for $6 million ($ in modern dollars) and began the restorationBuilding restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
Gilmore had tried to begin 17 years earlier, a project that cost more than quadruple the purchase price. The structural system
Structural system
The term structural system or structural frame in structural engineering refers to load-resisting sub-system of a structure. The structural system transfers loads through interconnected structural components or members.-High-rise buildings:...
was restored. All the original finishes on the inside were brought back to their original appearance. On the outside, Bayer's paint scheme was blasted off in favor of the original brick. The last change was as popular with the community as the original paint scheme had not been. In her 1991 romance novel Aspen Gold, Janet Dailey
Janet Dailey
Janet Anne Haradon Dailey is an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey . Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold over 300 million copies worldwide....
praised the result: "... once again, the Hotel Jerome stood in stately dignity ... no longer a symbol of Aspen's rich past but a vital part of its present."
Around the turn of the 20th century two further renovations took place. The first, in 1998, used photographs over a century old to restore the J-Bar's original appearance. Four years later, a $6 million project added a new rear wing and grand ballroom, and restored the guest rooms.
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...
, who had worked out of the J-Bar for so many years, died in 2005; his memorial service
Memorial service
Memorial service is often used to describe a secular or non-religious funeral. A funeral is a religious service that is held with or without the body of the deceased present...
was held in the ballroom. That year the Gaylord family, publishers of The Oklahoman
The Oklahoman
The Oklahoman is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma and is the only daily newspaper that covers the entire Oklahoma City area.-Ownership:...
newspaper, bought the hotel for $33.7 million. They sought to further expand and renovate it with a fourth floor. Two years later, the Gaylords tired of the city's delays in approving their project and sold the hotel for $52.2 million.
The buyers were two Chicago-based entities, Elysian Worldwide LLC and Lodging Capital Partners LLC (LCP), headed by David Pisor, owner of the Elysian, Chicago
Elysian, Chicago
The Elysian Hotel in Chicago, Illinois is located on East Walton Street in the Gold Coast, The Elysian is a luxury hotel with 188 rooms boasting 5-star amenities including a spa. The Elysian also has 52 private residences, condos, most of which are worth well over $1 million. Marc Jacobs also has a...
. They hired RockResorts
Rockresorts
RockResorts is a hotel brand with roots in the 1950s. Laurance Rockefeller, founder, began building a series of resorts in 1956 with the establishment of Caneel Bay on St. John in the United States Virgin Islands...
, a subsidiary of Vail Resorts
Vail Resorts
Vail Resorts, Inc. runs four ski resorts in Colorado, as well as two in Lake Tahoe and a summer resort in Wyoming. They also own luxury resort hotels throughout the United States. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol MTN...
, owner of the Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail. Vail Mountain, at , is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin...
, Aspen's principal competitor in that area, to manage the Jerome. To finance the purchase they took out a mortgage
Mortgage
A mortgage is a security interest in real property held by a lender as a security for a debt, usually a loan of money. A mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt...
with Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
. The note later became the property of Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
. When that firm went bankrupt
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
in 2008 as a result of that year's financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
, a new entity, Jerome Property LLC, emerged as the holder of the debt.
Jerome Property soon filed for foreclosure
Foreclosure
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...
against the two owners, citing nonpayment of the $36 million balance remaining. LCP and Elysian at first contested the filing, saying that they had not defaulted
Default (finance)
In finance, default occurs when a debtor has not met his or her legal obligations according to the debt contract, e.g. has not made a scheduled payment, or has violated a loan covenant of the debt contract. A default is the failure to pay back a loan. Default may occur if the debtor is either...
, but later a sale was approved. LCP-Elysian conveyed the trust deed
Trust deed (real estate)
In real estate in the United States, a trust deed or deed of trust is a deed wherein legal title in real property is transferred to a trustee, which holds it as security for a loan between a borrower and lender...
, with which it had originally collateral
Collateral (finance)
In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...
ized the loan, to Jerome Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of its creditor, in exchange for the forgiveness of the remaining debt in 2009.
The new owner applied to the city for an exemption from the real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax is a tax that may be imposed by states, counties, or municipalities on the privilege of transferring real property within the jurisdiction. Total transfer taxes range from very small to relatively large . Some U.S...
it charges, on the grounds that it had acquired the property through foreclosure proceedings. It was granted, because the city normally does not charge lenders in those situations since they usually resell the property. Later, however, the city learned that Jerome Properties in fact intended to retain and benefit from ownership. In 2010, it told Jerome Property that the sale might indeed be taxable.
Jerome Property then took the unusual step of foreclosing on its own subsidiary. It also filed in state court for a declaratory judgement that that transfer wasn't subject to the tax, either. The city responded that the foreclosure had been a fraudulent conveyance in order to avoid a tax bill estimated at around a half million dollars. In 2011 the judge ruled in favor of Jerome Property, saying the city had interpreted its own statute too narrowly. The city is considering whether to appeal.
Reputed ghosts
Like many other historic hotels, the Jerome is said to be haunted by ghosts of guests or other persons associated with it in the past. The most common story involves Room 310, which overlooks the pool. Supposedly, in 1936, a family staying in that room had a ten-year-old son, who drowned in the pool. Since then, guests and employees have sometimes encountered his ghost, known as "water boy", either in that room or nearby hallways. He appears wet, wrapped in a towel and shivering, and does not speak. He will supposedly disappear, leaving behind a trail of wet footprints. Other supposed hauntings take place on the third floor, to the extent that many employees reportedly prefer not to work up there.Among the other ghosts said to haunt the Jerome include Henry O'Callister and Katie Kerrigan. O'Callister was supposedly a broke silver prospector who dug up a 1500 pounds (680.4 kg) silver nugget. With his new fortune, he moved into the Jerome and fell in love with a Boston heiress, Clarissa Wellington. The two wanted to marry, but her father would not give permission. She returned to the East
Eastern United States
The Eastern United States, the American East, or simply the East is traditionally defined as the states east of the Mississippi River. The first two tiers of states west of the Mississippi have traditionally been considered part of the West, but can be included in the East today; usually in...
; he stayed in Aspen heartbroken for the rest of his life and died as broke as he had been when he found the nugget. His ghost supposedly wanders the halls, sobbing, some nights.
Kerrigan supposedly began working at the hotel at the age of 16 in 1892. She was an attractive young woman, and many of the wealthy guests at the hotel took notice, making her coworkers jealous. They played mean-spirited pranks on her. On one night another maid told Kerrigan her pet kitten had fallen through the ice on a nearby pond. Kerrigan went out to save the animal, falling through herself in the process. She was rescued but died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
a week later. Current maids say that sometimes, when they enter a room to turn down the bedsheets, they find the job already done.
Travel writer Chris Gray Faust reported a similar mysterious occurrence in her room, which also overlooks the pool, during a 2010 stay. After she returned from an "Aspen Dark Side" evening walking tour
Walking tour
Walking tour may be defined has having one or more of the following characteristics:* A full or partial-day tour of one or more tourist destinations, which can be led by a tour guide, an escort, or be self-guided....
, which focused in part on the Jerome's ghost stories, a friend she was traveling with who had not been on the tour and left prior to her asked why she had turned the heat on. She had not, and the two found as well that the sink was full of soapy water although the soaps themselves had not been used. They were so scared they left the television and bathroom light on all night.
Rates and services
In addition to its in-room amenities, the Jerome offers twice-daily maid service including nightly turn-down, babysitting, same-day laundry and dry-cleaning and room serviceRoom service
Room service is an accommodation available at many hotels, whose employees bring food or other items to guests in their rooms.Room service may also refer to:- Music :...
around the clock. The main desk with concierge
Concierge
A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...
service is also staffed at all times. Valet parking
Valet parking
Valet parking is a parking service offered by some restaurants, stores, and other businesses, particularly in North America. In contrast to "self-parking", where customers find a parking space on their own, customers' vehicles are parked for them by a person called a valet...
is available outside, and a shuttle service in chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
ed SUV to the ski slopes, Aspen-Pitkin County Airport
Aspen-Pitkin County Airport
-Commercial aircraft:* SkyWest Airlines flies the CRJ-700 for United Airlines* Republic Airlines flies the Dash 8-Q400 for Frontier Airlines-General aviation:General aviation services are provided by , the airport's sole fixed base operator.-External links:...
and other areas of downtown. During ski season, guests can store their skis on the mountain as well.
Exercise facilities include, in addition to the outdoor heated pool, two Jacuzzi
Jacuzzi
Jacuzzi is a company that produces whirlpool bathtubs and spas. Its first product was a bath with massaging jets. The term "jacuzzi" is now often used generically to refer to any bathtub with massaging jets.-History:...
hot tub
Hot tub
A hot tub is a large tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy....
s and a weight room. Guests also have privileges at the nearby Aspen Club & Spa, a 77000 square feet (7,153.5 m²) health club
Health club
A health club is a place which houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise.-Main workout area:...
with indoor lap pool that offers spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
treatments. Some rooms are also accessible
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
.
Room rates vary by the type and time of year. They are generally on the high end. According to a recent travel guide, a single room can go for as low as $175 a night in the off-season (spring and fall). At the upper end, the more lavish suites cost almost ten times that much during summer or ski season. The hotel offers special packages for both summer and ski seasons, as well as for golfers.
Reviews
Travel writers and guides have heaped praise on the Jerome. "[It is] one of the best places to stay in Aspen—for those who can afford it", says Frommer'sFrommer's
Frommer's is a travel guidebook series and one of the bestselling travel guides in America. The series began in 1957 with the publication of Arthur Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day. Frommer's has expanded to include over 350 guidebooks across 14 series, as well as other media including the award...
, sounding a common theme. Fodor's
Fodor's
Fodor's is the world's largest publisher of English language travel and tourism information, and the first relatively professional producer of travel guidebooks...
gives it a Fodor's Choice, calling it "[o]ne of the state's truly grand hotels."
"Fancy digs aren't my priority when I travel," wrote Phil Marty of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, "but then you walk into something like Room 302 and think, 'Well, maybe I should spend more time in my room.'" He praised the staff's helpfulness in finding another place to valet-park his car with two bicycles on top, and the two half-liter water bottles and Toblerone
Toblerone
Toblerone is a chocolate bar brand owned by Kraft Foods, who acquired the product from former owner Jacobs Suchard in 1990. It is well-known for its distinctive packaging, its prism shape and its ubiquity in duty-free shops.The triangular shape of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps is commonly...
candy bars on the desk when he came in. He had a few minor complaints: at the time (2007) the hotel did not have free Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
, the room's light switch could not function as a dimmer, and the hotel would stock the mini-bar only on a guest's request.
See also
- List of hotels in the United States
- List of reportedly haunted locations in the United States
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, ColoradoNational Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, ColoradoThis is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Pitkin County, Colorado.This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States...