Ritz-Carlton Atlantic City
Encyclopedia
The Ritz-Carlton was a hotel
on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City
, New Jersey
, built at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties
and renowned for its luxurious appointments and famous guests. The building was converted to condominums in 1982.
announced its intention to build a hotel in Atlantic City in 1911. The Ritz-Carlton was designed by New York architect Charles D. Wetmore and constructed by the Thompson-Starrett Company. Opened on June 21, 1921, it was erected at a cost of $6,250,000 (almost $70 million in 2010 dollars), less than the original $8,000,000 projected. Located at the end of Iowa Avenue, the building has 131 feet of Boardwalk frontage, is 222 ft (67.7 m) tall, and has 18 stories.
The hotel's restaurants were the Ritz, the Trellis Room, and the Ritz Grill, an outdoor dining terrace overlooking the ocean, and a merry-go-round-shaped bar. The Maude Earl Room, a writing room adjoining the parlor, house rare and antique art.
In January 1922, President Warren G. Harding
addressed guests in an early use of wireless radiophone. The same year, the Ritz Carlton company offered air passage between its hotels in Atlantic City and New York City
.
, Sophie Tucker
, and Lawrence Tibbett
; author Bruce Barton; US Presidents Calvin Coolidge
, Warren G. Harding
, and Herbert Hoover
; Mayor of New York Jimmy Walker
; and mobsters Al Capone
and Lucky Luciano
.
Among the celebrities who performed at the hotel during its heyday
were Paul Whiteman
, Bing Crosby
, Red Nichols
, and Milton Berle
.
, occupies the entire 9th floor of a fictionalized version of the Ritz-Carlton. The real Enoch "Nucky" Johnson
, on whom the character is based, dominated Atlantic City during Prohibition
and the Depression
, occupied the suites from which he conducted his daily business until his arrest in 1941 on charges of tax evasion
. He hosted the historic summit of leaders of organized crime
, the Atlantic City Conference
, in 1929 at the Ritz and Ambassador. Tours of the building have been organized in response to the popularity of the series.
for soldiers in training and recuperation during World War II. After the war it changed hands several times, once as a Sheraton Hotel,. The Ritz was converted to an apartment hotel
in June 1969. In 1982, approximately $25 million was spent converting it to 322 residences and six commercial suites, of which some are full-time residences and others are vacation homes.
and federal
registers of historic places.
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, built at the beginning of the Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
and renowned for its luxurious appointments and famous guests. The building was converted to condominums in 1982.
Architecture
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel CompanyRitz-Carlton Hotel Company
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is the parent company to the luxury hotel chain, Ritz-Carlton Hotels. The hotel company is a subsidiary of Marriott International...
announced its intention to build a hotel in Atlantic City in 1911. The Ritz-Carlton was designed by New York architect Charles D. Wetmore and constructed by the Thompson-Starrett Company. Opened on June 21, 1921, it was erected at a cost of $6,250,000 (almost $70 million in 2010 dollars), less than the original $8,000,000 projected. Located at the end of Iowa Avenue, the building has 131 feet of Boardwalk frontage, is 222 ft (67.7 m) tall, and has 18 stories.
Amenities
At the building's dedication, hotel president Richard Harris stated "We are out to do business with the average American citizen without regard to race, religion or politics". But the Ritz-Carlton soon became a haunt for the well-off, the hotel exuding wealth and status. Many features were state-of-the-art or unique among hotels at the time. They included fresh- and salt-water faucets for both hot- and cold-water in each room, an on-site artesian well for spring water, pantries on each landing to speed room service, and elevators with walls of rubber and floors of cork so that bathers' could bypass the lobby.The hotel's restaurants were the Ritz, the Trellis Room, and the Ritz Grill, an outdoor dining terrace overlooking the ocean, and a merry-go-round-shaped bar. The Maude Earl Room, a writing room adjoining the parlor, house rare and antique art.
In January 1922, President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
addressed guests in an early use of wireless radiophone. The same year, the Ritz Carlton company offered air passage between its hotels in Atlantic City and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Residents, guests, and performers
Renowned guests included performers Eddie CantorEddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
, Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century...
, and Lawrence Tibbett
Lawrence Tibbett
Lawrence Mervil Tibbett was a great American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera company more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950...
; author Bruce Barton; US Presidents Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, and Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
; Mayor of New York Jimmy Walker
Jimmy Walker
James John Walker, often known as Jimmy Walker and colloquially as Beau James , was the mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932...
; and mobsters Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
and Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
.
Among the celebrities who performed at the hotel during its heyday
Heyday
Heyday was a horse that competed in the sport of eventing, ridden by American Bruce Davidson. He was one of the Top Ten All American High Point Horses of the Century in eventing.*Born: 1987*Color: Bay *Markings: Star, off fore sock...
were Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
, and Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
.
Nucky Thompson and Boardwalk Empire
In the HBO original series Boardwalk Empire, the character of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the treasurer of Atlantic CountyAtlantic County, New Jersey
-National protected areas:* Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge * Great Egg Harbor Scenic and Recreational River -Demographics:...
, occupies the entire 9th floor of a fictionalized version of the Ritz-Carlton. The real Enoch "Nucky" Johnson
Enoch L. Johnson
Enoch Lewis "Nucky" Johnson was an Atlantic City, New Jersey political boss and racketeer. From the 1910s until his imprisonment in 1941, he was the undisputed “boss” of the Republican political machine that controlled Atlantic City and the Atlantic County government...
, on whom the character is based, dominated Atlantic City during 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...
and the Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
, occupied the suites from which he conducted his daily business until his arrest in 1941 on charges of tax evasion
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,...
. He hosted the historic summit of leaders of organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, the Atlantic City Conference
Atlantic City Conference
The Atlantic City Conference held in 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US...
, in 1929 at the Ritz and Ambassador. Tours of the building have been organized in response to the popularity of the series.
Barracks, Sheraton, conversion
During the Depression in 1937 the owners defaulted on the mortgage and of the Ritz Carlton was reorganized under bankruptcy. The hotel was one of many in the city to be used as military barracksBarracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
for soldiers in training and recuperation during World War II. After the war it changed hands several times, once as a Sheraton Hotel,. The Ritz was converted to an apartment hotel
Apartment hotel
An Apartment Hotel is a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel-style booking system. It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can 'check-out' whenever they wish....
in June 1969. In 1982, approximately $25 million was spent converting it to 322 residences and six commercial suites, of which some are full-time residences and others are vacation homes.
Historic status
In February 2011, New Jersey's State Historic Preservation Office awarded the building a certificate of eligibility, qualifying for listing on the stateNew Jersey Register of Historic Places
The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the Historic Preservation Office of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.The register was...
and federal
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...
registers of historic places.