Seelbach Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Seelbach Hotel is a hotel
in Louisville, Kentucky
, founded by Bavarian-born immigrant brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach. It has since been renamed the Seelbach Hilton. The hotel was envisioned by the Seelbach Brothers to embody the old-world grandeur of European hotels in cities such as Vienna
and Paris
. To do so in turn of the century Louisville, they employed a French Renaissance
design in constructing the hotel. Louis was already a restaurant owner in Louisville when his brother Otto joined him from Germany
around 1890, forming the Seelbach Hotel Co. The Company began construction on the hotel in 1903.
The hotel was quickly regarded among the finest hotels in the United States and throughout its long history has been frequented by many notable Americans — for instance F. Scott Fitzgerald
, who took inspiration from the Seelbach for a hotel in The Great Gatsby
. The hotel is now owned by Hilton Hotels & Resorts
.
. Emigrating from Germany
in 1869 at age 17, Louis Seelbach arrived in Louisville shortly after reaching the United States
. He worked for the original Galt House
for a time upon his arrival, but after turning 22 in 1874, he realized that his ambitions lay beyond that job. He proceeded to open the Seelbach Bar & Grill that same year, and it quickly became a great success. When coupled with the quickly expanding Louisville population and economy, the success of the restaurant allowed Louis Seelbach to bring his brother Otto over from Frankenthal, Germany to help him open the first Seelbach Hotel. They opened it in 1891 above the Seelbach Bar & Grill on 6th and Main.
The brothers were intent on building Louisville's first grand hotel: a hotel worthy of the opulence present in hotels in Europe
. The Seelbachs purchased a piece of property on the corner of 4th and Walnut (now Muhammad Ali
Blvd) Streets, broke ground in December, 1903, and opened the doors on May 1, 1905, just in time for the Kentucky Derby
.
On the opening day, over 25,000 people visited the hotel. The Seelbach hosted a gala that evening, throwing dinner parties in every one of the 150 rooms. The structure incorporated marble
from Italy
, Germany
and France
, along with wood from the West Indies and Europe
.
The hotel attracted a great number of people in its first two years, and, luckily, the Seelbach Realty Company – formed in 1902 before the property purchase – had been planning from opening day to expand the hotel. On January 1, 1907, the second phase was completed, raising the number of rooms to 500. The lower two floors of the ten-story structure were constructed with stone, while the upper floors were brick. The rooftop garden was also enclosed at this time to make it functional as a winter garden as well. This new and improved Seelbach regularly hosted guests of the Kentucky Derby.
In 1925, Louis Seelbach died while president of the Seelbach Hotel Co., creating a need for new management. On April 1, 1926, Chicago-based businessman Abraham M. Liebling bought the hotel for approximately $2,500,000.
Between 1929 and 1956, the Seelbach changed hands several times. In 1929, the hotel was sold to the Eppley Hotel Company
for $2,000,000. Mr. Eppley, of Omaha, Nebraska
, owned many hotels throughout the Midwest, but eventually sold The Seelbach Hotel and all his other properties in 1966 to the Sheraton Hotel Corporation (now Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
) as part of a $30,000,000 deal. This made the Seelbach part of the second largest hotel sale in all of US history. The hotel was then renamed the Sheraton-Seelbach Hotel.
The hotel was sold by Sheraton in the mid 1970s, and following a severe economic slump in the nation in 1975, it was forced to close its doors after its owners went bankrupt. For a few years, it lay dormant. Then, in 1978, Louisville
native and Hollywood television actor, Roger Davis
, decided to intervene and restore the Seelbach. The work began in early 1979 and continued until the grand re-opening on April 12, 1982. The Hotel regained much of its former reputation over the next two decades.
In 2009, the hotel finished its most recent $12 million renovation. The hotel was bought and sold by a number of corporations' hands after its re-awakening. The Seelbach is currently managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts
, under the Hilton Hotels and Resorts flag. Hilton is a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group — it is the parent company of Hilton Worldwide — which bought out MeriStar Hospitality Corp in 2005, one of the former owners of the Seelbach.
Presidents
Many US Presidents have chosen to spend time at the hotel while in Louisville, including William Howard Taft
(1911), Woodrow Wilson
(1916), Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1938), Harry Truman (1948), John F. Kennedy
(1962), Lyndon B. Johnson
(1964), Jimmy Carter
(1970s), Bill Clinton
(1998), and George W. Bush
(2002).
Gangsters
Lucky Luciano
, Dutch Schultz
, and Al Capone
— who was a frequent guest of the Seelbach — stayed at the hotel, often for secret poker games. One story from the 1920s involves Al Capone sneaking out of the hotel through a series of secret stairways and tunnels when Louisville Police broke up one of these games.
Others
Whitney Houston
, Elvis Presley
, Robin Williams
, Russel Crowe, Julia Child
, and Wolfgang Puck
are among those celebrities who have stayed at the Seelbach.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
frequented the hotel in April 1918, while training for his deployment in World War I
. One night after expensive bourbon
and cigars however, he had to be restrained and kicked out of the hotel. This experience seemingly did not tarnish his memories however, as he later included a fictional hotel akin to the Seelbach as the setting for the wedding of Tom and Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby
.
4 Diamond award-winning hotel. The hotel appears on the National Register of Historic Places
and is considered "Louisville's Historic Hotel".
, and Starbucks
. The Oakroom is Kentucky's only AAA Five Diamond Restaurant Award winner, while the Rathskellar, decorated with Rookwood Pottery, is a rare and distinctively Seelbach southern-German influenced restaurant.
".
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...
in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, founded by Bavarian-born immigrant brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach. It has since been renamed the Seelbach Hilton. The hotel was envisioned by the Seelbach Brothers to embody the old-world grandeur of European hotels in cities such as Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. To do so in turn of the century Louisville, they employed a French Renaissance
French Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
design in constructing the hotel. Louis was already a restaurant owner in Louisville when his brother Otto joined him from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
around 1890, forming the Seelbach Hotel Co. The Company began construction on the hotel in 1903.
The hotel was quickly regarded among the finest hotels in the United States and throughout its long history has been frequented by many notable Americans — for instance F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, who took inspiration from the Seelbach for a hotel in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
. The hotel is now owned by Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Hilton Hotels & Resorts is an international chain of full-service hotels and resorts founded by Conrad Hilton and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast...
.
History
Louis Seelbach and his brother Otto came from a family in a small, rural town in BavariaBavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. Emigrating from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1869 at age 17, Louis Seelbach arrived in Louisville shortly after reaching the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He worked for the original Galt House
Galt House
The Galt House is a 25-story, 1300-room hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. The original hotel was erected in 1837. The current Galt House is presently the city's only hotel on the Ohio River. Many noted people have stayed at the Galt House, including Jefferson Davis, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln...
for a time upon his arrival, but after turning 22 in 1874, he realized that his ambitions lay beyond that job. He proceeded to open the Seelbach Bar & Grill that same year, and it quickly became a great success. When coupled with the quickly expanding Louisville population and economy, the success of the restaurant allowed Louis Seelbach to bring his brother Otto over from Frankenthal, Germany to help him open the first Seelbach Hotel. They opened it in 1891 above the Seelbach Bar & Grill on 6th and Main.
The brothers were intent on building Louisville's first grand hotel: a hotel worthy of the opulence present in hotels in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The Seelbachs purchased a piece of property on the corner of 4th and Walnut (now Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
Blvd) Streets, broke ground in December, 1903, and opened the doors on May 1, 1905, just in time for the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
.
On the opening day, over 25,000 people visited the hotel. The Seelbach hosted a gala that evening, throwing dinner parties in every one of the 150 rooms. The structure incorporated 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...
from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, along with wood from the West Indies and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The hotel attracted a great number of people in its first two years, and, luckily, the Seelbach Realty Company – formed in 1902 before the property purchase – had been planning from opening day to expand the hotel. On January 1, 1907, the second phase was completed, raising the number of rooms to 500. The lower two floors of the ten-story structure were constructed with stone, while the upper floors were brick. The rooftop garden was also enclosed at this time to make it functional as a winter garden as well. This new and improved Seelbach regularly hosted guests of the Kentucky Derby.
In 1925, Louis Seelbach died while president of the Seelbach Hotel Co., creating a need for new management. On April 1, 1926, Chicago-based businessman Abraham M. Liebling bought the hotel for approximately $2,500,000.
Between 1929 and 1956, the Seelbach changed hands several times. In 1929, the hotel was sold to the Eppley Hotel Company
Eppley Hotel Company
The Eppley Hotel Company was located in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of its acquisition by the Sheraton Corporation in 1956, it was the largest privately-held hotel business in the United States.-About:...
for $2,000,000. Mr. Eppley, of Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, owned many hotels throughout the Midwest, but eventually sold The Seelbach Hotel and all his other properties in 1966 to the Sheraton Hotel Corporation (now Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's largest and second oldest brand . Starwood's headquarters are in White Plains, New York.-Sheraton history:...
) as part of a $30,000,000 deal. This made the Seelbach part of the second largest hotel sale in all of US history. The hotel was then renamed the Sheraton-Seelbach Hotel.
The hotel was sold by Sheraton in the mid 1970s, and following a severe economic slump in the nation in 1975, it was forced to close its doors after its owners went bankrupt. For a few years, it lay dormant. Then, in 1978, Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
native and Hollywood television actor, Roger Davis
Roger Davis
Roger Davis may refer to:*Roger Davis , American actor*Roger Davis , American actor in television series Dark Shadows and Alias Smith and Jones...
, decided to intervene and restore the Seelbach. The work began in early 1979 and continued until the grand re-opening on April 12, 1982. The Hotel regained much of its former reputation over the next two decades.
In 2009, the hotel finished its most recent $12 million renovation. The hotel was bought and sold by a number of corporations' hands after its re-awakening. The Seelbach is currently managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts
Interstate Hotels & Resorts
Virginia based Interstate Hotels & Resorts is a subsidiary of Maryland based Thayer Lodging Group. It operates in two sectors, hotel management and hotel ownership..-History:Interstate traces it roots to 1961...
, under the Hilton Hotels and Resorts flag. Hilton is a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group — it is the parent company of Hilton Worldwide — which bought out MeriStar Hospitality Corp in 2005, one of the former owners of the Seelbach.
Impact on Louisville
The hotel was built at a time where there was nothing in the area around 4th and Walnut Streets. In fact, the Seelbach brothers were discouraged of building on property so far from the 'center' of Louisville at the time. When the project was proposed, the Mayor of Louisville said, "No one will come to a hotel so far away." However, over the years, Louisville has expanded and the Seelbach Hotel has sat astride one of its booming shopping and business districts. In the timespan between the 1930s and 1960s, the Seelbach Hotel even anchored an area with Louisville's "best shops". Although it fell into disrepair thereafter, today the area is again a bustling cultural and commercial center.Notable guests
Many US Presidents have chosen to spend time at the hotel while in Louisville, including William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
(1911), Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
(1916), Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(1938), Harry Truman (1948), John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
(1962), Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
(1964), Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
(1970s), Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
(1998), and George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
(2002).
Gangsters
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...
, Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
, and 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...
— who was a frequent guest of the Seelbach — stayed at the hotel, often for secret poker games. One story from the 1920s involves Al Capone sneaking out of the hotel through a series of secret stairways and tunnels when Louisville Police broke up one of these games.
Others
Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
, Russel Crowe, Julia Child
Julia Child
Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...
, and Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Puck
Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, businessman and occasional actor. Wolfgang Puck restaurants, catering services, cookbooks and licensed products are run by Wolfgang Puck Companies, with three divisions...
are among those celebrities who have stayed at the Seelbach.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
frequented the hotel in April 1918, while training for his deployment in 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...
. One night after expensive 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...
and cigars however, he had to be restrained and kicked out of the hotel. This experience seemingly did not tarnish his memories however, as he later included a fictional hotel akin to the Seelbach as the setting for the wedding of Tom and Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
.
Hotel
The Seelbach is a AAAAmerican Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
4 Diamond award-winning hotel. The hotel appears 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...
and is considered "Louisville's Historic Hotel".
Amenities
The Seelbach offers its guests in Louisville access to its restaurants, fitness center, Z Salon and Spa, and valet parking, among other standard features of a luxury hotel.Restaurants
Restaurants in the Seelbach include the Oakroom, the RathskellerRathskeller
Ratskeller is a name in German-speaking countries for a bar or restaurant located in the basement of a city hall or nearby...
, and Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
. The Oakroom is Kentucky's only AAA Five Diamond Restaurant Award winner, while the Rathskellar, decorated with Rookwood Pottery, is a rare and distinctively Seelbach southern-German influenced restaurant.
In Film
The Seelbach Hotel was featured in the 1999 Russell Crowe/Al Pacino film "The InsiderThe Insider (film)
The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...
".