The Hollenden Hotel was a luxury

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

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Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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. It opened in 1885, was significantly upgraded in 1926 and demolished in 1962. During the hotel's existence, it contained 1,000 rooms, 100 private baths, a lavish interior, electric lights and fireproof construction. As Cleveland's most glamorous hotel of the time, it hosted

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and

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s, including five U.S. Presidents. The Fifth Third Center skyscraper currently occupies the hotel's former location.Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: HOLLENDEN HOTEL
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History

Liberty E. Holden, a real estate

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and owner of ''

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'', purchased the land from Philo Chamberlain and created a

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

to build the hotel; he hired the Cleveland

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George F. Hammond to design it. He selected the name Hollenden, an early English form of the name Holden. When the hotel opened on June 7, 1885, it was considered a technological marvel because every room was equipped with electric lights and the building was fireproofed. Adding to the hotel's glamor, it contained 1,000 rooms, 100 private baths, a

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shop along with several bars and clubs. The hotel housed permanent as well as temporary residents. The hotel's interiors consisted of paneled walls, redwood and

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

fittings and were finished off with

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chandelier A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

s. During the hotel's history, it had a reputation for hosting celebrities, industrial giants and various politicians, including the former U.S. Presidents

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, Taft, Wilson and Harding.

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stayed there in 1921 upon his first visit to the

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. In particular, politicians made the dining room a popular place for meetings. In 1929, the hotel hosted a dinner for Prince Nicholas of Romania and in 1960, it was the location for a speech by then-

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. In the 1920s, it was purchased by Detroit real estate investor Ben Tobin.New York Times: "Ben Tobin, 92, Investor in Hotels And in Real Estate" by Wolfgang Saxon
June 16, 1996 A $5 million annex was built on the east side of the hotel in 1926, while the original hotel was modernized. From there, the hotel would have several owners until its final owner, the 600 Superior Corp bought it in 1960. The 600 Superior Corp did not have much success profiting from the hotel as only 350 of the 1,000 rooms were now commonly used. In 1962, only two years after buying the hotel, the owners closed the hotel and had it demolished. The 600 Superior Corp along with developer James M. Carney subsequently built a new hotel, the 14-story, 400-room Hollenden House. The new hotel with a parking garage was opened on March 1, 1965. Poor economic conditions in Cleveland during the 1980s sealed the fate of the Hollenden House and it closed in May 1989. Later in 1989, the Hollenden House was demolished and soon after, developer John Galbreath purchased the site and had the Bank One Center, now known as Fifth Third Center, constructed by 1992.

Events at the Hollenden

On March 18, 1909 the 8-year-old son of a leading attorney in

Sharon, Pennsylvania Sharon is a city in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city, located along the banks of the Shenango River on the state border with Ohio, is about northeast of Youngstown, about southeast of Cleveland and about northwe ...

, Willie Whitla, was kidnapped for $10,000 ransom. After the money was delivered the boy was released unharmed and put on a streetcar in Cleveland and reunited with his father at the Hollenden. The kidnappers were caught with $9,790 of the money."Early Victim of Kidnap Plot Dies as Prey to Pneumonia", ''The Salt Lake Tribune'', December 29, 1932

References

{{coord, 41.501371, -81.689675, display=title, format=dms Hotel buildings completed in 1885 Buildings and structures demolished in 1962 History of Cleveland Hotels in Cleveland Demolished hotels in the United States 1885 establishments in Ohio Demolished buildings and structures in Ohio