Hotel Stratford/ Hotel Illini

The Hotel Stratford, originally known as Hotel Illini, was completed in 1909 and designed by the St. Louis architectural firm, Barnett, Haynes & Barnett and had 68 rooms. The Hotel Stratford is the sole surviving pre-1950 commercial hotel in Alton and reflects the important role hotels played in Madison County’s largest city. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

The Hotel Stratford, originally known as Hotel Illini, was opened in 1909 and designed by the St. Louis architectural firm, Barnett, Haynes & Barnett and had 68 rooms. The building has a concrete structural frame with dark red-brown brick exterior walls. The building has two distinct but adjoined parts. The northern part is a five-story, 50 x 103 feet rectangle with a full basement. The lobby is on the first floor and all the guestrooms are on the floors two through five. The southern part is a two-story 63 x 103 feet rectangle with a full basement and houses the kitchen and dinning rooms. The hotel has a flat built-up roof with two small equipment penthouses, not visible from the main facades.

At the corner of the north and west facades, a large metal cantilevered sign extends from the first floor to the cornice. It is set at 45 degrees to be visible from each street. It dates from the 1960s and reads “Stratford Motor Hotel”. The Hotel Stratford is the sole surviving pre-1950 commercial hotel in Alton and reflects the important role hotels played in Madison County’s largest city. Built in 1909, the building was first named the Illini Hotel and in 1925, under new ownership, the hotel’s name was changed to the Hotel Stratford, a nod to the new owner’s love of William Shakespeare. During the 1920s, the hotel became well known for the lavish parties thrown in the Sky Ballroom, and it was the site of many high-society weddings and social events. In 1948, the Gaylord family bought the hotel from its original owners and added more rooms to the property. At this time, the Hotel Stratford was a common meeting and conference site for local businesses and organizations.

• Interesting fact: In 1998, it was a prominent shooting location for the Hollywood film, “The Big Brass Ring, a film starring William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Irene Jacob, Jefferson Mays, and Miranda Richardson, and directed by St. Louisan George Hickenlooper.

Researched and Written by Madelyn Knight

Uploaded on behalf of the Madison County Historical Society by Kiley Fuchs

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-hotel-stratford-illinois-54271.html ; http://hpa.illinois.gov/PDFs/205615.pdf ; https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/See-photos-from-inside-Alton-8217-s-old-Hotel-15034538.php