Classroom

Original owner Harold Lawrence Frankel opened the hotel as a Holiday Inn franchise upon completion in 1975. Construction of the hotel involved an innovative "top-down" building process. The design firm of Cann-Termohlen began assembling the structure by having contractors first build twin elevator shafts at the center of the site. Each floor of the hotel, beginning with the topmost, was assembled from precast panels on the ground level and were hoisted into place by a system of pulleys on the top of the elevator shafts. The hotel is contained in a city block, and it has 203 rooms. The hotel also has 20,000 square feet of convention and banquet space, a restaurant, and lounge. In 1986, the hotel reopened as a Radisson after sitting vacant for a few years. In 2006, owner Phil Cline of River City Associates Inc. changed the name to Pullman Plaza Hotel to better represent Downtown Huntington and its surroundings. The hotel was remodeled and rebranded as a DoubleTree by Hilton in 2018. The hotel has operated as a DoubleTree by Hilton since early 2019, making the local landmark the first DoubleTree by Hilton in West Virginia.

Construction  of the two elevator shafts, 1975. 
Photo courtesy of Richard Bartram.

Prefab Floors installed, 1975.
Photos taken from the Huntington Quarterly issue 10.

Overview of buildings in downtown Huntington, WV including the Pullman Plaza (The Raddison)

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Pullman Plaza Hotel is a late modern architecture building completed in 1975, designed by Bryce Cann and David Termohlen (Cann - Termohlen) located in downtown Huntington, West Virginia. The hotel has operated under different titles but has remained a local landmark for 40 years. The hotel has operated as a DoubleTree by Hilton since early 2019, making it the first DoubleTree by Hilton in West Virginia. 

Pullman Plaza Hotel

This short tour offers a glimpse into the past and present of downtown Huntington as a destination with stops at former hotels that were some of the largest and grandest in the state and one hotel that has recently been remodeled and is open for business. 

Original owner Harold Lawrence Frankel opened the hotel as a Holiday Inn franchise upon completion in 1975. Construction of the hotel involved an innovative "top-down" building process. The design firm of Cann-Termohlen began assembling the structure by having contractors first build twin elevator shafts at the center of the site. Each floor of the hotel, beginning with the topmost, was assembled from precast panels on the ground level and were hoisted into place by a system of pulleys on the top of the elevator shafts. The hotel is contained in a city block, and it has 203 rooms. The hotel also has 20,000 square feet of convention and banquet space, a restaurant, and lounge. In 1986, the hotel reopened as a Radisson after sitting vacant for a few years. In 2006, owner Phil Cline of River City Associates Inc. changed the name to Pullman Plaza Hotel to better represent Downtown Huntington and its surroundings. The hotel was remodeled and rebranded as a DoubleTree by Hilton in 2018. The hotel has operated as a DoubleTree by Hilton since early 2019, making the local landmark the first DoubleTree by Hilton in West Virginia.

The Frederick Hotel was built by the Central Realty Company of Huntington at a cost of $400,000, with an additional $100,000 for furnishings bought in Chicago. It was designed by noted local architects Edwin N. Alger and James B. Stewart in the Edwardian Renaissance style. Considered one of the most elegant hotels of the time, it was built using 3.7 million bricks, five railroad cars of glass, 300 tons of iron, 200 telephones, and 4,000 electric lights. The hotel was built on an imposing scale, covering almost the length of a football field. A newspaper article published at the time of its opening labeled it “the greatest building project ever begun in Huntington.” The hotel was named after George Frederick Miller, the primary financer of the project.The Frederick was said to be the most prominent hotel between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. It contained 150 guest rooms (45 of which had private bathrooms), 65 offices, a bar, billiard room, two dining rooms, a ballroom, pharmacy, cigar stand, shoe shine stand, barbershop, and a Turkish bath. Various retail shops were housed on the first floor. The building also boasted its own emergency power generators and a stained glass skylight. At the time of its opening, it was one of the most expensive hotels in the area; it cost anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 per room for one night. Many noteworthy figures stayed at the Frederick Hotel over the years, including Richard Nixon, Bob Hope, and Liberace, along with many others who came to perform at the Keith-Albee Theatre across the street. Rumors persist that a secret underground tunnel existed connecting the Frederick to the Keith-Albee, but no evidence has been found to support the claim.The hotel also housed two luxury restaurants, the Elephant Walk Club and the Colonade Restaurant. The Elephant Walk Club, created by Huntington businessman Bill Ritter and designer John Jenkins, opened in 1964. It was a private club, open only to members and their guests. Bill Ritter was the president of Central Realty, the company that owned the Frederick Hotel, and decided to open a club in the lobby to attract business to the hotel. He and Jenkins looked for a theme and name for the club for quite some time, until Ritter reportedly woke up in the night and saw a book titled Elephant Walk on his nightstand. Once deciding to use this as the name of the club, they ordered all types of gold elephant sculptures and wallpaper to decorate the lobby. The two men were so committed to this theme that they booked a live circus elephant named Shirley, who entered the club doors on her knees much to the amazement of the club guests. Today, one of the elephant head sculptures still hangs in the hotel behind the lobby desk.Matewan police chief Sid Hatfield and his new bride Jesse Testerman were arrested by Baldwin-Felts agents at the Frederick during their honeymoon in June of 1920. Two weeks after the Battle of Matewan on May 19, Sid Hatfield boarded a train for Huntington with Jessie Testerman; she was the widow of Matewan’s mayor, Cabell Testerman, who had been killed during the incident. Hatfield and Testerman married, but the honeymoon was cut short when the Felts Brothers arrived and arrested Hatfield. Two guns that belonged to Mayor Testerman were found in the newlyweds’ hotel room. Hatfield was accused of murdering the mayor and marrying his widow to take control of the deceased’s estate. Hatfield stood trial but was acquitted for the Matewan shootings. However, a year later Hatfield was murdered on the steps of the court house in Welch by Baldwin-Felts agents.A decline in occupancy rates forced the Frederick Hotel to close on July 30, 1973. The building remains in good condition, thanks in part its use of special repressed brick in its construction. After closing, the Frederick was converted into a mixed-use facility, and today houses a combination of apartments, offices, restaurants, and retail space. The first floor lobby has been preserved and retains much of its original ornamentation. It also displays many artifacts from the early twentieth century including newspapers, pharmaceutical products, and other common items from that era.

The Frederick Hotel opened in 1906 and was one of the most elegant hotels in both Huntington and all of West Virginia. The luxurious Edwardian Renaissance style building contained 150 guest rooms, 65 office spaces, and a host of amenities. The Frederick Hotel hosted many prominent visitors over the years including President Richard Nixon, musician Liberace, and comedian Bob Hope; Sid Hatfield was arrested here in 1920 for his involvement in the Battle of Matewan. The hotel closed in 1973 and the building today houses offices, apartments, and retail stores. The first floor of the Frederick maintains its original appearance, displaying artifacts and ornamentation from the hotel's glory days. The Frederick was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as part of the Downtown Huntington Historic District.

Frederick Hotel

The Morris Building was originally named the Hotel Farr after coal operator and building supply dealer John S. Farr. Construction of the hotel began in 1915. Farr envisioned a fourteen-story, 250-room Arts and Crafts style building at the time, but high costs during the First World War forced the construction to stop at seven stories and 125 rooms. The building was designed by preeminent Huntington architects Meanor and Handloser in the Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles. The Hotel Farr’s first guest, Mr. James Shaw, a pottery dealer from Philadelphia, registered on November 14, 1918.  Over the following decade, the hotel became a favorite amongst businessmen visiting the area. The Hotel Farr opened during a prosperous time for Huntington. A gateway to and from West Virginia’s coalfields and a regional supplier of goods such as glass and timber, the growing city attracted traveling salesmen from across the region during the early twentieth century. Glamorous hotels like the Hotel Frederick, constructed in 1906, and the Fifth Avenue Hotel, opened in 1910, provided these travelers with a luxurious place to stay while they conducted business in and around Huntington. The Hotel Farr was situated at the heart of the city’s 4th Avenue business district, near prominent buildings such as the First Huntington National Bank and the West Virginia Building.  In the 1930s, the hotel was bought by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, who renamed it the Hotel Governor Cabell after former Virginia governor and Cabell County namesake William H. Cabell. The Hotel Governor Cabell operated until 1965, when it was closed and the building was leased to the federal government. It was converted into a residential facility for the Huntington Women's Job Corps Center and renamed Cabell Hall. In 1972, the building was sold by the West Virginia Grand Lodge International Order of Odd Fellows to Helen Morris, widow of real estate broker Taylor Morris. Renamed the 401 Building, it was remodeled to house apartments and offices. The 401 Building became known more commonly as the Morris Building and has housed businesses and first-floor tenants ever since. For many years, it was home to the Foard and Harwood shoe store.  River City Properties purchased the Morris Building in August 2004. Various businesses, such as Backyard Pizza &amp; Raw Bar, The Peddler, Developmental Therapy Center, and Byard Insurance &amp; Financial Services shared space in the building. On the morning of July 27, 2014, a fire ignited in the Morris Building's elevator shaft and destroyed its roof, and smoke and water damage heavily damaged the building itself. Although the building lacked a sprinkler system due to its age, the owners had maintained a series of fire stops, which kept the fire from being more damaging than it could have been. As a result of the fire, the businesses and the tenants residing in the building all had to relocate, and various relief efforts were created to raise money for those displaced by the fire. Before the building can reopen, a sprinkler system must be installed. As of 2019, the building is still vacant.

The Morris Building is a historic seven-story building on the southwest corner of 4th Avenue and 9th Street in downtown Huntington. Opened as the Hotel Farr in 1918 by businessman John S. Farr, it became a favorite amongst business travelers at the time. The building has changed owners and purposes several times since its construction: it operated as the Hotel Governor Cabell from the 1930s until 1965, when it was leased to the government and renamed Cabell Hall. The Morris Building acquired its current title in 1972, when it was purchased by Helen Morris. It housed offices, apartments, and businesses until an early morning fire in 2014 forced the building to be vacated. Until the owners of the Morris Building restore the structure and install a sprinkler system, it will not be allowed to reopen, and currently remains unoccupied. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Downtown Huntington Historic District.

Morris Building (The Hotel Farr)

From its founding in 1871, Huntington served as a gateway to and from the southern coalfields of West Virginia, with manufactured goods flowing both ways. The city began attracting other businesses and services, including hotels that catered to the needs of traveling salesmen and other visitors. Soon, busy hotels like the Florentine and the Carolina were clustered along Ninth Street in downtown Huntington. The Adelphia Hotel became part of this early hotel district when it was constructed in 1893 at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue. The hotel was founded by businessmen Hansford Watts and Walter Davis. Watts went on to become a prominent builder in Huntington, and was responsible for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, built circa 1910, and the Watts apartment building, built around 1920.When it opened, the Adelphia Hotel was an up-to-date hotel that had no trouble attracting customers. Disaster struck, however, when the hotel caught fire on July 2, 1901. According to the Pittsburgh Daily Post, the scene of the fire, which broke out on the Adelphia’s fifth floor, was chaotic: “The hotel was filled with guests, including many women and when the cry of ‘fire’ was raised general terror reigned. Fainting women by the dozen had to be carried out and some guests tried to jump from windows.” When firemen arrived at the scene, they discovered that the city reservoir and pipes were empty because the pumps at the local water plant had broken down the night before. To make matters worse, the city’s fire engines were in the shops for repair at the time. Eventually, several neighboring towns sent fire engines to Huntington’s aid, and the firemen were able to prevent the blaze from consuming more of the surrounding structures. The hotel, with a large brick annex, half a dozen residences, a livery stable and several other buildings, were all burned to the ground in the fire, totaling a loss of $200,000.After the fire, the owners of the Adelphia decided not to rebuild the hotel at the same location. Instead, they purchased the Carolina Hotel, a four-story, red brick structure on the northwest corner of Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. After a bit of remodeling, the Adelphia reopened a block north of its original site, where it would become a familiar part of the downtown landscape. The hotel benefited from Huntington’s economic growth between 1900 and 1930, as new businesses opened and construction within the city flourished. Other hotels also opened for business, including the Frederick Hotel (1906), the Fifth Avenue Hotel (1910) and the Hotel Farr (1918), all of which were concentrated in downtown Huntington along Third and Fourth Avenue. In 1910, the elegant Hotel Huntington was built on the original site of the Adelphia. The Adelphia competed with the new hotels, offering rooms with a bath for $1 per night, rooms with running water for 75 cents per night, and rooms without running water for 50 cents per night, according to an ad from 1917. Although Huntington continued to grow into the early 1960s, the popularity of the aging Adelphia Hotel could not keep pace. By the 1950s, the Adelphia was primarily a residential hotel that housed a handful of elderly tenants rather than overnight guests. This was the case when another large fire broke out at the hotel on Christmas Day of 1950. Hotel clerk J. E. Chambers was at his desk at about 2 p.m. when he noticed sparks falling down a nearby elevator shaft. He immediately called the fire department, who battled the flames for several hours. While the roof of the hotel was damaged and the ground floor businesses suffered substantial water damage, no guests were hurt in the fire because most were away having their holiday dinners at the time. After the fire, the Adelphia did not remain open for very long, though the exact date of its closing is unclear. In 1977, the old hotel was demolished to make way for the new Cabell County Public Library. The businesses located on the Adelphia’s ground floor - One Hour Dry Cleaners, Nick's News, and the White Pantry - were also demolished at that time.

In Huntington’s early days, several busy hotels were clustered along the downtown portion of Ninth Street. One of these hotels was the Adelphia Hotel, which opened in 1893. The hotel was originally located at the corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, before it was destroyed by fire on July 2, 1901. After the building burned, the owners decided not to rebuild at that location, and instead relocated the Adelphia to the northwest corner of Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Another hotel, the Hotel Huntington, later opened in 1910 at the Adelphia’s original location. The Adelphia Hotel became a familiar part of the downtown landscape over the years, flourishing during the city’s early twentieth-century heyday and even surviving a fire on Christmas Day of 1950. By the 1950s, however, the Adelphia had become a primarily residential hotel, and shut its doors not long after. The hotel was demolished in 1977 to make way for construction of the Cabell County Public Library.

The Adelphia Hotel (1893-1977)

The southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street was originally the site of Huntington’s first church, the First Congregational Church. The congregation was organized in June of 1872, just one year after the city was incorporated, and the church building was completed by 1874 on land that was donated by Collis P. Huntington. The church was designed by Rembrandt Lockwood, a New York City architect. In 1908, the congregation relocated to a new church at 701 Fifth Avenue, where it still worships today. The former church was sold to businessman Hansford Watts, who demolished the structure in order to build the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 	Hansford Watts was born in Wayne County, West Virginia on February 4, 1873. After working at a mill and as a Deputy United States Marshal, Watts came to Huntington in 1896. There, he partnered with Walter Davis to open the Adelphi Hotel at the corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue. In 1901, Watts founded Watts Jewelry Store, which he relocated to Ashland, Kentucky the following year. He reentered the hotel and real estate business in 1906, and went on to build several buildings in downtown Huntington. In addition to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, he was the general contractor for the Watts Building, a residential apartment building located at 414 Eleventh Street, which was built around 1920. 	The Fifth Avenue Hotel was one of several busy hotels to be built in downtown Huntington during the early twentieth century. At that time, Huntington’s role as a transportation hub and emerging industrial center encouraged the construction of grand hotels such as the Frederick, the Farr, and the Prichard. A three-story red brick building with a flat roof, the Fifth Avenue Hotel was an impressive addition to the cityscape when it opened in 1910. The hotel had one hundred rooms, to which an additional thirty were added in 1917 at the cost of $25,000. The hotel’s ground floor featured large display windows for shops that lined the building’s Ninth Street side. Notably, guests with rooms on the north side of the building briefly had a view of a statue of a Union soldier, which was erected during the 1890s but mysteriously disappeared around 1915. The hotel was designed in the Commercial Style, which was popular in the United States between 1890 and 1920. 	The basement of the Fifth Avenue Hotel was used as a restaurant space for many years. It was the original home of Bailey's Cafeteria, which was founded in 1934 by Morris and Sadie Bailey. Just two years after opening, the cafeteria relocated to the 400 block of Fifth Avenue, where it went on to become a beloved Huntington eatery until it closed during the late 1990s. In 1980, Snaks Fifth Avenue opened in the basement of the hotel. It was the Harrison family’s second restaurant after the successful Heritage Station restaurant at Heritage Village. Customers entered the restaurant by descending stone steps to a patio area, which featured wrought-iron tables and chairs. Inside, the restaurant was decorated with antiques, polished woodwork, cut glass, oriental rugs, and hanging plants, and the bar was made from an old Victorian room divider. Along with lunch and dinner options, Snaks Fifth Avenue offered items like potato skins, fried zucchini and mushrooms, shrimp, oysters, and cheese platters. The restaurant briefly flourished before it closed during the late 1980s. 	Although the Fifth Avenue Hotel was once one of Huntington’s finest hotels, the economic boom that motivated its construction could not last forever. Between 1950 and 2000, declining economic conditions caused Huntington to lose nearly 35,000 residents. As downtown businesses struggled and shut down, the city’s once-busy hotels declined as well. By the 1970s, most of the hotels built during Huntington’s early twentieth-century heyday had shut down or were near closing: the Prichard closed in 1970, the Frederick in 1973, and the Huntington Hotel in 1976. Business at the Fifth Avenue Hotel declined significantly as well, until the majority of the hotel’s customers were railroad train crews resting between shifts. The hotel remained in business into the 1980s, but it eventually closed down and was converted into an apartment building, which currently houses the Fifth Avenue Apartments.

Located at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, the Fifth Avenue Hotel was one of several hotels clustered in downtown Huntington during the early twentieth century. The hotel was built at the site of Huntington’s first church, the First Congregational Church, which was constructed in 1874. After the congregation moved to a new location in 1908, businessman Hansford Watts purchased the property, demolished the church, and erected the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a three-story building with a red brick exterior. The hotel, which opened for business in 1910, had over one hundred rooms along with commercial spaces on its ground floor. The hotel’s basement also housed several restaurants over the years, including Bailey’s Cafeteria and Snaks Fifth Avenue. Economic and demographic changes over the second half of the twentieth century led the Fifth Avenue Hotel, along with many other downtown hotels, to lose business and eventually shut down. After the hotel closed during the 1980s, it was repurposed into an apartment building, which is currently called Fifth Avenue Apartments.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel (1910-1980s) 

Frederick C. Prichard was born in 1871 in Grayson,
Kentucky. He achieved initial prosperity through working in the coal business
in Fayette County, West Virginia. Later he and his wife Alice moved to
Huntington where he became president of the Huntington Banking &amp; Trust Co.
In 1909 Prichard and businessman Houghton A. Robson constructed the first part
of the Robson-Prichard Building on 9th Street (a second part was
added in 1926). Today it is known as the Guaranty Bank Building. 

Around 1925 Prichard began construction on a $1
million hotel building on Sixth Avenue. The Hotel Prichard&nbsp;was built in
conjunction with a school for orphans the family had established in Ona, West
Virginia. Frederick and Alice were strong supporters for the school due to the
fact that the couple never had children themselves. The intention was for both institutions
to support each other; the Hotel Prichard would generate revenue for the
Prichard School, while the school’s farm could supply food for the hotel’s
restaurant. The Hotel Prichard was completed and opened by 1926. The
thirteen-story brick building was designed in the Neoclassical Revival style by
Indianapolis architect Henry Zeigler Dietz. The hotel’s partnership with the
Prichard School in Ona initially succeeded for the first couple years. In 1928,
however, Frederick Prichard’s finances were severely damaged. He sold the hotel
and other properties and moved to Texas, where he died in 1960.

Despite the loss of Frederick, the Prichard quickly
developed a reputation as one of the top-tier hotels in Huntington. It
initially contained 300 guest rooms –each with its own private bathroom– as well
as a ballroom, a luxurious restaurant called the Hunt Club, and fourteen
private dining rooms. John F. Kennedy and his family stayed at the hotel during
his 1960 primary campaign. Other noted guests included singer and actor Gene
Autry, and the 1956 cast of NBC’s Today
show. According to Huntington: An
Illustrated History, the Prichard was home to WSAZ, the city’s first radio
station, from around 1926 to 1931. From 1939 to 1940 it housed the studio for
the radio station WCMI, the second in Huntington. The Prichard was also for
many years a popular site for hosting high school proms.

The Hotel Prichard closed in 1970 and was purchased
by Polan Realty, which converted it into a mixed-use apartment and office
building. The first floor also became home to several local businesses. By the
2000s the Prichard had become associated with crime and drug activity. Aging
infrastructure and multiple fires also posed problems for the building. In 2014
Eddie James Ministries and Huntington’s Christ Temple Church partnered with
Polan Realty to repurpose the Prichard as Hope Tower, a faith-based drug
rehabilitation facility. Drug addicts could live in the building while also
receiving treatment and education. The project was shuttered only a year later
after city inspectors identified numerous building code violations and ordered
the eviction of all tenants. In December 2016 it was reported that Christ
Temple Church had acquired the Prichard and was in the process of renovating
the structure. As of 2019 the church’s plans for the building had not been
publicly released.

The Hotel Prichard was built by Frederick C. Prichard in 1926, and was one of Huntington's leading hotels until it closed in 1970. The 13-story Neoclassical hotel was designed by architect Henry Ziegler Dietz and had 300 rooms, a ballroom, and a fine dining restaurant. John F. Kennedy and his campaign staff lodged at the Prichard during his 1960 presidential campaign. When the hotel closed in 1970, it was converted into apartments and office space. After developing a reputation as a haven for drug crime, the Prichard was briefly rebranded as a drug rehabilitation facility called Hope Tower in 2014 before being closed for building code violations in 2015. In 2016 it was announced that Christ Temple Church had acquired the Prichard and building renovations are ongoing. In 2007 the Prichard was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Downtown Huntington Historic District.

The Hotel Prichard

The Ninth Street portion of downtown Huntington was once home to several of the city’s earliest hotels. As a center for rail and river commerce, Huntington attracted many business travelers and other visitors from its founding in 1871. While the city’s first hotels were likely modest wooden lodging houses, several larger and pricier hotels had opened for business by the 1890s. One such hotel was the Adelphia, built in 1893 at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue. The elegant hotel did not last long at that location, however, as it was destroyed in a massive fire on July 2, 1901. After the fire, the Adelphia’s owners chose not to rebuild the hotel at the same location, and instead relocated it a block away at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street. The original site of the Adelphia Hotel remained vacant for several years, until it was announced that a new hotel, the Hotel Huntington, would begin construction there in 1910. The property was leased by Albert E. Kelly, a veteran of the hotel business, who would also serve as the longtime manager of the Huntington. When it opened for business on June 9, 1913, the Hotel Huntington was an impressive and elegant place. The four-story hotel featured a fine restaurant, a large ballroom, and its own barbershop. A distinctive glass-enclosed balcony was later constructed over its front entrance. The Huntington had many other attractive amenities, according to the Official Hotel Red Book and Directory: <blockquote>“All rooms equipped with every convenience; cleanliness throughout our slogan. A recently added annex, fireproof; the spacious lobby is located on the principal gateway street of the city, being equipped with comfortable upholstered furniture, making an ideal lounging place. A good handshake greets your arrival. You are made to feel as comfortable as though in your own home. You regret the time to arrive when you must go. Our Dining Room facing the main street with a la carte and table d’hote service at reasonable rates attended by courteous white girls.”</blockquote>At the time, the Hotel Huntington offered rooms at $1.50 to $1.75 per night, with bath privilege, or $2.25-$3.00 per night for a room with a private bath.When the hotel was built, Huntington was in the midst of a period of economic growth, during which new businesses flourished and the city’s population grew rapidly. The Hotel Huntington benefited from this economic boom, finding no shortage of customers despite the construction of new hotels nearby. In 1921, a six-story fireproof annex was added to the Hotel Huntington. The basement and ground floor of the annex were used for the Huntington Sanitary Market, while the hotel had control of its upper floors. The Huntington proved popular among travelers who came to the city on business, and frequently lodged the members of visiting sports teams. During World War II, it hosted over 200,000 soldiers who came to Huntington for physicals at the Vanity Fair auditorium on Fourth Avenue. In 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy kept a room in the Hotel Huntington during his presidential campaign in West Virginia. Although Kennedy was headquartered at the Hotel Prichard across the street, the room at the Huntington reportedly offered the future president a bit more peace and quiet when he needed it.  Despite its elegant amenities and unique guests, the Hotel Huntington could not remain the newest and grandest hotel in town. Many other hotels were built during Huntington’s early twentieth-century boom period, including the Fifth Avenue Hotel in 1910, the Hotel Farr in 1918, and the Hotel Prichard in 1925. Indeed, when the thirteen-story, 300-room Prichard opened just across Ninth Street from the Huntington, A.E. Kelly managed it as well. Although these hotels came to eclipse the Huntington’s popularity, they had begun to struggle financially alongside it by the latter half of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1960s, Huntington entered an economic decline that caused the city to lose nearly one third of its residents. As downtown businesses shut their doors, Huntington’s historic hotels struggled as well, and many had shut down or were near closing by the 1970s. The Hotel Huntington was no exception: after years of declining patronage, the aging hotel closed in 1973 and was demolished in 1976. Today, the Huntington C&amp;O Credit Union occupies the hotel’s former site.

The southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street was once home to the elegant Hotel Huntington. It was the second hotel to be built at that location, after the Adelphia Hotel burned down in 1901. When it opened for business in June 1913, the Hotel Huntington was one of the city’s grandest hotels, featuring a restaurant, a ballroom, and a barbershop, along with a glass-enclosed balcony over its front entrance. Over the years, the hotel hosted a variety of guests, from hundreds of draftees during World War II to John F. Kennedy during his 1960 presidential campaign. The Hotel Huntington did not retain its prominence, however, as new hotels drew business away and caused the aging hotel to struggle financially by the 1970s. It was closed in 1973 and demolished in 1976. The site of the former hotel is now home to the Huntington C&O Credit Union.

Historic Hotels of Huntington Tour

Pullman Plaza Hotel

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information