Poinsett Hotel

Westin Poinsett Hotel

Westin Poinsett Hotel
Location 120 South Main Street, Greenville, South Carolina
Coordinates 34°50′56″N 82°24′01″W / 34.84889°N 82.40028°W / 34.84889; -82.40028Coordinates: 34°50′56″N 82°24′01″W / 34.84889°N 82.40028°W / 34.84889; -82.40028
Area .86 acres (0.35 ha)
Built 1925
Architect William Lee Stoddart
Architectural style Beaux-Arts; Skyscraper[1]
NRHP Reference # 82003859[2]
Added to NRHP July 1, 1982

The Westin Poinsett Hotel is a twelve-story, landmark hotel in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Built at the end of an era during which small Southern cities demanded quality hotels to attract business travelers and symbolize their new urban status,[3] the Poinsett Hotel was, in part, conceived to accommodate visitors to a biennial Southern Textile Exhibit held in Greenville. A century-old hotel, the Mansion House, was razed and a larger building was designed for its Main Street location by noted New York architect William Lee Stoddart. To help raise money for the project, local businessmen, led by textile magnate John T. Woodside (1864-1946), sold $100 shares of stock to 1,700 local residents; and the hotel was named for Joel R. Poinsett, a South Carolinian who had served as Secretary of War and as the first U.S. Minister to Mexico.[4] Groundbreaking occurred in May 1924; and the $1.5 million Poinsett Hotel opened in June 1925.[5]

The hotel was not immediately successful but prospered during the latter years of the Depression under the management of J. Mason Alexander, who emphasized customer service.[6] Another sixty rooms were added in 1941, bringing the total to 248.[7]

As the number of private automobiles increased during the 1950s, city hotels lost business to motels, which were located on major highways rather than in the urban core. In 1959, the Poinsett was sold to Jack Tar Hotels, and its profitability continued to decline. Ownership changed hands several times in the 1970s and '80s. Beginning in 1977, James C. Bible (1924-1991) tried to operate the hotel as residence suites for retirees, but he was perpetually at odds with city government over his inability or unwillingness to meet the fire codes.[8] The city finally closed the hotel in January 1987.[9] During the next decade the building was repeatedly vandalized, and intruders set two fires. The hotel was considered one of the most endangered historic structures in South Carolina.[10]

Nevertheless, the revitalization of downtown Greenville was already underway during the successive mayoral administrations of Bill Workman and Knox H. White; and a public/private project resulted in a Hyatt Regency being built on Main Street during the 1980s.[11] In November 1997, Steve Dopp and Greg Lenox, developers of the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston (also designed by William Stoddart), purchased the Poinsett and acquired a franchise from Westin Hotels, a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. The project received about $4 million in tax dollars, and Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits were awarded as part of an approximately $20 million restoration. The Westin Poinsett reopened on October 22, 2000.[12] In 2014, tripadvisor.com ranked the Poinsett first among 63 Greenville hotels.[13]

References

  1. ↑ North Carolina Architects & Builders: A Biographical Dictionary
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. ↑ A. K. Sandoval-Strausz, Hotel: An American History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007), 124-135; "Stoddart, William Lee (1868-1940)," North Carolina Architects & Builders: A Biographical Dictionary.
  4. ↑ Judith Bainbridge, "Poinsett's Rebirth Recalls its History," Greenville News, October 4, 2008. Poinsett introduced the eponymous Christmas plant to the United States from Mexico in 1825. It was typical of the era to name hotels after at least passably local notables from the past. Other Stoddart hotels were named for Sir Walter Raleigh, Virginia Dare, Lord Baltimore, George Washington, George Mason, Patrick Henry, Daniel Boone, and O. Henry.
  5. ↑ Archie Vernon Huff, Jr., Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 307.
  6. ↑ Bainbridge. Alexander conducted daily white glove inspections, had guests given only new bills and washed coins in change, and required service staff to memorize the names of visitors.
  7. ↑ David Tillinghast, “Poinsett Hotel is Valuable Greenville Home Enterprise,” Greenville News, July 19, 1941. In 1941, thirty of the hotel’s 200 employees had served there for more than ten years. Historic Hotels of America.
  8. ↑ Beth Padgett, "Hotel residents entreat city to overlook fire rules," Greenvile News, April 8, 1981; James Epes, "Court records trace decline of Poinsett," Greenville News, September 17, 1987.
  9. ↑ Historic Hotels of America. During the late 1980s, Bible and his wife Ann engaged in an unusually litigious divorce, and she eventually gained possession of the hotel. Federal court records.
  10. ↑ Dale Perry, “Hotel Business owners not surprised by fire,” Greenville News, August 23, 1991; David Winfrey, “Fire damages Poinsett Hotel,” Greenville News, August 23, 1991; Bryan Gilmer, “From Grandeur to Disrepair,” Greenville News, December 10, 1995; “Poinsett’s Rebirth Recalls its History.”
  11. ↑ City of Greenville website.
  12. ↑ E. Richard Walton, “State aid sought for Poinsett shortfall,” Greenville News, November 18, 1998, page 1A; Jan Scalisi, “Harper Corporation helps restore landmark to original elegance,” Greenville News, Special Edition, October 20, 2000; Woody White, “Deterioration actually made project easier,” Greenville News; Jim DuPlessis, “Master Revitalizing Poinsett Plaster,” Greenville News, July 4, 1998; Richard Walton, “Poinsett Hotel gets $2 million state loan,” Greenville News, December 8, 1998; Richard Walton, “Hotel to unveil next step of $20 million renovation,” Greenville News, September 23, 1999; Historic Hotels of America.
  13. ↑ Tripadvisor.com.
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