Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
387 King Street (Francis Marion Hotel) |
Scope & Content |
Constructed 1922-1924; renovated 1980s; rehabilitated and restored 1994-95. William Lee Stoddard, architect. The New York architect who designed some of the South's finest hotels, including the Tuttwiler in Birmingham and the Georgian Terrace in Atlanta, designed a large new hotel for Charleston in 1920. Part of a movement to give Charleston an up-to-date modern hotel, the Francis Marion Hotel Company included some of Charleston's leading businessmen and two former mayors. Although the newspaper referred to the style of the structure as "Italian Renaissance," the building reflects elements of the Georgian Revival and Neoclassical Revival styles. The first floor lobby and mezzanine are fronted on the exterior by arched window openings framed in the central pavilion by double Corinthian pilasters surmounted by an "attic story" with Neoclassical urns and cartouches. A balcony surrounded the twelfth floor, and above it an entablature with fanlight and cartouche decoration terminated in a Greek style parapet with acroteri. The penthouse floor rose above this decorated level. Serving as an important part of the city's tourism and business life, the Francis Marion also became a social center after its completion, particularly with the use of its elegant ballroom for debutante dances and other events. After declining in the 1960s and 1970s, the hotel went through a renovation in the 1980s and a completely rehabilitated in 1994-96. File contains newspaper articles (including DYKYC); letter from HCF to Mayor Riley (12/7/1990) in support of the hotel's rehabilitation; brochure and "Directory of Service," ca. 1960s. |
Subjects |
Francis Marion Hotel (Charleston S.C.) Hotels--South Carolina--Charleston |
Search Terms |
King Street Calhoun Street Street corner |
Physical Description |
1 File Folder |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
KING.387.1 |