The Bellevue-Stratforf Hotel

The Bellevue-Stratforf Hotel
Philladelphia, PA
Opened: 1904
Architect: Hewitt & Paist

The Bellevue-Stratford opened its doors in 1904 and became known worldwide as Philadelphia’s pre-eminent hotel, nicknamed “The Grande Dame of Broad Street.” Famed hotelier George C. Boldt (he also managed the Waldorf-Astoria in New York) wanted to build the best hotel of its time—and he did.

Over two years in the making and costing over $8,000,000 (in 1904 dollars), the Bellevue-Stratford was described at the time as the most luxurious hotel in the nation and perhaps the most spectacular hotel building in the world.

Designed in the French Renaissance style, The Bellevue features Gilded Age architectural flourishes including a magnificent two-tiered ballroom with delicate light fixtures designed by Thomas Alva Edison, stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany, chandeliers by Lalique and a celebrated cast-iron circular staircase. Many of these flourishes remain and make it the marvel that it is.

Famous guests include Jacob Astor, J.P. Morgan, William Jennings Bryan, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, and the Vanderbilt family in addition to countless socialites, luminaries and heads of state.

Every US President since Theodore Roosevelt has visited The Bellevue. The hotel has been the location for several of America’s premiere society galas, including The Academy Ball, The Charity Ball, and The Assemblies.

The hotel gained worldwide notoriety in July 1976, when it hosted a statewide convention of the American Legion. Thirty-four conventioneers died from, and over 200 were sickened by, a pneumonia-like disease after staying in or visiting the hotel. Later, a new bacterium was discovered and was identified as the causative organism. The bacterium was named Legionella and the disease, legionellosis, better known as "Legionaries Disease" The negative publicity caused the hotel to close in November 1976.

The building was then sold in 1978 to the Richard I. Rubin Company and given a $25-million restoration. The guest rooms were gutted and their number reduced from 725 to 565, while the public areas were painstakingly restored to their 1904 appearance.

The hotel reopened in 1979 as part of the Fairmont chain as The Fairmont Philadelphia. The next year a 49-percent interest in the hotel was bought by the Westin chain and the name reverted to The Bellevue Stratford. By the mid-1980s, the hotel, which had become The Westin Bellevue-Stratford, was struggling to fill its hundreds of rooms, and closed in 1986.

The Rubin Company again undertook extensive work on the building, at a cost of $100 million. This time, the hotel rooms from floors 2 to 11 were demolished to create office space. The grand public areas on the ground floor were converted to shops. A huge atrium was cut into the lobby and escalators installed leading to an underground shopping area and food court. The parking garage adjacent to the hotel had a fitness club built on top of it to serve the complex.

In addition, the middle wing of the E-shaped building was removed from floors 12 to 18, and the back side was sealed up, creating an atrium. The historic 19th-floor Rose Ballroom atop this middle wing was retained, however, standing on seven-story stilts which ran through the atrium. The building's name was shortened to "The Bellevue."

The hotel reopened in 1989 as "Hotel Atop the Bellevue," with guest rooms on floors 12-18 and a lobby and public rooms on the remodelled 19th floor. The two domed ballrooms on that floor (the South and North Cameo rooms), were turned into the Ethel Barrymore Tea Room and a restaurant called Founders.

The hotel was managed by the hotel division of the Cunard Line. After Cunard moved out of the hotel management business, the hotel operated independent of any chain through the mid 1990's. During this time, its name was shortened to match the whole multi-use complex, becoming "The Bellevue". Finally, in December 1996 the hotel joined the Hyatt chain's Park Hyatt boutique division and was renamed "Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue."

The Bellevue-Stratford was the headquarters of the 1936 and 1948 National Conventions of the U.S. Republican Party and the 1948 Convention of the Democratic.

The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.