Historic George Vanderbilt Hotel
Updated: April 2019
A Once Glorious Hotel
Named after George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914), who had built the famous 250-room Biltmore Estate, the George Vanderbilt Hotel was located close to the Grove Arcade and Grove’s Battery Park Hotel to form an unmatched retail, business and hotel district complete with ample parking for the increasing number of cars.
Architecture
During the time, when architecting the Battery Park Hotel and the Bon Marché Department Store, William Lee Stoddart began with the design of the nine-story George Vanderbilt Hotel, which opened in 1924.
Initially, the George Vanderbilt Hotel had some tower-like structures at three of the four corners of the building’s roof. The front façade on the second floor featured large arched windows. Large arches were also used to accentuate the front façade on the ninth floor.
How the Face of the Building Was Entirely Changed
When the George Vanderbilt Hotel was converted to apartments for the elderly in 1969, the face of the building was entirely changed. Following U.S. Government policy, the entire façade was stripped down removing all decorative elements along the way. The structure was then rebuilt with an interior concrete block and an exterior wall of tan brick leaving the building deprived of its original character to demonstrate to the public that public funds were not lavishly spent on public housing projects.
75 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC 28801
All day.
All year.
STREET VIEWING ONLY.
Private property.
Wall Street Parking Garage.
Civic Center Parking Garage.
Rankin Parking Garage.
Public bus stop: Haywood St at US Cellular Center.
Stop Gray Line Historic Trolley: Grove Arcade.