Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island)

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Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is a historical lodging facility located on Mackinac Island, Michigan, a small island located in the Straits of Mackinac. The Grand Hotel is well known for its notable visitors, including several presidents, inventors and authors.

1 History
2 Hotel features
3 On film
4 Designations
5 External links

[edit] History

In 1886, the New York Central Railroad, Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, and Detroit and Cleveland Steamship Navigation Company formed the Mackinac Island Hotel Company and purchased the land on which the hotel was built and construction on the design by Detroit architects Mason and Rice began. When it opened the following year, the hotel was advertised to Chicago, Erie, Montreal and Detroit residents as a summer retreat for vacationers who arrived by lake steamer and by rail from across the continent. At its opening in 1887, nightly rates at the hotel ranged from US$3 to US$5 a night.

The hotel also hosted the first public demonstration of Thomas Edison's phonograph and regular demonstrations of the new invention were conducted on the porch. Mark Twain made this a regular location on his speaking tours in the midwest.

[edit] Hotel features

Designed by Carleton Varney, Dorothy Draper's protege, it is impecably decorated with vibrant colors and the constant theme of Geraniums. All 385 guest rooms with no two designed alike. There are four types of rooms, Category 1, Category 2, Category 3, and Named Rooms. Added in early 2000, the Masco Cottage includes two downstairs bedrooms with private bathrooms, along with a kitchen, living room, and dining room area. Upstairs are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a media parlor. There are six two-bedroom suites consisting of two named rooms connected by a parlor. Two of these suites, the Grand Suite & the Carleton Varney suite, overlook the Mackinac Bridge and the Straits of Mackinac, while the Presidential is located in the center of the hotel with a balcony over the porch. Also, six suites are named for and designed by six former First Ladies of the United States, including the Jacqueline Kennedy Suite (with carpet that includes the gold presidential eagle on a navy blue background and walls painted gold), Lady Bird Johnson Suite (yellow damask-covered walls with blue and gold wildflowers), Betty Ford Suite (green with cream and a dash of red), Rosalynn Carter Suite (with a sample of china designed for the Carter White House and wall coverings in Georgia peach), Nancy Reagan Suite (with signature red walls and Mrs. Reagan's personal touches) and Barbara Bush Suite (designed with pale blue and pearl and with both Maine and Texas influences).

Five U.S. Presidents have visited: Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Gerald Ford (a Michigan native), George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The hotel is unique in its late 19th century decor as well as its lack of air-conditioning in guest rooms. Some air conditioning is in place in public rooms, such as the lobby, parlor and main dining room, but due to the nature of the building it would be almost impossible to put full central air into the 120 year old structure (fans are provided to hotel guests). More recently, the hotel has drawn some criticism for its charging of a $12 fee (as of June 2006) for non-guests to enter the building and enjoy the view from the famous porch.

Mackinac Island does not allow motor vehicles (except for emergency vehicles) and transport to and from the dock to the hotel is via horse-drawn carriage. (Tour guides on the island claim that the only motor vehicles allowed in recent history (other than for emergency use) were cars brought over for the filming of Somewhere in Time.) During the winter months, when ice prevents ferry transport from the mainland, the hotel is closed. Staying at the hotel is very expensive; the smallest rooms start at $345 per night, including a full breakfast and five course dinner. At dinner, coat and tie are required for gentlemen, and dress or pantsuit wear for ladies. Dinner is available to non-guests too, but may be considered costly by some.

Grand Hotel's front porch is purportedly the longest in the world at some 660 feet in length, overlooking a vast Tea Garden and the resort-scale Esther Williams swimming pool. These areas are often used by guests on a casual family vacation, for large conventions, or concerts during Grand's annual Labor Day Jazz Festival.