Battle House Royale
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| Battle House Hotel | |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | 26 N. Royal Street Mobile, Alabama |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1852; 1908[1][2] |
| Architect: | F. M. Andrews and Company |
| Added to NRHP: | August 19, 1975[3] |
| NRHP Reference#: | 75000322[3] |
| Governing body: | Private |
The Battle House Royale, now known as the Battle House Hotel, is a historic hotel building in Mobile, Alabama. The current building was built in 1908 and is the second Battle House Hotel to stand in this location, it replaced an earlier Battle House Hotel that was built in 1852. It is one of the earliest steel frame structures in Alabama.[3]
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[edit] History
The first Battle House Hotel was opened by brothers James, John, and Samuel Battle in 1852 on the site of a former military headquarters set up by Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. The Battle brother's new hotel was a four-story brick building, with a two-story gallery of cast iron. The site had been home to two other hotels in the years between Andrew Jackson and the Battle brothers, the Franklin Hotel and the Waverly Hotel. Both of these earlier structures had burned.[1]
A particularly notable event for the hotel occurred when Stephen A. Douglas was a guest of the hotel the night that he lost the presidency to Abraham Lincoln.[2] The first Battle House also had such notable guests as Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Millard Fillmore, and Winfield Scott.[1] A National Weather Service station was established at the Battle House in 1880 and electric lighting was added in 1884. Then, after more than 50 years in service, the hotel burned in 1905.[1]
After the fire, the proprietors hired Frank M. Andrews of New York City to design a new structure and it was built out of steel and concrete. The new hotel reopened for business in 1908. The hotel remained a prominent fixture of Mobile through the first and second World Wars. The hotel closed its doors in 1974 and they would remain closed for the next 30 years. By 1980 it was the only building left completely intact in its city block. In 2003, Retirement Systems of Alabama began to implement a restoration of the hotel and build an adjoining skyscraper, the RSA Battle House Tower.[2] Both projects were completed in 2007.
[edit] Description
The seven-story building is steel frame with marble and brick facings. At street level it features a projecting one-story portico with paired Tuscan columns, the level above the portico has recessed Tuscan loggias with individual window balustrades. A wide third-story molded entablature is surmounted by cast iron balconies. The window openings over the entire facade have articulated keystones and the openings on the seventh level also feature cast iron balconies. The roof level features a molded projecting cornice with scroll brackets.[3]
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