Belvedere Hotel Corporation Records

The Belvedere Hotel was a grand luxury hotel in Baltimore, Maryland built in the French Beaux Arts style by the Parker & Thomas architectural firm. The Belvedere Hotel came into being as a community project with funds raised by subscription and bonds. The Belvedere Building Company, whose stockholders included many prominent Maryland families, built the hotel in 1903. The initial funding for the purchase of land and hotel construction was provided by the families of Brown, Parr, Harvey, and Perin. The first President of the Belvedere Hotel Corporation was Nelson Perin. Formal opening took place on December 10, 1903. In the early 1900s, the Belvedere Hotel was known for hosting elite guests visiting from around the United States and the world. Built at a cost of $1.75 million, the hotel contained 350 luxuriously furnished rooms. Throughout its history, the Belvedere Hotel experienced a series of financial problems. It was put into receivership soon after opening in 1906, and later in 1915, and 1933. In 1946, the hotel was purchased by the Sheraton Corporation and modernized. A three million dollar expansion was planned onto the adjoining property, but the plan was dropped in 1956 because of conflict with a potential highway.

The hotel was sold in 1968 to the Wellington Association of New York, and again in 1969 to Gotham Hotels Limited of New York. The building was rented at the time to the Baltimore Institute for use as dormitories, managed by the Snowden Corporation. In January 1972, the Snowden Corporation ceased operations, noting vandalism and fire code violations. The building was sold in 1973 to Morton Sarubin, whose plan to rehabilitate the hotel failed. It was sold again in 1976 to Victor Frenkil, the chairman of the Board of Baltimore Contractors, who intended to rehabilitate the building with 158 apartments, to reopen the dining rooms to the public, and develop a catering service available for ballroom events.

The hotel was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

[Information for this historical note was gathered from previous collection descriptions, a 1903 Baltimore Sun newspaper article, the Belvedere Hotel inventory form in the National Register of Historic Places, and a 2003 Baltimore Magazine article by Tom Siebert.]