When built in the early 1900s, it was the tallest building in Charleston at seven stories high. As you stroll past its front entrance, you will notice a plaque next to the door with the name Fort Sumter House imprinted on it. You will not be able to enter. It is a private condominium complex. However, in 1924, the year it opened to the public, it was a hotel called Fort Sumter.
The Spanish Colonial-style structure was designed by prominent commercial architect G. Lloyd Preacher of Atlanta, GA, and built at a cost of $850,000. A brochure from 1929 advertised the Fort Sumter Hotel as "Charleston's Only Waterfront Hotel. It was described as having "Spacious lobbies, sun parlors, and terraces, comfortably and luxuriously furnished, overlooks the water and offers cordial hospitality in an atmosphere to be found in few hotels." It had two hundred outside guest rooms, each with a combination tub and shower, and comfortable beds equipped with Spring air mattresses.
Fort Sumter Hotel's Terrace Dining Room was supervised under the expert direction of a famous chef. Its cuisine offered the choicest fresh seafood and noted southern dishes. It touted its use of ice refrigeration to maintain the taste of food. In 1954, The Rampart Room replaced the hotel's main dining room. The area was designed to be an informal lounge for casual dining and was decorated with a few historic touches, including a large mural of the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The Rampart Room offered menu items such as roast beef, sirloin steak, fried chicken, Spanish Mackerl, soft-shelled crabs, and shrimp pie.
From 1942 to 1945, it served as the headquarters for the Sixth Naval District, after which, it was remodeled and returned to hotel operation in 1946.
Fort Sumter Hotel had an ideal location but never saw the level of success it expected. It traded hands multiple times over the years. In 1967, Sheraton Hotels purchased the hotel for $435,000 and spent half a million dollars on renovations. In 1973, a group of local investors ironically bought the property for $850,000, the original price tag to construct it back in 1923. The investors closed the books on the hotel and spent $2 million on converting the interior into 67 condominiums. Amenities came to include on-site security, parking lots, an exercise room, and a private palmetto tree-lined pool next to Murray Blvd and the Ashley River waterfront wall.
The Fort Sumter Hotel's claim to fame was the individuals who stayed there. The most notable being John F. Kennedy. It is a story similar to the Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard movie called "Allied." At the time, he was a young Naval intelligence officer. John's father had him transferred to Charleston to distance him from a woman introduced to him by his sister. Despite his father's objections, the two kept in contact, and the woman would visit JFK in Charleston. The date was February of 1942. The room number was 132. For several nights, JFK engaged in a romantic rendevous with Inga Arvad, a former Miss Denmark. Adolf Hitler described her as the "perfect Nordic beauty." She was suspected to be a Nazi spy by the FBI because of her connections with Hitler. The room was bugged. The ensuing scandal changed the course of history. JFK's father had his son reassigned to a PT boat in the Pacific after getting word of their encounters at the hotel.
In April 1947, Tennessee Williams and Agent Audrey Wood met at the hotel with Irene Selznick, the wife of David O. Selznick of "Gone with the Wind" fame. They came to discuss her producing Williams' newest play, "A Streetcar Named Desire." Williams hand wrote scenes for the play on the hotel stationery. This fact was mentioned in a New York Post article called Get a piece of Brando for half a million where it stated, "Bundled into a bunch of boxes are the original typewritten manuscript with Williams’ scribbled changes in the margins; scenes he wrote on stationery from the Fort Sumter Hotel in Charleston, S.C..."
Alfred Hutty, an American artist and one of the leading figures in the Charleston Renaissance, completed a mural of the Attack on Fort Sumter for the lobby of the Fort Sumter Hotel in 1949. Throughout the 1950s, Hutty's works were on permanent exhibit at the hotel. His original mural was removed from the hotel and moved to a museum. Since that time, the residents commissioned a reproduction of the mural for the lobby of the building. I have included a photograph of the mural as you see it today. The lobby is stunning.
The scene along the Murray Blvd seawall during the hotel's active years was quite different from what you see as you stroll that stretch of the Ashley river now. Docks extended from Murray Boulevard out into the river along the wall. Boats would drop off and pick up hotel guests at the docks, also used for sunbathing and swimming. They were removed in the early 1970s, just before the hotel closed. Many Charlestonians refer to the Fort Sumter House as the "grande dame."
The Spanish Colonial-style structure was designed by prominent commercial architect G. Lloyd Preacher of Atlanta, GA, and built at a cost of $850,000. A brochure from 1929 advertised the Fort Sumter Hotel as "Charleston's Only Waterfront Hotel. It was described as having "Spacious lobbies, sun parlors, and terraces, comfortably and luxuriously furnished, overlooks the water and offers cordial hospitality in an atmosphere to be found in few hotels." It had two hundred outside guest rooms, each with a combination tub and shower, and comfortable beds equipped with Spring air mattresses.
Among its amenities were a unique ceiling of worm-eaten pecky cypress, a ground floor dining room with soft lights radiating from three tiers of stately electric fixtures, and an expansive grand ballroom and lounge on its second floor. The lobby was designed with pinkish beige marble flooring throughout. The original corridor from the front door to the back of the building was known as "Peacock Alley." Rare in the day, it featured air conditioning and "manufactured ice" in its drinks.
Fort Sumter Hotel's Terrace Dining Room was supervised under the expert direction of a famous chef. Its cuisine offered the choicest fresh seafood and noted southern dishes. It touted its use of ice refrigeration to maintain the taste of food. In 1954, The Rampart Room replaced the hotel's main dining room. The area was designed to be an informal lounge for casual dining and was decorated with a few historic touches, including a large mural of the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The Rampart Room offered menu items such as roast beef, sirloin steak, fried chicken, Spanish Mackerl, soft-shelled crabs, and shrimp pie.
From 1942 to 1945, it served as the headquarters for the Sixth Naval District, after which, it was remodeled and returned to hotel operation in 1946.
Fort Sumter Hotel had an ideal location but never saw the level of success it expected. It traded hands multiple times over the years. In 1967, Sheraton Hotels purchased the hotel for $435,000 and spent half a million dollars on renovations. In 1973, a group of local investors ironically bought the property for $850,000, the original price tag to construct it back in 1923. The investors closed the books on the hotel and spent $2 million on converting the interior into 67 condominiums. Amenities came to include on-site security, parking lots, an exercise room, and a private palmetto tree-lined pool next to Murray Blvd and the Ashley River waterfront wall.
The Fort Sumter Hotel's claim to fame was the individuals who stayed there. The most notable being John F. Kennedy. It is a story similar to the Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard movie called "Allied." At the time, he was a young Naval intelligence officer. John's father had him transferred to Charleston to distance him from a woman introduced to him by his sister. Despite his father's objections, the two kept in contact, and the woman would visit JFK in Charleston. The date was February of 1942. The room number was 132. For several nights, JFK engaged in a romantic rendevous with Inga Arvad, a former Miss Denmark. Adolf Hitler described her as the "perfect Nordic beauty." She was suspected to be a Nazi spy by the FBI because of her connections with Hitler. The room was bugged. The ensuing scandal changed the course of history. JFK's father had his son reassigned to a PT boat in the Pacific after getting word of their encounters at the hotel.
In April 1947, Tennessee Williams and Agent Audrey Wood met at the hotel with Irene Selznick, the wife of David O. Selznick of "Gone with the Wind" fame. They came to discuss her producing Williams' newest play, "A Streetcar Named Desire." Williams hand wrote scenes for the play on the hotel stationery. This fact was mentioned in a New York Post article called Get a piece of Brando for half a million where it stated, "Bundled into a bunch of boxes are the original typewritten manuscript with Williams’ scribbled changes in the margins; scenes he wrote on stationery from the Fort Sumter Hotel in Charleston, S.C..."
Alfred Hutty, an American artist and one of the leading figures in the Charleston Renaissance, completed a mural of the Attack on Fort Sumter for the lobby of the Fort Sumter Hotel in 1949. Throughout the 1950s, Hutty's works were on permanent exhibit at the hotel. His original mural was removed from the hotel and moved to a museum. Since that time, the residents commissioned a reproduction of the mural for the lobby of the building. I have included a photograph of the mural as you see it today. The lobby is stunning.
The scene along the Murray Blvd seawall during the hotel's active years was quite different from what you see as you stroll that stretch of the Ashley river now. Docks extended from Murray Boulevard out into the river along the wall. Boats would drop off and pick up hotel guests at the docks, also used for sunbathing and swimming. They were removed in the early 1970s, just before the hotel closed. Many Charlestonians refer to the Fort Sumter House as the "grande dame."
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