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.
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.
The Fort Sumter Hotel enjoyed an ideal location but never achieved the level of success its developers anticipated. It changed ownership multiple times over the years. In 1967, Sheraton Hotels purchased the property for $435,000 and invested an additional half‑million dollars in renovations. In 1973, a group of local investors ironically bought the hotel for $850,000—the original construction cost in 1923. The investors closed the hotel’s operations and spent $2 million converting the interior into sixty‑seven condominiums. Amenities came to include on‑site security, parking areas, an exercise room, and a private palmetto‑tree‑lined pool adjacent to Murray Boulevard and the Ashley River waterfront wall.
Alfred Hutty, an American artist and one of the leading figures of 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 later removed and transferred to a museum. Since then, the residents have commissioned a reproduction of the mural for the building’s lobby. I have included a photograph of the mural as it appears 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 distinctive ceiling of worm‑eaten pecky cypress, a ground‑floor dining room illuminated by soft light radiating from three tiers of stately electric fixtures, and an expansive grand ballroom and lounge on the second floor. The lobby featured pinkish‑beige marble flooring throughout. The original corridor running from the front door to the back of the building was known as “Peacock Alley.” Rare for the era, the hotel offered air conditioning and served drinks chilled with “manufactured ice.”
Fort Sumter Hotel’s Terrace Dining Room operated under the expert direction of a renowned chef. Its cuisine featured the choicest fresh seafood and celebrated Southern dishes, and it proudly touted its use of ice refrigeration to preserve flavor. In 1954, the Rampart Room replaced the hotel’s main dining room. Designed as an informal lounge for casual dining, it incorporated several historic touches, including a large mural depicting the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The Rampart Room offered menu items such as roast beef, sirloin steak, fried chicken, Spanish mackerel, 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.
The Fort Sumter Hotel enjoyed an ideal location but never achieved the level of success its developers anticipated. It changed ownership multiple times over the years. In 1967, Sheraton Hotels purchased the property for $435,000 and invested an additional half‑million dollars in renovations. In 1973, a group of local investors ironically bought the hotel for $850,000—the original construction cost in 1923. The investors closed the hotel’s operations and spent $2 million converting the interior into sixty‑seven condominiums. Amenities came to include on‑site security, parking areas, an exercise room, and a private palmetto‑tree‑lined pool adjacent to Murray Boulevard and the Ashley River waterfront wall.
The Fort Sumter Hotel’s claim to fame was the notable individuals who stayed there, the most prominent being John F. Kennedy. The episode is reminiscent of the Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard film Allied. At the time, Kennedy was a young naval intelligence officer. His 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 remained in contact, and she continued to visit him in Charleston.
The date was February 1942. The room was number 132. For several nights, Kennedy engaged in a romantic rendezvous with Inga Arvad, a former Miss Denmark. Adolf Hitler had once described her as the “perfect Nordic beauty.” Because of her connections with Hitler, the FBI suspected her of being a Nazi spy. Their room was bugged, and the ensuing scandal altered the course of Kennedy’s life. Upon learning of their encounters at the hotel, Kennedy’s father arranged for his son to be reassigned to a PT boat in the Pacific.
In April 1947, Tennessee Williams and his agent, Audrey Wood, met at the hotel with Irene Selznick, the wife of David O. Selznick of Gone with the Wind fame. They gathered to discuss her producing Williams’s newest play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams hand‑wrote several scenes for the play on the hotel’s stationery. This detail was later mentioned in a New York Post article titled “Get a Piece of Brando for Half a Million,” which noted, “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 of 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 later removed and transferred to a museum. Since then, the residents have commissioned a reproduction of the mural for the building’s lobby. I have included a photograph of the mural as it appears 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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