Revitalization of an Iconic Philadelphia Hotel

The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, at the southwest corner of South Broad and Walnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia, was completed in 1904 in the French Renaissance style and was described at the time as the most luxurious hotel in the nation and perhaps the most spectacular hotel building in the world, with the most magnificent ballroom in the US on the first floor. Modeled after the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, it boasted 19 floors, 725 rooms, and the grandest event space in the city: a 500-person ballroom that could host events for nearly 3,000 people when including adjoining spaces. For many decades the Bellevue-Stratford, the “Grand Dame of Broad Street,” was Philadelphia’s largest hotel. Thomas Edison was involved in the lighting design for the hotel, creating fixtures as well as a switchboard for the hotel’s ballroom. Throughout its time in operation, 15 presidents were guests at the hotel, including Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. 

Apart from a large addition in 1912, which brought the square footage to 657,000 and the room total above 1,000 and added the iconic cameo rooms and other function spaces to the 19th floor, the hotel remained largely unchanged until its closing. In 1976, an outbreak of an unidentified respiratory disease led to the hotel’s sudden closure. In 1978 the building was sold to the Richard I. Rubin Company, saving it from demolition. Rubin undertook a $25 million renovation, reducing the key count to 565 and restoring the public areas, before reopening it as the Fairmont. Westin later acquired an interest in the building, and the Hotel was renamed the Westin Bellevue Stratford in 1983 before closing in 1986 due to low occupancy. In 1988, a new owner reopened the building as The Bellevue, converting much of the hotel to office and cutting an atrium into the remaining hotel portion.