Jefferson Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Jefferson Hotel is a famous luxury hotel in Richmond, Virginia. It is one of 27 American hotels with Mobil Five Star and the AAA Five Diamond Hotel ratings. It is also accompanied by a Lemaire, a Five Diamond Restaurant named after Etienne Lemaire who served as Maitre d'Hotel to Thomas Jefferson from 1794 through the end of his presidency.
Tobacco baron Lewis Ginter built the hotel in 1892 and first opened it in 1895. It was designed by the same architecture firm that designed the New York Public Library, Carrere & Hastings. It burned in 1901 and was restored and reopened in 1907.
Patrons have included presidents, writers, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was said to have been discovered while working as a bellhop at the hotel. For many decades, it was the home of Historic Garden Week.
Local urban legend has it that the Grand Staircase in the lobby was featured in the classic movie Gone with the Wind, but this is untrue. According to the concierge, the author of the novel, Margaret Mitchell, stayed at the Jefferson during the time she was writing the book, and thus the description and portrayal of the staircase in her novel is said to be inspired by the one in the hotel.
