Poinsett Hotel
A skyscraper reaching 12 stories high, the Poinsett Hotel is every travelers dream. This famous hotel was built during the peak of Greenville's "building boom". It's interior and exterior feature magnificent woodwork and prestige construction. The hotel grew to become one of the most popular hotels of the 1940s-1950s in all of South Carolina. It hand many setbacks in the later years but it has now reopened and is better than ever.
Front side of hotel
View of hotel from main street
Top of hotel
Wood detailing on window
First constructed in May of 1924, the Poinsett hotel officially opened on June 20th, 1925. The building was designed by W. L. Stoddard, and was built by the Greenville company J. E. Sirrine. When first built the hotel was 12 stories high, and contained only one hundred rooms. The building had an arcade that led into the main building from main street, and the main lobby featured a large marble staircase. The exterior of the building is a rectangular design, with a L-shaped facade. In total, the entire project cost $1.5 million to build.
The hotel began under the management of Charles G. Day, a former manager of hotels in the area. At the time of the buildings opening, the depression was slowly creeping up upon the city, during the first few years of business the hotel would lose more than $30,000 dollars. It continued to suffer from financial issues during the great depression and due to this finical crisis, would hire a new general manager Mason Alexander. Alexander boosted the hotel from rags to riches. He was the best manager in the business, known to locals as "Old Admiral Spit and Polish". Alexander was famously known for his "Four C" strategy he used this strategy for success, stating a good hotel needs cleanliness, cooking, competence, and courtesy. Thanks to Alexander's model of success guests started to poor in. By the 1940s the hotel became known as "Carolina's Finest" and had gained back all the money it had lost. Due to the growing popularity of the hotel, sixty new rooms were added in 1941 for a total of 248 rooms.
Throughout the later years, the hotel changed hands many times. Eventually it would become foreclosed during the years of 1971-1986. The hotel didn't become repurchased until 1997. After much time spent renovating and remodeling the hotel reopened to the public on Oct. 22, 2000. This building was one of the first skyscrapers built in Greenville, SC. Today the building still holds much significance, marking the era of Greenville's great building boom. It was added to the National Register of Historical Places in July, 1982.
A Tradition Rich in History. he Westin Poinsett, Greenville. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.westinpoinsettgreenville.com/history.
Huff, Archie Vernon. Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont. Columbia, South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, 1995
Poinsett Hotel- Greenville, South Carolina. South Carolina Picture Project. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/greenville-county/poinsett-hotel.html.
The Westin Poinsett. Historic Hotels of America. Accessed April 21, 2017. http://www.historichotels.org/hotels-resorts/the-westin-poinsett/history.php.
Photo Credit: http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/greenville/S10817723029/
Link for more information regarding the hotel
Created by Megan Posey (Instructed by David J. Trowbridge, Marshall University) on April 21st 2017, 7:02:03 pm.
Last updated by Megan Posey (Instructed by David J. Trowbridge, Marshall University) on May 1st 2017, 5:15:14 pm.
Historic Greenville, South Carolina Driving Tour
This tour explores the history throughout Greenville including stops at museums, historic buildings, markers and monuments, and local landmarks.