Imperial Hotel

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Description 

The Imperial Hotel is significant as Greenville’s first skyscraper, illustrating the commercial growth of the city, and as the third example of early high rise architecture in South Carolina. Designed by Greenville architects F.H. and J.G. Cunningham as a seven-story, ninety-room commercial hotel, construction was begun in 1911 by W.M. Jordan of Greenville and completed in 1912. The hotel was constructed during a period of economic prosperity brought to Greenville by an expanding cotton textile industry. The hotel was constructed as a seven-story skyscraper with a buff colored brick veneer over a steel frame. By 1930 it was the largest hotel in Greenville with 250 rooms. The “U” shaped footprint of the building is largely unadorned with the first floor façade featuring elliptical fanlighted windows followed by six floors with six-over-one windows. The building has a flat roof topped by a metal boxed cornice supported by brackets. There are Art Deco influenced decorative moldings applied below each set of brackets. The first floor lobby area has Terrazzo tile floors, marble stairs and baseboards, brass rail detailing and pine paneling. Listed in the National Register September 12, 1985. - SCDAH

Tags 

20th Century (29,078) American Movement (6,254) Brick (42,459) Built 1911 (887) Built during 1910s (8,442) Chicago (382) F.H. & J.G. Cunningham (1) Greenville County, South Carolina (110)

Greenville MRA (43) Greenville, South Carolina (41) Have Street View (40,661) Hotel (2,463) Private owner (54,396) South Carolina (2,119) W.M. Jordan (1)

Update Log 

• September 12, 2014: Updated by Michael Miller: Added "Description" & "Street View" and Imported Photo

Sources 

• Michael Miller - michael_a_miller [at] yahoo [dot] com
• South Carolina Department of Archives and History
• National Register database - Reference number 85002167

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