About this property
The Brown Hotel is a historic 16-story hotel in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., located on the corner of Fourth and Broadway. It contains 294 rooms and over 24,000 ft2 of meeting space. It also contains special amenities, such as a fitness center and three restaurants. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Brown Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The hotel which featured 600 rooms, ballrooms, shoppes, meeting rooms, and restaurants, was designed by Preston J. Bradshaw and opened in 1923, only 10 months after construction began. The hotel cost $4 million, and was funded and owned by James Graham Brown, a local entrepreneur who wanted to compete with The Seelbach Hotel just a few blocks down the street. The hotel quickly became a central part of the growing downtown Louisville economy and the social lives of the locals. In 1926 the hotel chef Fred K. Schmidt introduced the Hot Brown sandwich, consisting of an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon with a delicate Mornay sauce. The Hot Brown became rather popular among locals and visitors alike. The sandwich has been featured in various programs about regional cuisine, such as the 2002 PBS documentary Sandwiches That You Will Like and a 2011 episode of the Travel Channel's Man v. Food. Many famous people have visited the hotel in the past and present. David Lloyd George, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was the first person to sign the guest register, and Queen Marie of Romania also visited. The famous soprano Lily Pons was allowed to bring her pet lion along with her, and it roamed free in her room. Actor Victor Mature was an elevator operator at the hotel before becoming famous; he lost his job after abandoning his post at the elevator and leaving a simple note so that he could go dance with a girl during one of the hotel's many roof-top parties. James Winkfield, a Black jockey who won two Kentucky Derbies, was refused admittance at the front door in 1961. The combination of Prohibition and the Great Depression led to hard times for the hotel in the early 1930s. The Brown defaulted on its loan, and the bank threatened foreclosure. Employees were asked to work for periods without pay, and the Brown was only able to stay open due to the employees' willingness to do so. When the 1937 Flood hit Louisville, the Brown's first floor was flooded. Although there was no electricity, the hotel stayed open, and many people whose homes were submerged stayed at the hotel. One resident recalled: "We were rowing down Broadway and there was The Brown Hotel. The doors were open and the place was filled with water so we just rowed our boat in one door, went through the lobby and rowed out another." Elmer H. Weck, a bell captain of the hotel at this time, is recorded to have caught a two-pound fish in the lobby. The fish was later mounted and hung in the hotel lobby for a number of years. WAVE radio, located on the 15th floor, was the only radio station to remain in operation in its own facilities during the flood.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Brown Hotel Building and Theater listed on the National Register?
Brown Hotel Building and Theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 17, 1978.
What type of historic resource is Brown Hotel Building and Theater?
Brown Hotel Building and Theater is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Brown Hotel Building and Theater?
The period of significance for Brown Hotel Building and Theater is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Brown Hotel Building and Theater?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Brown Hotel Building and Theater will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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