The Hotel at 3rd and Ludlow: What’s That Called Again?

It’s a good time for hotels in downtown Dayton, with the new Fairfield Inn and Suites now open in the Water Street district and the Crowne Plaza benefiting from its new neighbor the Levitt Pavilion. A few proposed developments have even featured a boutique hotel as part of the concept. But one downtown hotel isn’t doing so hot, and it can be found at the corner of Third and Ludlow.

This hotel, more recently the Dayton Grand Hotel has a distinguished history, and over the years it has gone through more name changes than one can reasonably keep up with. It opened as the Algonquin Hotel in 1898 with 400 rooms, so impressive an amenity for the city that one source proclaimed that “people can no longer point to Dayton as a one-street city.”

In those early years the hotel’s rooftop was a major attraction, during a time in which Dayton was “in the throes of the roof garden craze,” whereby the approach of real summer weather made roofs “the real place to go.”

A Dayton Sunday News article on July 1, 1917 claimed that for Daytonians “playing the roofs” that summer, the Algonquin “offered the best accommodations for a modern summer roof of any hotel in this section”:

It is at the top of a building rising to the height of ten stories which gives the patrons a view of the city to be had from the top of but few buildings in Dayton. The combination of dancing floor and expansive garden space gives it the exclusive call over the other roof gardens in the city, offering the combination of alternating between refreshments and tripping the light fantastic on an excellent dancing floor

The appearance of the roof is as through the arrangements had been assigned to some fairy, assisted by a master gardener. Along the edge of the roof huge flower boxes are suspended, which gives the roof the appearance of a real earthen paradise.

Looking down on Dayton in the daytime and at night is a different sensation. Thousands of lights sparkle from neighboring buildings in the uptown section. Below, in the street, can be heard the spurt, spurt of automobiles and the laughter of people passing along. Above, the stars can be seen, and somehow the beholder feels brought nearer than the height of ten stories to them.

On the roof all is quiet except for the strains of the music or the voice of a singer as he rollicks in the syncopated tune or toughing ballad, with now and then a peal of laughter from one of those dining on the roof.

During the Great Flood of 1913, the 300 guests stranded in the hotel ended up with good fortune, as “quick thinking staff moved supplies onto higher floors as the water rose.” The guests “were probably the only people downtown who were served regular meals during the ordeal” (Dalton, Dayton: Postcard History Series).

From Gibbons to Dayton Grand Hotel: And Many Names in Between

In 1918 the hotel was bought by developer Michael Gibbons, at which point it became known as the Gibbons Hotel. It operated under that name until the 1960s, at which point it became the Dayton Inn, the Daytonian and the Daytonian Hilton (after being acquired by the Hilton chain).

At one point during these frequent name changes, the building itself also went through some major alternations. A modern aluminum facade covered up the beautiful limestone and masonry, and a large portion of the building was removed so that a parking garage and new rooms could be added.

Photo source: acetone on UrbanOhio

By the 1990s the hotel was known as the Radisson Inn & Suites, but fortunately a new owner, City Hotels USA, had the sense to convert it back to its traditional look. (As well as give it yet another new name, the Doubletree Hotel.)

“We intend to bring back as much of the property’s original elegance as possible and make this the city’s hotel showplace,’ a company representative said in 1997. “After we restore the original two-story lobby design, we will create a grand marble floor entryway and marble front desk, complete with upscale furnishings and lighting throughout.” Most of the hotel’s rooms, suites and meeting spaces would also get major renovations, as would the seventh-floor indoor swimming pool. but the project hit some major snags along the way.

By May 1998, a construction worker was injured when an interior brick wall fell on him. Officials had hoped to open in July of that year, but construction problems with the elevators caused a delay, as did a small fire.

Then vandals set off the building’s sprinkler system not once but twice during the summer, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the top five floors. These acts set the opening back again, but the hotel did eventually open.

A triumphant article on January 16, 1999 called the hotel a “big gain” that “gives officials hope for downtown.” Mayor Mike Turner said “this is the beginning of the revitalization of the downtown” and “this is a grand hotel that will bring more people into our city.”

John Husted, then vice president of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce said that “this really helps companies like NCR and Mead who bring a lot of clients and people to Dayton.”

This optimism, of course, would not be sustained far into the 2000s as the decline of Dayton’s core would instead accelerate and the city’s anchor companies would leave the region.

But the hotel would soldier on for a bit longer. In the 2010s it alternated between being a Hilton Double Tree hotel and the independent Dayton Grand Hotel. It converted to a Hilton property in 2013, but was soon switched back, with disastrous results: “In an eight-month stretch after going back to being independent, the hotel lost 80 percent of its business,” said the hotel manager.

In late 2013 it was announced the hotel would again undergo a major renovation, with the manager claiming that “we’re looking to become the jewel of downtown Dayton.” But that didn’t happen. In 2015, it was reported that the project would finally begin, and Downtown Dayton Partnership president Sandy Gudorf said “the property renovations have been delayed because the hotel has been in transition the last couple of of years. It’s now under strong management and we are very pleased everything is now moving forward.”

But move forward it did not, and by 2016 it had completely closed. In August 2017, an acting general manager told the Dayton Daily News that it was still undergoing renovations, but did not share a timeline or any details.

No progress was visible until November 2018, but when a construction crew finally did show up it was to board up all of the ground-floor windows and doors.

Hopefully this work is to stabilize and protect the hotel through the winter in anticipation of some future redevelopment, as the long-awaited Arcade restoration is just across Ludlow from the hotel. A conversion to apartments or condos would also likely be popular given the recent boom of urban living and the fact that another brand-new hotel just opened downtown.

Property owner Hotel Capital LLC did not return an email seeking comment.

Update 7/2024: For the latest on this building and a quick walking tour type of history, take a look at my recent YouTube video:

Sources

“Summer Heat and Worldly Cares are All Forgotten When Atop the Big Hotels.” The Dayton Sunday News. July 1, 1917.
“Dayton Inn to Return to 1898 Design – The hotel closed Monday and will open in February as the Dayton Doubletree Hotel.” Dayton Daily News, July 9, 1997.
“Vandals Again Put Hotel Off Schedule – Five upper floors are soaked and ruined for the second time this summer.” Dayton Daily News, September 17, 1998.
“Hotel Called Big Gain – The Doubletree at Third and Ludlow gives officials hope for downtown.” Dayton Daily News, January 16, 1999.