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The Carolina Inn on the University campus has been added to the National
Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historic and architectural
significance.
The national register, authorized by Congress in 1966 and administered by
the National Park Service, is the nation's official list of cultural resources
worthy of preservation.
A plaque marking the inn's spot on the register was unveiled Oct. 5 at a
ceremony that included Betty Rae McCain, secretary of the state Department of
Cultural Resources, Interim Chancellor William O. McCoy, Trustee Chair Anne
Cates and Inn Manager Creston Woods.
"As it has been for three-quarters of a century, the inn remains important
to the University as both a center of social life and a source of funding for
the library's North Carolina Collection," McCoy said. "It is gratifying for the
inn's historical significance to the community, state and nation to be
recognized in this exciting way."
The inn is the third building on the campus and the fifth in Chapel Hill
to make the National Register of Historic Places. Others are Old East Residence
Hall, the nation's first state university building, and the original Playmakers
Theatre, both on campus, as well as the old Chapel Hill Town Hall and the
Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church.
The Carolina Inn turns 75 years old this year, having welcomed its first
guests in late November 1924. It was built by John Sprunt Hill of Durham, an
1889 graduate of the University who founded Central Carolina Bank. Hill was
concerned about the lack of acceptable lodgings for returning alumni and
University visitors. In 1922, he retained T.C. Atwood Co. of Durham and its
principal architect, Arthur C. Nash, to design and build the inn.
Hill donated the inn to the University in 1935 to serve as "a cheerful inn
for visitors, a town hall for the state, and a home for returning sons and
daughters of alma mater." He stipulated that profits from the inn's operation
be used to support part of the campus library now called the North Carolina
Collection.
The inn always has been a favorite gathering place. Former UNC President
Bill Friday has called it "the University's living room."
For decades, the inn was where faculty, students, alumni and local
residents could meet and socialize. It became one of the most popular places in
the state for balls, banquets and weddings, academic conferences and business
meetings.
Located adjacent the University off Cameron Avenue and South Columbia
Street, the inn was built in the Southern Colonial style, a variation of the
Colonial Revival style popular nationally in the early 1900s. The inn
incorporates elements of antebellum Southern plantation houses with Georgian
and neoclassical features found in the Northeast. The original front of the
building facing Cameron Avenue was modeled after the Potomac River front of Mt.
Vernon.
While the inn's interior has undergone several major renovations, many
original features remain. For example, the 1924 ballroom, now called the Old
Well Room, retains its original dimensions and original detailing including
stylized columns. When the inn opened, it had 52 guest rooms, all with private
baths. Major new wings were completed in 1940, 1970 and 1995. In 1970, the
lobby was moved from the north side of the building to its present location on
the west side.
The 1995 addition accompanied a renovation that added modern features and
restored much of the inn's original warmth and grandeur. The expansion and
renovation cost $16.5 million. Now the inn has 184 guest rooms and suites and
more than 12,500 square feet of function space. The American Automobile
Association awarded four-diamond ratings to the inn and its Carolina Crossroads
restaurant.
In 1993, the University contracted with Doubletree Hotels Corp. to manage
the inn. Revenues the University receives from Doubletree's operation of the
inn continue to support the library's North Carolina Collection.
Earlier this year, the inn was accepted into Historic Hotels of America, a
program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Many hotels in the
program are on the National Register of Historic Places.
"It is wonderful that the inn's addition to the national register comes
just as we are about to celebrate our 75th year," said Creston Woods, the inn's
general manager. "The listing commemorates the inn's rich history and its
special place in the life of the University and the state. Heritage tourism has
blossomed in recent years. Many people now want to stay not only in very nice
places, but in places of historic and cultural significance. We are pleased
that the Carolina Inn is now officially recognized as one of those
places."
Kenneth Zogry, a University doctoral student and a historic property
expert, wrote the inn's national register application as well as a new book
about the social, architectural and decorative arts history in the inn. The
University's Living Room: A History of The Carolina Inn will be published later
this fall to mark the hotel's 75th anniversary.
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