Bowman-Biltmore Hotels


Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a hotel chain created by hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman.
The name evokes the Vanderbilt family's Biltmore Estate, whose buildings and gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. The name has since been adopted by other unrelated hotels. For a time, the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation was a publicly traded company.

Historic locations

CountryStateNameLocationOpeningNotes
United StatesArizonaArizona Biltmore HotelPhoenix23 February 1929Opened by Warren McArthur Jr. and his brother Charles McArthur along with John McEntee Bowman. Co-designed by their brother the Chicago architect Albert Chase McArthur, who asked Frank Lloyd Wright to collaborate.
United StatesCaliforniaFlintridge Biltmore HotelLa Cañada Flintridge, atop the San Rafael Hills1926The site of the present day Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy campus. Designed by architect Myron Hunt in 1926, in the Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture styles, and commissioned by owner Senator Frank Putnam Flint. The business failed as the Great Depression continued, and the hotel was closed and sold in 1931 to the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose to found the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy there.
United StatesCaliforniaMillennium Biltmore HotelPershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles1923Largest hotel west of Chicago in the United States when it opened. Designed by the architectural firm of Schultze & Weaver. "Nerve center" of the 1960 Democratic National Convention, headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, and of the candidates including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Adlai Stevenson. Room 8315 was used for the John Kennedy campaign.
United StatesCaliforniaSanta Barbara BiltmoreSanta Barbara, California1927Masterly synthesis of the Spanish Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Moorish Revival styles of architecture and landscape architecture. Four Seasons Hotels bought the hotel in 1987. Ty Warner acquired ownership of the hotel through his Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts in 2000, with a historically sensitive major restoration and services updating following.
United StatesConnecticutThe GriswoldNew London, Connecticut1906Seasonal resort hotel operated by Bowman Biltmore. Demolished 1968.
United StatesDelawareHotel du PontWilmington, Delaware1913Managed by the Bowman-Biltmore Hotel company and named the Du Pont Biltmore from 1927-1933.
United StatesFloridaBelleview BiltmoreBelleair, Florida1897Acquired by the Biltmore chain in 1920.
United StatesFloridaMiami Biltmore HotelCoral Gables, Florida1926Opened by Bowman and George Merrick. National Historic Landmark. Sold to Henry L. Doherty in 1931. Served as a hospital during World War II and as a VA Hospital and campus of the University of Miami medical school until 1968. Became a hotel again in 1987, managed by Seaway Hotels Corporation. President Obama stayed at the Biltmore prior to delivering a speech at the University of Miami.
United StatesGeorgiaAtlanta Biltmore HotelAtlanta1924Designed by Schultze & Weaver at a cost of $6 million. Organized by Coca-Cola heir William Candler, Holland Ball Judkins, and Bowman. Today an office building.
United StatesNew YorkThe Ansonia1904Apartment building. For a time an apartment hotel run by Bowman Biltmore.
United StatesNew YorkBelmont Hotel42nd Street from Grand Central Terminal1908Tallest building in the world when built. Demolished in 1939.
United StatesNew YorkCommodore HotelDesigned by Warren & Wetmore. On the opposite side of Grand Central from the Belmont Hotel. Bought by Donald Trump in the 1970s and converted to the Grand Hyatt New York. The lower levels were gutted to their steel skeleton, retaining the original floorplan, while the exterior was covered in a modern reflective glass facade.
United StatesNew YorkMurray Hill HotelPark Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets1884Demolished in 1947.
United StatesNew YorkNew York BiltmoreJanuary 28, 1919Designed by Warren & Wetmore as a part of Terminal City, a massive complex of hotels and office buildings connected to Grand Central Terminal. Home to the Grand Central Art Galleries for 23 years, founded in 1922 by John Singer Sargent, Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark, and others. 1942: Biltmore Conference, the meeting that produced the Biltmore Program. Closed in August 1981 by Paul Milstein, gutted to its steel skeleton, and converted to an office building. retaining only the Biltmore's famous Palm Court clock.
United StatesNew YorkThe Roosevelt HotelSeptember 22, 1924Connected to Grand Central Terminal. Opened as a United Hotel and merged with the Bowman-Biltmore Group in 1929. Purchased by Conrad Hilton in 1948. Operated by Realty Hotel until 1980. Then operated by the Novotel group through a lease with Pakistan Airlines.. Today operated by Interstate Hotels & Resorts and owned by Pakistan Airlines.
United StatesNew YorkWestchester Biltmore Country ClubWestchester County, New York1922Founded by Bowman, who hired Walter Travis to design two golf courses.
United StatesOhioThe Dayton Biltmore Hotel1929Converted into a retirement home in 1981. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
United StatesRhode IslandProvidence Biltmore1922Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
CubaSevilla BiltmoreHavana1908Bought by Bowman and Charles Francis Flynn in 1919. Featured in Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana, where Jim Wormold joined the British secret service.
CubaHavana Biltmore Yacht & Country Club1928Managed by the Bowman Biltmore company.

Planned hotels

A Detroit Biltmore was planned for the site of the Hotel Tuller on Detroit's Grand Circus Park. The Tuller was to have been demolished in 1929 and replaced by a towering 35-story, 1500 room hotel with an attached 14-story garage and 18-story office building. The plans were abandoned when the stock market crashed that year.

Unassociated hotels

Florida

The Palm Beach Biltmore was not connected to the Bowman Biltmore group. It was built in 1926 as the Alba, renamed The Ambassador in 1929, and sold to Henry L. Doherty in 1933. Doherty, who had bought the Miami Biltmore two years earlier, renamed the hotel the Palm Beach Biltmore. It was later owned by Hilton Hotels, closed in the 1970s, and was converted to condos from 1979-1981.

Nevada

The Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino, a hotel-casino in Crystal Bay, Nevada, very near the California border among the communities known as North Shore Tahoe. Opened In 1947.

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Biltmore in Oklahoma City was an unassociated hotel that once stood downtown, at 228 West Grand Avenue. It was built in 1932 during the Great Depression by the city's prominent civic leaders at the time, headed by Charles F. Colcord. Designed by architects Hawk & Parr, the Biltmore had 619 rooms and was 24 stories high, making it the state's second tallest building only to the Ramsey Tower built in 1931, when it was completed. In 1936 alone, the Biltmore was headquarters for 104 conventions and saw 114,171 guests. After a $3 million renovation in the mid-1960s the Biltmore was renamed the Sheraton-Oklahoma Hotel. By 1973, the hotel had left Sheraton, and the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority agreed with the owners that the Biltmore had outlived its useful life. In contrast, architect I. M. Pei had envisioned keeping the hotel, and his sketches and models all showed the tower overlooking the surrounding "Tivoli Gardens". The hotel was one of the largest demolitions in the country at the time it was blown up on October 16, 1977 by a team of demolition specialists to make way for the "Myriad Gardens". Hundreds of low-yield explosives were planted throughout the building so that it would collapse and fall inward into an acceptable area only slightly larger than the hotel's foundation.