Hotel Charlotte (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Hotel Charlotte was a 13-story hotel in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which opened in 1929. It was on the corner of Trade Street and Poplar Street in the Uptown area of Charlotte.
While primarily known by the name "Hotel Charlotte", it also operated under the names "Queen Charlotte Hotel" and "White House Inn." It closed for business on December 31, 1973. It was designed by William Lee Stoddart and was a steel-frame building sheathed with sections of gray granite and a buff-colored brick. It housed 250 guest rooms.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1979.
In the years following its closure, attempts were made to find developers who could rehabilitate and preserve the structure. However, as the building languished, it was severely vandalized and much of its interior plumbing and wiring stolen by looters. Hotel Charlotte was imploded on November 6, 1988. David Copperfield used the implosion as the setting for his escape in the TV special The Explosive Encounter.
A restaurant of the same name was created in its honor and reused many interior pieces from the original hotel. The restaurant ceased operations on January 29, 2011.
