postcard
postcard

1907 Claypool Hotel Indianapolis Indiana

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1907 vintage postcard. A delightful depiction of people in period dress and a trolley street car in front of the famous hotel. This is an early image before the expansion was added to the hotel in 1912.

Completed in 1903, the famous Claypool Hotel boasted 495 rooms, a telephone in every guest room, and more bathtubs than any other hotel in the country. Its lobby was the largest in the country. The Claypool had a theatre, an assembly hall, a ballroom balcony overlooking the lobby, a rooftop garden, private Renaissance dining rooms, and even an Atrium Café patterned after the Roman City Herculaneum. The Riley Room had frescoes quoting from poems of Indiana’s famous poet, James Whitcomb Riley. It was the first fully air-conditioned hotel in the U.S. north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The Claypool was advertised as “absolutely fireproof.” However, in 1967 an arsonist started a fire in a fourth-floor utility room. The building quickly became engulfed in flames. Fortunately, everyone was evacuated safely, but the building did not recover. Once the grandest hotel in Indianapolis, the building was demolished in 1969. Claypool Court, an office and shopping mall took its place.

This would look great framed or make an excellent addition to any collection.

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