Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-05-16
From the New York Home Journal. of May 9Th. ]
THE CONTINENTAL.
(Philalelph,a's nrac Hotel.l

(l-HtLunetVHMS UU dOteGJ
Let NEWCOMERS say what they WILL Philadel-
phans are progressive people, how can they help
it, with their more than half million of Inhabitants
Possessing many advantages over NewYork (say in
plenty of nd-room, while we have only sea-room, J
they are determined not to be behindhand in luxu-
rieS, while they in advance Of us in many posi-
tive comforts. Always clean neat fair, and bloom
ing as one of its own charming Quakercsses Phil
adephia has wanted only metropolitan hotel to
give it metropolitan rank And by this, we don't
Eean mere marble pile, great only in the vastness
of its bar and dning-rooms, and wonderfully small
in its provision Of home comforts, and in the supply
of delicate and refined home necessities; but we
mean good a substitute for an elegant home it
is possible for hotel to be- Philadelphia of course
has had hotels ever since Benjamin Franklin bought
and ate the penny roll for his breakfast in its Streets
because he could not afford to stop at one but of late
years they have been VIGOROUSLY insufficient in num-
ber Many liberal Philadelphia merchants, who were
conscious of their citys deficiency in this respect
united together, and selecting the finest site in the
city-the corner of Ninth and Chestnut streets
the result was; First the erection of what is ad-
mitted 10 be one of the most complete hotel struc-
lures in the world at an expense of eight hundred
thousand dollars-the building covering an acre of
ground; and being nteriorly covered by five acres
of carpet! Second the expenditure of over two
hundred thousand dollars in rich and appropriate
furniture. What an effect million of dollars can
produce in architecture and elegance, we have no
room 10 describe. The magnificent entrance, the
grand staircase, the unique upper corridors from
which ladies, unobserved, may watch the throng be-
low; the draperied drawing rooms, and noble dining
halls, lighted up with the beauty and brilliancy Of
a fair palace (rathcr than a democratic hotel, in
which every one can he millionaire for two dollars
and half day. are unequalled in this country
And then, in the magnificent private rooms, we have
velvet to walk upon, instead of and dusty in.
grains hot and cold water to the touch, instead Of
a cracked pitcher; crate, set in marble, in place
of the rusty stove; and if must 60 up stairs Ito
use an Hiberniansm) we don't do at at aU but are
lifted from the bottom of the house to the top by
steam, gently and safely nurse raises child
from the cradle. Bnt potent as dollars are and
especially million of them put together, they could
not have accomplished this without the direction of
consummate experience and taste so the Philadel-
phia merchants very wisely secured Mr.. Paran
Stevens-already the proprietor of the Revere and
fremont Houses, in Boston the Fifth Avenue in
NewYork, and the Battle and Point Clear Houses,
in Mobile, the lessee. How few men there are
who can keep hotel, the complaints of travellers
and repeated failures in the business, abundantly
show The administrative ability that is always
munificent, but never wasteful-that knows how to
do all right things at the tight time and in the right
way-is as rare in hotel proprietor as in a general
The magnificent Continental is Colonel Stevens
last and best undertaking, and in charge of Mr. JAS
E. Stevenspunder whose personal direction the es-
Enlistment will remain, promises to be one of the
most successful. As Philadelphia is noted for its
superior healthfulness, the beautiful drives about its
suburbs, the hospitality of its Inhabitants its mag
nificent stores, its variety of amusements and now
for its luxurious hotel it will become one of the
most popular rendezvous for tourists, especially from
the south and southwest that can be found in the
United States