Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-07-18
About Hotels.


ing eight lines fifty cents
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About Hotels.
An agitation has lately been started for the
building Of more hotels of the larger class iu
This city, and has spread SO as to have aroused
considerable public sentiment. : The building
and destroying Of large hotels, is NOT a very
profitable nor desirable business for the pc ople
of great city 10 be engaged,iu and so lar the
building of new hotels 10 Philadelphia has
been accompanied }bS Che destruction Of an
equal or larger number OF existing ones We
can recall the following as having disappeared ::
Mansion House (south Third street, Congress
Hall, United. States, Jones, Indian Queen,
Tremont Chestnus Street House, Black Bear
(Fitth street,) City, and u long. list of others
that would not be remembered by large por-
ton of our readers. Many persons suppose
that the facilities for travellers have been IN
creased by the erection of the Continental,
GiAard, La Pierre, St tlound and other new
houses. But this is IN error. Although we
have at present some thirty hotels scattered
about the city, their aggregate accommodations
are probably RssFthan those of the. hotels that
existed before the erection OF new ones began.
In New York the experience has been SINH
lar " Z can TemeLuUeT knduy llldL ppcdicO
simultaneously with the. erection Of new ones.
But in our own Gtyare not the new superior to
the old? A few are, but the majority are
not Some of the old hotels were admira-
bly situated in the business quarter and
were large and we'll ordered Some had grown
famous, and few were historical laud.
marks John Randolph boarded at the City
Hotel. The Mansion House was the Bingham
Mansion OF hutipnary times aHd frequent
ed by Washington and his court Jones Ho-
tel was for years the tayorite of the south. AT
the United States Charles Dickens put up, and
President Fillmore and bis Cabinet all stopped
and had a grand reception. Daniel Webster
made the Washington House his headquarters
on his frequent visits to Philadelphia. Con
gress Hall had fronts on both Chestnut and
Third streets and as,very convenient Tor the
business Of both streets; now there IS no hotel
at all on that part Of Third street or anywhere
near it, nor on Chestnut east of the American,
nor on Fourth OF. Filth. In fact, the Amerl-
can Hotel is the only one near the heavy trade,
the apparant effort being to transfer the busl;
hess quarter out toward Broad street. .
1t is a common assumption that all hotels
should be splendid in architecture, sumptuous
in furniture aud luxurious in appointments.
But this is mistake. A great many travellers
do not care fg for all this and thousands are
lot in circumstances to afford such display.
OF all who visit Europe probably full one third
do not lodge in the hotels at all. Especially Is
this the case in London and Paris, lodgings aud
apartments In both cities being abundant and
free from many Of the drawbacks of the hotels.
A want of something like this has long been
felt in America: and has led tothe advocacy OF
cheap hotels, which in some cases would be
an advantage Washington city is full Of lodg,
g-houses, accessible to all, and quite as we'll
known as the hotels.
But neither in New York nor Philadelphia
does anything of, the kind exist. 1t Is possible
that one or two grand hotels may b. built to
accommodate the visitors to the Centennial
But the mass will have to be provided for in
other ways. And We suggest the plan IN vogue
in London, Paris and Washington, Of convert
ing many large existing dwellings into lodging
houses for transient visitors. This sort of prop,
erty would pay a better interest ou the invest
ment than any other. 1t does in each of the
three cities named. 1t has all the, e,advantages
Of privacy and perfect freedom from conyen-
tional hotel usages and regulations.
There as another consideration in this coDs
nection that ought not TO be lost sight OF. In
London and Paris the hotels are permanent
aud 10 the course of long series OF years have
acquired famous names all over the world.
But the constant tearing down and building up
that go on in New York and Philadelphia pre-
vents anything from acquiring permauence or
even celebrity. Somebody will be sure to seek
reputation as progressive man by starting
project for tearing it down and building up
something else And it is as likely to be the
Academy of Music or the Continental: Hotel
as anything else The old Academy OF the
flne Arts has gone: the voyage. fenn
Square has disappeared. The Post office IS
doomed The Mercantile Library has shifted
lnloa market house. The Navy7yard has taken
up Its line Of. march to League. Island. Cam
ot ITSELF Some progressive individual is
perpetually trying to remove Philadelphia to-
SSnester or Wilmington, or, Delaware City or
Newcastle. Somebody else wants to abolish
falrmount " Water. works, and 20 Oft to Perklo-
men, the Lehigh or the Water Gap.
lhe new erections may be Splendid, but they
nave not the historic value of the; old; and We
seem IN America to be unwilling to learn
.ile lesson that things and places become re-
uo"ned by reason Of continuance, since when
sshey have that, history is constantly being made
.9r 9,r them. The Continental has u history; for,
uulough comparatively recent, we may say of 1t
u'at here President Lincoln and all the heroes.
Iao WarrtoIs and statesmen of the civil war
nave lodged, as we'll as the Prince of Wales,
ane Duke Alexis and other celebrities. But no
new hotel can have. this value. The lapse Of
years alone can give it. One misfortune Of the
pe PERPETUAL change is that the spleudor Of the
oew structures attracts business from the old
pSaes; Ss aud BY thus rendering them Improbable
LISTENS their destruction. In ordinary times
raete IS only certain amount of transient busi-
us : tor the hotels, as has been proven by long ex
,hSsence; and in New York, as we'll as here
s.'u %e erection of one new and splendid hotel gen.
by by luvolves't the abandonment of another
1lMlodelphia american.
NEW MOSQUITO NETS ~CANoPIEs.