Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1894-07-20
LOCAL.
OPENING OF THE EAKLETON.

EaketOn," Of which our toWnSman B
Frank Eakle is the protector and owner
was thrown open to the public and
commenced business. 1t was brilliant
ly lighted from top to bottom with electric
ity, and the admiring crowd Of invited
guests kept the pretty elevator busy going
up and down.
1t is said there were thousand invita-
tlons issued to the reception; but if that
was SO, there must have been some five
hundred more people there, than were in
yited. Nearly everybody in the city was
there, and large number from the county
The Stonewall Band Orchestra was in the
dining room and furnished the music
For three hours the house was filled with g
moving and admiring crowd. Parlors
chambers, kitchen-eVeryWhere was thrown
open for inspection. In the rear of the
Office there was cake, with two bowls OF
light punch at which two walters were kept
busy with their ladies'. 1t was nearly mid
night before the last visitor retired, and in
the hours that had elapsed since o clock,
the proprietor, Mr.. Eakle, had, we suppose,
received more words of praise than he had
ever had in the same length Of time in his
life.
The new hotel is simply a beauty through
out. The prevailing color is white, glisten-
eng with silver plating wherever the metal
work Of the interior is seen, and the wood
work is oak. On the first floor you enter
the spacious office, with it's electric bells,
speaking tubes and all the necessary con-
veniences. The beautiful dining room,
with it's FURNISHED copper chandeliers (elec-
trio and gas), it's mirrors, and its tiled fire
place is the next thing that strikes you.
On the same floor is the cafe where meals
can be had by the card, and which is
equally as large as the dining room.
Back of the dining room, and between that
and the cafe are grouped the kitchen and
pantry. In this most important part of
a hotel, are found every modern appliance
for preparing meals, from the immense
cooking range with it's charcoal fires, to
the porcelain heating dishes for keeping
vegetables and meats warm. The drain
age of the kitchen is direct into specia
sewer On this floor also is the bar
Der shop.
Taking your choice between going up in
the elegantly equipped elevator. OF by the
broad velvet carpeted stairway-all the
halls and stairs of the house are carpeted
with velyet-yOu come to the second floor.
The chambers are carpeted with mOquette,
and furnished with inside blinds, and have
oak furniture of the latest patterns, largely
inlaid with mirrors. Here you see the
pretty white iron bedsteads, ornamented
with gliding. There are only half dozen
beds in the whole building which are not
of iron, and those half dozen are folding beds
with wardrobes, writing desks, mirrors
and all the ingenious equipments that have
been added to the modern folding bed. The
beds all over the house are on springs, and
are marvels Of comfort. The ladies' par
lor is beautifully fitted up and curtained,
and has distinct boudoir air.
On the next floor the furniture and az
rangements are very much the same, but
there is one apartment in it whose beauty
makes every one linger in admiration, and
that is the bridal chamber. The canopied
bed, the white and gold chairs and
lounges, the silver standing lamps, and the
curtaining are all in exquisite. artistic
taste.
The rest of the upper stories of the house
is pretty much the same with that we have
<5ocoribo1 bo fuTnif1po IN no
almost as fine for the fourth floor as
for the second, and the same conveniences
are found everywhere. The oak furniture
prevails there as it does everywhere else
What will strike the visitor as much as
anything else. is the excellence of the
ventilation which is interior as well
as exterior, and keeps every floor supplied
with fresh air. A bright and airy all
well runs from the ceiling of the dining
room to the roof, giving both light and air
to the rooms. Another feature which is
very attractive is the tiled fire places, of
which there are perhaps dozen in the par
lors and chambers. The house is heated
by steam, but these fire-placeS are there
both for ornament and-when wanted-for
use.
The elegance Of the dining room and cafe
service may be inferred from the fact that
included in it is a silver wine cooler nearly
three feet high The staff Of cooks comes
from Baltimore, and the men are the best
in their line to be had.
Beneath the hotel is a labyrinth of ma
chinery run by steam. One part Of its
work is to pump from an artesian well, wa
ter to flush all the toilet rooms, of which
there are a set on each floor, to force water
to the bath rooms which are located Oh
every floor, and to force rain water from
the cistern to the steam laundry. In an
other. part of the basement is the engine
and dynamo which furnishes the electric
ity for the whole building, and in yet an
other part is the steam laundry, the ma
chinery of which is of the latest pattern.
/. And iii still another part is that important
adjunct to u hotel, the refrigerator which,
when the writer saw it, was filled with
meats with temperature below 400.
On that same level are two pretty dining
r0oms-ene for the white help and one for
the colored. and also bath rooms for each.
The staff OF the house is IS follows
Manager. Geo. f. Adams. formerly Of the
TTygeia at Old Point and the Est. James, >
and "Albion'' OF Baltimore; chief clerk
VIM. Ell. Berrett late Of the Carrolton in Bal
timore assistant clerk W. Starke Burke
of Staunton; night clerk, Jos. II. Cafpen-
ter of Covington Z; bookkeeper, J. Wilson
Splitter OF Staunton; assistant bookkeeper,
j. Ed. Byexs Of Staunton.
The work on the new hotel and it's fitting
I'D. was done as follows:-contractor fol-
the building who also did brick and wood
work, E. W. Stewart & Co.; foundation