St. Nicholas Hotel

What is St. Nicholas Hotel?

The main building dates from 1924 and was designed by H.L. Stevens and Company, an architecture firm from New York City. Its Georgian Revival design, sometimes called Neoclassical, gave Springfield a tall, formal hotel; when it opened it was the city's second-tallest building, topped only by the State Capitol. An annex had already been added in 1910 to the original 1855 hotel.

History of St. Nicholas Hotel

Whenever the General Assembly was in session, the hotel became an unofficial workplace for Illinois politicians, who often did their deal-making inside. Three presidents came through as guests: Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The best-known story involves Paul Powell, who lived at the hotel while serving as Illinois Secretary of State. After he died in 1970, the executor of his will found roughly three-quarters of a million dollars in cash in his suite, room 546, packed into shoeboxes, briefcases and strongboxes. His salary had never topped 30,000 dollars a year, so the discovery set off a federal investigation into his conduct in office.

Visiting St. Nicholas Hotel: tips

Check ahead about access before planning to go inside; otherwise admire its tall, formal front from the street, which takes only a few minutes. It is listed as wheelchair accessible. The former National Museum of Surveying site, the Fisher Building-Latham Block and the Old State Capitol State Historic Site are each about 0.1 mile away, putting it right on a downtown walking loop.