Birmingham, Alabama
The Redmont Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama is a 13-story historic hotel
built in 1925. It is still in operation as a hotel, and has been
restored and modernized within the historic context. The exterior
appearance of the hotel is almost unchanged from the original. The
Redmont Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We totally had a blast at this hotel when we stayed there, the staff, and especially the bellhop, were fantastic!
Photos are from our visit October 25-27, 2007.
The Redmont Exterior
Welcome to the Redmont Hotel! This 13 story brick & terra-cotta
faced hotel was opened May 1, 1925 and is located at the corner of Fifth
Avenue North and Richard Arrington Junior Boulevard North (how's that
for a long street name?) The building architect was G Lloyd Preacher
and the builder was Smallman & Brice Company. Birmingham was
originally a mining town, the Redmont name refers to Red Mountain, where
many of the mines were located. Note the metal balcony on the left
that serves as a canopy over the front doors.
The exterior of the hotel has been restored to (almost) it's original
condition. This is the front side. Did you notice that the hotel has
13 floors? Many hotels skip the 13th floor due to superstitions
regarding the number 13, so it is surprising they built the hotel with
13 floors! Between the 11th and 12th floors is a strip of decorative
terra cotta molding called a stringcourse. The purpose of it is to
break up the appearance of the side of the building so it is not overly
monotonous. If you look close you will also notice a simpler
stringcourse between the 3rd and 4th floors. At one time the 12th floor
windows above the stringcourse had decorative wrought iron false
balconies on them, they have been removed. The black boxes just above
the stringcourse in the photo are lights.
The Redmont Hotel exterior viewed from the corner. From this view you
can see the 1st and 2nd floors have a decorative terra cotta facing.
From the 3rd floor up construction is of light brown brick with terra
cotta accents. The cornice (horizontal decorative trim that protrudes
out from the very top of the walls) on this side is a restoration.
From here you can see one of the large rooftop neon signs. Notice the
back side of the hotel makes extensive use of red brick, which was
likely less expensive than the brown which is used for decorative
strips. Formerly this hotel was operated under the Crown Plaza brand,
if you look closely you can see the outline of the former Crown Plaza
sign on the right side.
The Redmont Lobby and Public Spaces
The bright red paint at the front desk draws your attention to it as you
step in the door. The original marble floor was restored in 1983. The
Redmont originally had 225 rooms and was an upscale hotel built during a
period of rapid expansion for the City of Birmingham.
This massive chandelier dominates the lobby.
Another view of the chandelier, looking down from the mezzanine level.
I know, it looks like yet another photo of the chandelier, but I wanted to show the main marble staircase up to the mezzanine level.
The lobby sitting area with grand piano. The windows are facing 5th
Avenue North, the front door is to the right in this photo, the lounge
is to the left.
This is another view of the lobby, looking past the front doors toward
the lounge. The polished brass doors of the elevators can be seen at
middle left, look past the cups on the valet's podium.
The Redmont is a
favorite for haunt for ASU fans. During our visit the hotel was packed
with fans in town for a home game. They apparently stay frequently,
the staff recognizes many, and greeted them by name. One afternoon I was
standing in the lobby, which was packed with ASU fans catching up on old
times. One lady walked up to one of the valets and began talking with
him. She obviously recognized him and apparently thought he was an old
ASU pal. After a small amount of chit-chat she confessed to him that
she remembered him, but couldn't remember his name. He smiled and said
"Mam, I work here."
Another look at the lobby and front desk. I shot many of these photos
early in the morning when the lobby was empty. If you look close you
can see that the desk clerk is checking up on me, making sure I'm not up
to no good.
The breakfast room on the mezzanine level was originally a private
reception room. A metal balcony extends over the sidewalk from this
room, you can see it if you go back to the first photo in the tour.
Notice the original mail chute between the elevator doors, while no longer used, has been left in place.
The rooftop penthouse was added to the hotel in 1947, by owner Clifford
Stiles who added it to house his family. The penthouse atrium in this
photo appears to be a more recent addition. When built, the penthouse
had a grass lawn installed on the hotel roof around it which was
frequently utilized for fancy parties! Part of the penthouse is now
used as an exercise room, and affords great views of downtown
Birmingham.
Just a photo of something off the beaten track. This is one of the fire
escape stairwells. A lot of "ladies of the night" likely made the trek
up and down these back stairs. More on that later!
The view of Birmingham from the roof of the Redmont Hotel. The red
brick building in the lower center is the other major historic hotel in
downtown Birmingham, The Tutwiler Hotel. There was a full moon when we
visited!
These custom made decorative lights with RH lettering (for Redmont
Hotel) are found in the upper floor hallways. In the 1960's the
Redmont fell on hard times and is said to have functioned more or less as a brothel.
The ghost of Hank Williams. (Faked!)
Like all old hotels, the Redmont has a ghost story connected to it. The
Redmont is said to be haunted by the ghost of famous singer Hank
Williams. while on tour in 1952, Hank Williams stayed in the hotel's
penthouse. It turned out to be the last night of his life, he was
killed the next day in a car accident. Since then there have been many
reported sightings of his ghost in the hotel. In addition the ghost of a
former owner of the hotel, Clifford Stiles is said to haunt the hotel.
(No, this is not a real ghost photo, its a fake.)
Redmont Guest Rooms
The guest rooms are very nice and completely updated, this is a King
room. (Hotels update rooms often so this may not be the current room appearance.) Like most older hotels the original rooms were small by today's
standards. Remodeling of the Redmont Hotel in 1983 created larger rooms
by relocating walls to remove every other room. You can see how they
did this by examining this room's window layout. Originally each room
had one set of large windows like the one on the right, which actually
is two side-by-side windows in a single frame. As you can see in the
photo, moving the wall between this room and the adjacent one has
resulted in a half window in the left corner of the room. The original
hotel rooms had advanced features for the times, each had a private
bath, chilled water cooling system, and an electric ceiling fan.
The Redmont was the first hotel in Birmingham to have private baths in
all the rooms. Like the rooms, the bathrooms are completely modern.
Okay, I almost always include at least one photo of a behind the scenes or non-public spot that guests aren't supposed to see. This is the roof maintenance access stairway. I love the blocked in former window. Someone changed their mind.
