Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel

postcard, Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel

postcard, Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel

The Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel was a historic resort hotel property in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built in 1902-1906, demolished in 1979.^[1][2]

In 1902, Josiah White III bought a parcel of land near Ohio Avenue and the Boardwalk, and built the Queen Anne style Marlborough House. The hotel was financially successful and, in 1905, he chose to expand. White hired Philadelphia architect Will Price of Price and McLanahan, to design a new, separate tower called the Blenheim. Recent hotel fires in and around Atlantic City, Price's recent experience of designing the all-concrete Jacob Reed store in Philadelphia, and a steel strike in the fall of 1905 influenced the choice of reinforced concrete. It opened in 1906.^[3]

It wasn't the first reinforced concrete hotel in the world, since French concrete pioneer François Hennebique had designed the Imperial Palace Hotel in Nice five years previously. But it was the largest reinforced concrete building in the world.^[4] The hotel’s Spanish and Moorish themes, capped off with its signature dome and chimneys, represented a step forward from other hotels that had a classically designed influence.

In 1916, Winston Churchill was a guest of the hotel.

In 1977, the it was reported that Reese Palley had acquired the building and that he and an associate intended to renovate it to qualify for a casino license.^[5] Ten days later he re-sold it.^[6]

Bally Manufacturing, which had been in the slot machine business, bought the landmark hotels and demolished the wood-framed Marlborough with the conventional wrecking ball.For the Blenheim the company hired Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI), which had taken down down the Traymore Hotel, to implode the structure. A preservation group which had sought historic status for the building won a stay of execution for the Blenheim’s rotunda portion on the Boardwalk. It was amputated from the rest of the hotel, which was imploded Fall 1978. Several months later the historic status was denied, the stay was lifted, and CDI finished the demoliton.^[7] It is not known if they sold the name Marlborough-Blenheim as well.

Bally's Park Place now stands at this location.

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Atlantic City

References

1. ^ "Beach Skyscraper Open; Marlborough-Belnheim Open--Baordwalk Crowded", The New York Times, March 14, 1906, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40910F63B5A12738DDDAD0894DB405B868CF1D3, retrieved 2011-06-23 
2. ^ "Atlantic City Early Hotels". Monopoly City.com. http://www.monopolycity.com/ac_earlyhotels.html. Retrieved 2011-07-05. 
3. ^ "Beach Skyscraper Open; Marlborough-Belnheim Open--Baordwalk Crowded", The New York Times, March 14, 1906, http://query.nytimes.c/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40910F63B5A12738DDDAD0894DB405B868CF1D3, retrieved 2011-06-23 
4. ^ Concrete: the vision of a new architecture By Peter Collins
5. ^ Janson, Donald (March 15, 1977), pp. Section New Jersey Pages, Page 79, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10910FD39551A708DDDAC0994DB405B878BF1D3&scp=54&sq=Marlborough%20Blenheim%20hotel&st=cse Marlborough-Blenheim Acquired By Reese Palley to Set up a Casino, retrieved 2011-06-23, "Reese Palley, the widely known flamboyant art dealer, announced today that he and an associate had purchased the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel and would spend $35 million on renovations to qualify it for a casino gambling license." 
6. ^ "Reese Palley". http://reesepalley.com/. Retrieved 2011-06-23. "I bought 27 acres at Park Place and Boardwalk (See Monopoly) one year after gambling was voted in New Jersey. Not having any money I bought a 16 million dollar property from eager sellers with $100,000 down and an enormous mortgage due in nine months. Ten days after the papers were signed I sold the property to Bally, took some of the money, bought a sailboat and sailed around the world for the next twenty years." 
7. ^ Spatz, David (October 18, 2009). "Kaboom!". Atlantic City Weekly. http://70.85.126.199/print_friendly.php?id=7458. Retrieved 2011-06-23. 

Coordinates: 39°21′20″N 74°25′54″W / 39.3556°N 74.4317°W / 39.3556; -74.4317