KIMBALL HOUSE HOTEL – 1870-1959

Built in 1870 by businessman H. I. Kimball, Kimball House Hotel was described in flowery language that rivals that of the RMS Titanic before it left port. Dubbed the “finest hotel in South,” the six-story, 500room property occupied an entire block downtown in the Five Points area.

It was the first in the city to boast central heating and elevators. With its combination of Italianate and Second Empire architecture, its towering visage emanated regal vibes.

Unfortunately, it burned to a crisp in 1883 — a destructive event described in the New York Times as having begun in the wee hours of the morning “in a part of the building that was easy prey for flames, and in almost a twinkling every floor was ablaze.”

In a scandalous aside, the Times reporter further notes that “there were several spectacles of gallant young men helping ladies down clad in the garments of the bed chamber.”

Thanks to what sounds like speedy work of the overnight staff, no lives were lost, although some folks “lost valuable diamonds” in the process. The $600,000 hotel was rebuilt in 1885. This time it would last seven decades until it was torn down for a parking lot in 1959.

The memory of the grand hotel lives on in the name of Kimball House restaurant in Decatur, where the menu of oysters and fancy cocktails is inspired by the classic hotel menus of yesteryear.

As development rages on in our present era of tear-down fever, one of King Williams’ hopes is that people will start pushing back on development plans that don’t include preservation.

“In other places around the world, people have realized you can have historic things and you can also have new things and these two things are not influenced by each other,” he said.

“If you go to Egypt, they still have the pyramids, but they also have modern buildings.”

AJC FILE The second Kimball House hotel was built in 1885, with seven floors and 357 hotel rooms. It’s shown here sometime in the 1930s.