Charleston ยท Upper King and Marion Square
Francis Marion Hotel
Charleston's tallest structure when it opened on Marion Square in 1924, with 234 rooms; on Historic Hotels of America's 2026 most-haunted list.
- Built
- 1924Built 1924 as a hotel for former mayor T.T. Hyde's Marion Square Realty Co.; 13 stories, steel frame; restored 1996.
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- Architect
- William Lee Stoddart
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 234
- Area
- Upper King and Marion Square
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
Former Charleston mayor T.T. Hyde formed the Marion Square Realty Co. and hired architect William Lee Stoddart, and the 13-story hotel was the tallest structure in Charleston when finished in 1924. It later passed to Jack Tar Hotels, which added the Swamp Fox Room, and was sold in 1984 to Hospitality Associates of Charleston, operating for a time as a Ramada and a Radisson. Portwood Properties bought it in the mid-1990s and completed a $12 million restoration in 1996 that kept 234 original guest rooms. HHA records stays by Gen. Mark W. Clark and Elvis Presley.
The ghost story
Guests on the tenth floor report rattling windowpanes, windows opening on their own and a young man wandering the halls, attributed in hotel lore to Ned Cohen, a New York businessman said to have fallen to his death from Room 1010 in 1929.
Source: www.historichotels.org
Good to know
- Breakfast: available
- Parking: on-site paid
- Pets welcome
- Address: 387 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403
Things to do
Tours in Charleston
Tours are sold by GetYourGuide and run by local operators. If you book one through these links, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Ratings and prices are GetYourGuide’s.
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.