Richmond · Franklin Street
The Jefferson Hotel
Lewis Ginter's Beaux-Arts hotel by Carrère and Hastings, opened on Halloween 1895, where alligators lived in the Palm Court fountains until 1948.
- Built
- 1895Completed 1895 for Lewis Ginter; the south half, destroyed by an early fire, was rebuilt in 1901 by J. Kevan Peebles (DHR).
- Style
- Renaissance Revival / Beaux-Arts
- Architect
- Carrère and Hastings (1901 rebuilding by J. Kevan Peebles)
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 181
- Area
- Franklin Street
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
Tobacconist Maj. Lewis Ginter commissioned the New York firm Carrère and Hastings to build the finest hotel in the South, inspired by Rome’s Villa Medici; it opened on Halloween 1895. An early fire destroyed the south half, which Norfolk architect J. Kevan Peebles rebuilt in 1901, replacing the glass-and-iron court with the present lobby and grand staircase. Live alligators lived in the Palm Court fountains until 1948. HHA counts 13 U.S. presidents among its guests.
The ghost story
Haunts of Richmond, a local ghost-tour company operating since 2004, tells stories from former staff and guests of a woman in a red dress on the sixth floor who had no feet and floated before vanishing, and of a fourth-floor guest who kept waking to find his room's lights turning on one by one. The tour company notes that the hotel itself is not keen to discuss these stories.
Source: www.hauntsofrichmond.com
Good to know
- Address: 101 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23220
Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.