West Baden Springs · French Lick Resort
West Baden Springs Hotel
Lee Wiley Sinclair's 1902 circular hotel, whose 200-foot free-span dome was the world's largest until 1913; a National Historic Landmark.
- Built
- 1902Rebuilt 1901–02 after fire destroyed the earlier hotel; opened September 15, 1902.
- Architect
- Harrison Albright (dome trusses by engineer Oliver J. Westcott)
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Area
- French Lick Resort
- Credentials
- National Historic Landmark; Historic Hotels of America member; Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
Lee Wiley Sinclair took over the West Baden resort in 1888; after fire destroyed the earlier hotel in 1901 he built a circular, fireproof hotel designed by Harrison Albright, crowned by a 200-foot free-span dome, at a cost of $414,000. It opened in September 1902, and from 1902 to 1913 its dome was the largest in the world. Ed Ballard closed it in June 1932, and in 1934 it passed to the Jesuits, who ran it as a seminary; Northwood Institute used it as a campus from 1968 to 1983. After a section collapsed in 1991 and it joined the National Trust’s endangered list, preservationists rescued it, and Indiana Landmarks holds a perpetual preservation easement.
The ghost story
Roadtrippers' feature 'Visiting the ghosts and Gilded Age glamour' says that while sister hotel French Lick Springs is often called one of the most haunted hotels in the U.S., West Baden 'has legends of its own.'
Source: roadtrippers.com
Good to know
- Pets welcome
- Address: West Baden Springs, IN 47469
Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.