Grove Park Inn | Asheville, North Carolina, USA

[hauntedheadnc]

Here's the Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, located in Asheville, North Carolina, an historic resort city in the mountains of the western part of the state.

Front entrance:



The brainchild of a St. Louis patent medicine magnate, the Grove Park Inn was built without benefit of an architect, and was completed in July of 1913. It sits on the slopes of Sunset Mountain, overlooking downtown Asheville, a few miles to the south. The boulders that make up the exterior walls of the historic Main Inn were hewn from the sides of Sunset Mountain, and hauled to the construction site by wagon.

The terrace:



Note the distinctive tile roof. In the building's history, it has only needed to be replaced once. Over the years, the Inn has expanded to massive size, and now boasts more than 500 rooms. Two large modern wings complement the central historic Main Inn.

The Inn in full on its mountainside, from the golf course:



Recently, after decades as an elegant resort with numerous restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and numerous sporting activities such as golf and tennis, the Inn added a world-class 40,000 square foot spa designed to look like a mountain grotto, and to blend very well with the architecture of the original Inn. The spa was actually built into the ground beneath the Main Inn like a cave, and has been rated among the best in the world.

The spa's lower entrance at night, with the Main Inn looming above:



An interior shot. Note the archways:



A smaller interior view, showing one of the pools:



The Inn has hosted numerous presidents and visiting foreign dignitaries along with movie stars, industrialists such as Henry Ford, and other famous names like Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, Thomas Edison, F. Scott Fitzgerald and dozens of others.

The Grove Park Inn is home to the world's largest collection of authentic Arts-and-Crafts style antiques, notably pieces by Gustav Stickley -- Arts-and-Crafts is a style that was very popular in the 1930's.

Some of those antiques, notably the leather chairs and stained-glass lamps, can be seen in this shot of the third floor Palm Court:



Another of the Inn's claims to fame is that it is haunted. Probably home to several ghosts, the most noteworthy among the crowd is a phantom known as the Pink Lady, who makes her prescence known through poltergeist activity that includes crawling into bed with unsuspecting sleepers who awake to find no one there. She's been known to tickle, pinch, and even hug guests, and according to letters received by the hotel from former guests, the Pink Lady is especially fond of pestering police officers, and of having long conversations with small children. She's been seen all over the hotel, from the basement to the roof, and she's even been spotted strolling on the golf course with a ghost in a lavender gown. She is thought to be the ghost of a hotel guest who either fell or was pushed to her death from the fifth floor balcony outside Room 545, landing on the third floor Palm Court.

Here's the view from outside Room 545:



And another view of the Palm Court itself:



One of the Inn's most famous features is its gargantuan lobby, which is two stories tall, and features sparkling geodes set into its walls, as well as a pair of fireplaces that are each 12 feet long, with chimneys so large that they also can accommodate the elevator shafts. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the lobby, but if I can find some, I'll post them. In the meantime, enjoy...

...this view of the gardens recently planted atop the roof of the spa:





...and the golf course, with downtown Asheville in the distance:

[hauntedheadnc]

Lots of buildings are being rated today, and this post dropped out of sight fast! So, here's a bump to get this wonderful building back into the public eye.

[Fabio]

7.5/10

interesting building

[DamienK]

7/10

[Ellatur]

8.5/10

[Wicky]

8,5/10 and thanks for extensive information.

[Arpels]

8,5/10

[Phobos]

7/10

[hauntedheadnc]

I think I'll give this thread a bump.

[forvine]

7/10

[Sinjin P.]

7.5/10

[Mosaic]

8/10

[marpa]

6,5/10

[delmaule]

7.5/10

[gutooo]

7.5/10

[shctaw]

8.5/10

[Dreamlıneя]

7/10

[_zner_]

9.5 cozy!

[Kelsen]

7.5/10.

[Astralis]

6.5/10