The Providence Biltmore was constructed by the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain, founded by John McEntee Bowman and Louis Wallick. It was built in the neo-Federal Beaux-arts style and designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal. The hotel opened on June 6, 1922, and was the second-tallest building in the city after the Rhode Island State House, until the Industrial Trust Tower was finished six years later. Today, the Biltmore is the 9th-tallest building in the city. The Biltmore was bought by Sheraton Hotels in 1947 and renamed the Sheraton-Biltmore Hotel. Providence was flooded by Hurricane Carol in 1954, and much of the lobby of the Sheraton-Biltmore was underwater; a plaque commemorates the high water mark today, eight feet up on lobby columns. Sheraton sold the hotel, along with seventeen other aging properties, to Gotham Hotels in 1968 and it became the Biltmore Hotel & Motor Inn.
Restoration
In 1975, Gotham Hotels closed the Biltmore. It remained vacant for four years. At one point, with the hotel facing demolition; Mayor Buddy Cianci helped with efforts to designate the hotel a landmark and assembled a group of local businessmen, including Bruce Sundlun of the Outlet Company, Michael Metcalf of The Providence Journal, G. William Miller of Textron, and Jim Winoker and Dominic Zinni of B.B. Greenberg Company, who purchased the hotel and implemented Federal tax credits to rehabilitate the building, reopening it in 1979 as the Biltmore Plaza Hotel. The Biltmore's external glass elevator was added during this rehabilitation, and served all 18 floors of the hotel. In 1983, the owners retained Dunfey Hotels to manage the property, and it was renamed Biltmore Plaza, A Dunfey Hotel. Soon after, Dunfey's owner, Aer Lingus, purchased the Omni Hotels chain, and the hotel was renamed the Omni Biltmore Hotel. By the 1990s, the Omni Biltmore was fully owned by The Providence Journal. They sold the hotel to the Grand Heritage Hotels chain in July 1995 for $7 million, and it was renamed the Providence Biltmore. The hotel was sold out of receivership on May 31, 2012 to Finard Coventry Hotel Management, for $16 million. Finard Coventry invested a further $10 million in renovations, and the hotel joined Curio - A Collection by Hilton, on December 16, 2014.
Graduate Providence
In October 2017, the Biltmore was sold to AJ Capital Partners, a Chicago-based hotel and real estate firm, for $43.6 million. The hotel was renovated and renamed Graduate Providence on April 2, 2019, as part of AJ Capital's boutique chain of "Graduate" hotels, in college towns across the United States. The new owners have retained the hotel's iconic neon "Biltmore" sign.
Description
The hotel was originally built with 600 rooms; later, walls were knocked down and suites were created. It now offers 292 guest rooms. The hotel contains banquet space of over. The rooftop level Grand Ballroom offers expansive views of the city and Kennedy Plaza and can hold up to 750 guests; its event space is designed for functions such as wedding receptions, banquet service, and conferences. It was the tallest and largest hotel in Providence for 71 years, until The Westin Providence was completed in 1993. the hotel was home to the largest Starbucks in New England from 2003-2019.
The Providence Biltmore features prominently in the 2004 Jeff Nathanson film The Last Shot, and the 2007 Anne Fletcher film 27 Dresses. Showtime episodes of Brotherhood from 2004 to 2007 were also shot here.
