Battle House Royale Hotel, Mobile Alabama

Date added: February 27, 2025

View of the front and north side of the hotel. Looking from the north east corner of Royal and St. Frances (1974)

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The Battle House Hotel is the fourth hotel to occupy this site and the second to be known as the Battle House. Designed by F. M. Andrews and Company of New York, it was one of the earliest buildings in the state to make use of steel framed construction.

The first hotel on the site was known as the Franklin House. The owner Daniel White moved his Inn from Cahaba to Mobile on flatboats after the severe flood in 1825 almost destroyed the state capitol. Next to the Franklin House, an inn known as the Alabama Hotel was constructed, but both hotels were destroyed by fire in 1829.

That same year a larger hotel, the Waverly, took their place and served until it too was destroyed by fire in 1850. In the fall of that year, James Battle, his brothers, and several other prominent Mobilians formed a company to build a hotel. Isaiah Rodgers, a noted Greek Revival architect, was hired to design the building, which opened in 1852 as the Battle House. The hotel was a popular establishment in the city attracting a large clientele until it burned in 1905.

In 1906 a company composed of a number of leading citizens was formed with D. R. Burgess as president, and raised $1,350,000 for the purpose of rebuilding the Battle House. The structure was completed in 1908. President Woodrow Wilson was entertained here in 1913 after announcing his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine to delegates to the Southern Commercial Congress.

The hotel continued to serve the distinguished visitors to Mobile until it was forced to close in the early 1970s for financial reasons.

Building Description

The Battle House is a seven story steel framed structure designed in the Georgian Revival style of the early 20^th Century. The building is U-shaped and measures 151 feet on the west and 166 feet on the north with the main entrance (western) fronting onto North Royal Street.

Window treatment, texture, and color divide the structure into three distinct units; the 1^st and 2^nd floors, the 3^rd - 6^th floors, and the 7^th floor. The western elevation is divided into three major bays, each of which consists of three bays. An a-b-a rhythm established in the major bays is repeated throughout the facade.

A central one story portico forms the main entrance of the building and is three bays wide with four sets of paired Tuscan columns supporting an entablature surmounted by a balustrade. Originally this story, like the one above was of light brown brick with every 9^th row recessed giving it a banded effect. The western elevation and approximately 1/3 of the northern elevation have been covered with black marble and large display windows cut into the wall.

The second floor is divided into three major bays composed of three windows each. The three central openings are deeply recessed with Tuscan columns in antis, and open onto the balustraded area above the portico.

Windows on either side of the central section are recessed and below each is a balustrade set flush with the outer plane of the wall. Windows are double hung, 8/8, with transoms above. Lentils have exaggerated keystones and end voussoirs. A heavy white entablature separates this section from the one above.

The 3^rd - 6^th stories are of red brick in Flemish bond with brown brick used at the corners to create the appearance of quoins. Windows of this section have lintels with accented keystones and white sills. The upper halves of the 2^nd and 8^th windows are flanked with small side lights which have brick sills beneath. The 4^th, 5^th and 6^th windows have similar side lights but each of these has a white lintel with an accented keystone.. The space below the sills is filled with red brick, stretchers only. A white sill extends across the bottom of the central windows and the two side windows holding the three together in a unit. On the third floor cast iron "balconies" extend across the 1^st and 3^rd windows together, the 4^th - 6^th windows individually, and the 7^th - 9^th windows together.

A heavy white string course separates the 6^th from the 7^th floor which is of light brown brick. A heavy overhanging cornice with egg and dart molding and heavy dentils cap the structure.

The northern elevation is similar to the western. Two main entrances with pilasters to either side and entablatures above are located in the central part of the 11 bay elevation. Windows on the 3^rd and 7^th floor have individual iron work balconies.

Although the interior has been renovated several times since the construction of the hotel, the outstanding domed lobby with its fine plaster molding, marble columns and art glass panels in the dome light, is basically unaltered.