This Small Town Hotel in SC closed in 1976

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By 1912 business and civic leaders in Hartsville were united in seeing the need for a large, modern hotel. The town was growing at a fast pace, its population expanding from 342 in 1890 to 2,365 in 1910. The first railroad line into Hartsville was opened in 1889, spurring the commercial development that was just beginning. The Hartsville Messenger reported that by early 1912 Hartsville had a novelty factory, a paper factory, a furniture factory, a cotton factory, a fertilizer factory, a cotton oil mill, two building supply houses, and more than forty stores.

In July 1913 the Messenger reported, "Last summer or early fall, Mr. A. L. Abbott, the wide-awake then secretary of the Hartsville Commercial Club, saw the need. Others saw the need, Local Capitalists saw and felt the need." A meeting was called, and after discussion, it was unanimously decided that a hotel would be built. A charter for a Hartsville Arcade Hotel Company, capitalized at $40,000, was applied for in May of 1912 and granted in August.

A 100 foot by 150 foot lot at the corner of College and Fifth Streets was transferred to the Hartsville Arcade Hotel Company by the Hartsville Hotel Company in exchange for stock. J.J. Lawton was the president of the Hartsville Hotel Company, and various Cokers and Coker businesses were stockholders in both companies. The Coker family had played a major role in the commercial and industrial development of Hartsville.

The Messenger listed the architect for the new building as a "Mr. Richards" and said that he had taken stock in the hotel. Stock records for the company show that Ernest V. Richards purchased five shares of stock on June 23^rd, 1912.

Richards (1859-1915) was born and educated in Oxford, England, and emigrated to the United States in 1880. He was active in the design and manufacture of stained glass in this country. In the 1890s he arrived in Bennettsville, South Carolina, where he devoted his time to residential work for wealthy planters in the area. In 1915 he moved to Galveston, Texas, where he died.

Work was begun on the building on New Year's Day, 1913. The contractor was J. M. Lawton of Abbeville, a former Hartsville resident. The superintendent was A. E. Abbott, also of Abbeville.

The work went quickly, closely monitored by the Messenger. By March 13^th, the hotel was up through, the first floor. By April 17^th, it was ready for the roofing contractor. By May 1^st the plasterers were at work and by June 5^th the second and third floors were complete. On June 12^th, the Messenger reported that, "The wainscoting, the beautiful ceiling in the lobby, the stately approaches, the covered entrance, each and all are inviting."

The completed hotel was opened to the public at an evening celebration on August 6^th, 1913. The proprietor for the new establishment was W. Harold McFall. His niece, Miss Edith McFall, christened the hearth by breaking over it a bottle about which, the Messenger reported, "…the contents, of what nature we know not…"

The Arcade Hotel Company operated the hotel until 1953, when the property was sold to the Hartsville Broadcasting Company. The hotel company relinquished its charter the same year. Under its new ownership, the hotel continued to operate until 1976, when it closed except for the ground floor shops. It was reopened in 1983 by Thomas and Doris Nance, who made repairs to the interior while they were leasing the building and who later purchased it. The hotel was then acquired by O.K. Associates, a developer with plans to rehabilitate the building for residential and commercial uses.

Building Description

The Arcade Hotel is a three-story, brick, L-plan building with a one-story rear wing. The hotel/commercial building sits on a rectangular lot at the northwest corner of Fifth Street and College Avenue in Hartsville. Designed by Ernest V. Richards, it was constructed in 1913 by J. M. Lawton for the Hartsville Arcade Hotel Company.

Dominating the Fifth Street (northeast) elevation is a rusticated first floor, which contains three shops and an entrance portico. The two shops on the northeast corner of the building consist of two bays each, one devoted to a display window, the other to an entrance door and display window. All four bays have transoms, but the central, entrance bay transoms are lower.

At the southeast corner of the building, the shop has two bays on the Fifth Street elevation and one on the College Avenue (southeast) elevation. All three bays have leaded prism glass transoms. The corner bay on Fifth Street contains a pair of glazed doors, the other two contain display windows. Historic photographs indicate that the corner two bays were originally open below the transom level, providing free access to the "arcade," from which the hotel took its name. Apparently, there were one or more shops which were entered from this arcade.

The entrance portico has two paneled brick pillars on concrete bases and with corbelled caps of brick. These are matched by pilasters against the ( wall. Stuccoed brick stepped parapets arch between the pillars and support the built-up roof. Beneath this portico the Fifth Street entrance has a pair of original glazed doors under a leaded, stained glass transom.

The upper two floors on the Fifth Street elevation have a symmetrical arrangement of alternating single and double windows. Individual windows are double-hung, one-over-one wood sash with molded wood frames. A slightly projecting band of stretcher brick frames each window or pair of windows. Projecting sailor brick courses also divide the three floors, and a corbelled brick course divides the third level from the parapet.

Both street elevations have stepped parapets with corbelled pinnacles. The Fifth Street parapet contains a cast-concrete plaque inscribed "Arcade Hotel," while the College Avenue parapet has a plain, brick panel.

At the eastern half of the College Avenue elevation is a five-bay, one-story, hip-roofed pavilion. The bays are defined by paneled brick pillars with concrete capitals and pedestals. The westernmost two bays are open, and a brick-paved areaway leads to the original main entrance, now consisting of a modern aluminum door with sidelights. The other three bays are partially enclosed with brick, except for openings enclosed with plywood panels or glazing. This area was originally the hotel's raised veranda, and the openings were filled with screens, not sash. A street entrance door at the east end of the veranda is an original feature, but the steps up to it from grade level have been altered.

The remainder of the College Avenue first floor elevation is rusticated. There are three additional entrance doors, the two easternmost of which have Craftsman Style hoods added later.

The upper two levels of the College Avenue elevation consist of thirteen window bays, seven arranged symmetrically over the main entrance, one accenting the southeast corner, and five grouped in a block at the southwest corner. The brickwork is detailed like that of the Fifth Street elevation and windows are also double-hung, one-over-one wood sash.

Facing the driveway at the northwest end of the building is a three-story, three-bay end elevation and a one-story, four bay kitchen wing. The three-story section is detailed like the two street elevations, but has an added fire escape. The rear, one-story kitchen wing is very simply detailed, with only a projecting concrete coping over common bond masonry.

The rear elevations, which form the interior of the L, are also plain, common bond brickwork, punctured by one-over-one, double-hung sash windows. Except for a narrow strip of grass with one tree, the rear portion of the lot is a paved courtyard. A frame structure, covered with asphalt brick sheathing, shelters the basement stairs.

The northeast alley elevation of the building is detailed like the northwest alley elevation but has two doors. It, too, has a steel fire escape.

The original exposed brick of the building was painted at least as early as ca. 1935.

In the interior, the first floor consists of a large lobby with stairs, a dining room, a long corridor to the Fifth Street entrance, and various subsidiary rooms. The lobby, dining room and corridor are finished alike, with a high, vertically-paneled wainscot and a boxed crown molding supported by small brackets. The lobby and dining room are divided by a grid of short, panelled pillars on high, paneled bases, which support paneled ceiling beams with bracketted crown moldings. In the dining room, at the west end of the first floor, the free-standing columns have been replaced by unornamented columns of smaller diameter. A number of three-armed, early twentieth century brass ceiling fixtures have survived in the lobby and dining room.

Two focal points of the lobby are the fireplace and the stair. The fireplace is located directly in line with the College Avenue entrance. Its broad, low face is ornamented with patterned brickwork in iron-flecked brown brick and it has a projecting wood mantel shelf. The chimney breast was originally exposed, patterned brickwork, but has been partially covered over with sheetrock. Flanking the fireplace and forming an inglenook are Mission Style benches.

An open stair rises in a corner of the lobby next to the registration counter. It has heavy, square newel posts with molded caps and railings with closely-spaced turned balusters. There are intermediate landings between each flight.

On the other side of the registration desk is a small room entered through a pair of five-paneled sliding doors.

The upper two floors have long, L-shaped corridors interrupted by the central, open stair. Doors to the rooms line these corridors, the entrances having standard Classical Revival surrounds with high transoms and five-panel doors. Many of the entrances have louvered doors in addition to the solid ones. A secondary stair at the rear of the long leg of the hall runs from the upper floors to an entrance in the kitchen wing.

The rooms themselves are very simply finished, with Classical Revival window and door surrounds and five-panel doors. The bathrooms, in the rooms which have them, are very spartan, consisting of the fixtures and untiled plaster walls. The shower stalls are finished with cement plaster.