Providence Biltmore

Providence Biltmore

The Providence Biltmore Hotel is an upscale hotel that opened in 1922 as part of the Biltmore Hotel chain. It was founded by John McEntee Bowman and Louis Wallick, and is currently owned by Finard Coventry Hotels who bought the hotel out of receivership in May of 2012. The company is planning a complete renovation of the hotel. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Built in the neo-Federal Beaux-arts style and designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore (who also designed Grand Central Station), the Biltmore 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.

In 1954, when Providence was inundated by Hurricane Carol, much of the lobby of the Biltmore was underwater, and a plaque, eight feet up on lobby columns, commemorates the high water mark today.

In 1975 the Biltmore closed and remained out of use until a group of local businesses implemented Federal tax credits to rehabilitate the building, reopening it in 1979. The Biltmore's external glass elevator which climbs all 18 floors of the hotel was added for the 1979 re-opening.

The hotel was originally built with 600 rooms. Later, walls were knocked down and suites were created. The hotel offers 292 guestrooms. The hotel currently contains the largest Starbucks in New England, McCormick & Schmicks Restaurant, and the Spa at the Providence Biltmore.

The hotel contains banquet space of over 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2). With a Grand Ballroom on the rooftop level, offering views of the city, that can hold up to 750, it contains space for functions such as wedding receptions or conferences.

For 71 years (until the Westin Hotel was completed in 1993), it was the tallest and largest hotel in Providence, Rhode Island.