Ballroom - Battle House Hotel - Mobile, AL

"The first Battle House Hotel was opened by James Battle and his two half-nephews John and Samuel in 1852 on the site of a former military headquarters set up by Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. The Battle brothers' new hotel was a four-story brick building, with a two-story gallery of cast iron. The site had been home to two other hotels in the years between Andrew Jackson and the Battle brothers, the Franklin Hotel and the Waverly Hotel. Both of these earlier structures had burned. A particularly notable event for the hotel occurred when Stephen A. Douglas was a guest of the hotel the night that he lost the presidency to Abraham Lincoln.[3] The first Battle House also had such notable guests as Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, Millard Fillmore, and Winfield Scott.[2] A National Weather Service station was established at the Battle House in 1880 and electric lighting was added in 1884. Then, after more than 50 years in service, the hotel burned in 1905. After the fire, the proprietors hired Frank M. Andrews of New York City to design a new structure and it was built out of steel and concrete. The new hotel reopened for business in 1908. The hotel remained a prominent fixture of Mobile through the first and second World Wars. Woodrow Wilson stayed at the Battle House in 1913. It was while he was at the Battle House that he made his famous statement that "the U.S. would never again wage another war of aggression". The hotel was a Sheraton for many years until it closed its doors in 1974. They would remain closed for the next 30 years. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and continues to be listed as the Battle House Royale, because the vacant building had that name when it was listed in 1975. By 1980 it was the only building left completely intact in its city block. In 2003, Retirement Systems of Alabama began restoration of the hotel, along with the construction of an adjoining skyscraper, the RSA Battle House Tower. Both projects were completed in 2007." Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_House_Hotel" rel="noreferrer nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_House_Hotel</a>

Captured

Nov 13, 2011, 03:54 PM UTC

EXIF

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Lens: 11-16mm
Focal length: 11mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter: 1/40s
ISO: 200

Dimensions

5184 × 3456