Jerome

The hotel provides the public with little information about its history. Our team researches the hotel's past, from the very beginning, verifying its exact opening date and providing an overview of its history up to the present day.?If you have any useful information and would like to share it, please send it to archives@famoushotels.org.?Thank you This is what we know so far (attention: unverified history!): During the height of Colorado's silver boom, the Hotel Jerome was born out of the vision of one man -- Jerome B. Wheeler -- who built the Jerome to rival the Ritz in Paris in 1889. Built in the heart of downtown Aspen, the Hotel Jerome was designed to be a paragon for its day. 1882 Jerome B. Wheeler and his wife Harriet move from New York to Manitou Springs, Colorado. He is later enamored by the sight of Aspen Mountain and invests more than $6,000,000 in silver mines and other local ventures. 1888 Aspen soon becomes a mini-metropolis in the Rockies and it is deemed fitting that the city have a truly magnificent opera house and a grand hotel. By this time, Wheeler has built an imposing second home in Aspen and cheerfully agrees to finance both projects. 1889 The hotel is conceived by Messers Bixby and Phillips, Kansas innkeepers who proposed an establishment to rival the Ritz in Paris. Jerome Wheeler donates a prime parcel of land known as Jacob's Corner at the juncture of Mill and Main Streets and loaned Bixby and Phillips $60,000 for the project. Wheeler later takes over the entire project, which is completed at a total cost of $150,000 -- the equivalent of approximately $1,600,000 today. 1889 The exterior of the three-story hotel is constructed from rich red bricks and sandstone from nearby valley kilns and quarries. The interior is richly appointed with the decorating trends of the era, such as elaborate wall coverings and handmade Colorado tile. The Jerome boasts 90 guest rooms, 15 bathrooms, indoor plumbing, hot and cold running water and the first elevator west of the Mississippi. The building is also the first in the West to be lit by electricity. The Hotel Jerome's Grand Opening is held on the eve before Thanksgiving with electric lights glowing in every room. The grand opening ball and banquet is attended by nabobs from New York, beef barons from Chicago and even a few marquises from Europe. 1890-92 The Hotel Jerome becomes the heart of Aspen's booming silver camp. With the invention of the Pullman sleeping car, train travel was the new "rage" and the Hotel Jerome becomes the mecca for touring grande dames, eastern bigwigs, stars of the stage and opera, and congressional speakers. 1893 With the demonetization of silver and the subsequent "silver crash," Aspen's once prospering community meets with hard times. Hundreds of mines close down and thousands of people are made paupers overnight. Almost every business fails except those that are branches of large eastern concerns -- but some how Jerome Wheeler holds on. 1903 Jerome Wheeler declares bankruptcy, and he and his wife return to their home in Manitou Springs. 1909 After a valiant effort, Jerome Wheeler loses the Jerome to pay for back taxes. 1910 Mansor Elisha, a Syrian drummer who frequently stayed at the Jerome during sales trips, is hired on as a bartender and settles into the hotel to stay. 1911 Elisha first leases then buys the Jerome for the amount of the back taxes. 1918 Jerome Wheeler dies at his home in Manitou. 1932-45 All through the Great Depression and World War II years, the Jerome takes on the air of a large, old-fashioned boarding house. There are barely enough travelers and steady boarders to keep it going. Many of Aspen's eminent couples lived at the hotel for years, and for a time, room and board was only $10.00 a month and dinner could be had for only 50 cents. It is during this period, that the Jerome begins to show signs of neglect. 1943 During World War II, Walter Paepcke, President of the Container Corporation of America discovers Aspen while looking for the ideal setting in which to pursue his dream of an intellectual and physical utopia where overworked business leaders could revitalize body and soul. Paepcke leases the Jerome for the next 25 years, and although it has never ceased being the hub of communal life, it now witnesses a new kind of boom. In the ensuing years, the hotel is the site of the founding of the Aspen Institute, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the International Design Conference and the Aspen Ski Company. 1948 Although the Hotel Jerome is now a shabby oasis, Herbert Bayer, a member of Germany's renowned Bauhaus School of Design and Paepcke's artistic mentor, adds baths and installs furniture bought at the auction of Chicago's Palmer House. 1950s The early 1950s are pioneer days again in Aspen. Everyone works at multiple jobs, lives hand-to-mouth, and depends on the goodness of friends. Gradually the hotel turns into a secluded watering hole for a handful of screen stars, writers, and avant- artists including Gary Cooper, Lana Turner, Hedy LaMarr, and John "Duke" Wayne. 1956 The Hotel Jerome closes its doors after years of steady decline. 1968 The Jerome is bought by John Gilmore of Michigan. After having been closed for more than 12 years, the hotel's roof leaks, plumbing and power is faulty and the walls tremble. Gilmore tries and fails to interest investors in restoring the hotels. But he does pave the way for future restoration through years of lobbying at zoning board and city council hearings. 1984 The Jerome is sold to a group of major investors. Recognizing the historic hotel as an exceptional example of mine camp architecture, they resolve to restore the hotel to its former grandeur. 1985 On June 1 the first phase of the renovation begins. This includes retrofitting the building -- saving the facade while reinforcing the framework with hidden steel underpinnings. Workmen peel off layers of white paint to reveal the buildings exquisite terra cotta brick and sandstone masonry. Many small basement rooms are removed and the foundation is excavated by three feet. Wiring, plumbing, heating are brought up-to-date and interior walls are rebuilt, reinforced and replastered. Then the cosmetic touches began. Equal attention to detail is paid to the interior, all of which is lovingly restored in Eastlake-gothic period. Popular in the 1880s, Eastlake-gothic, or mine-camp Victorian as it is later called, is lively and colorful -- teeming with floral and geometric patterns, stripes, and tendrils, with etchings and Oriental flourishes. Under the direction of celebrated interior designer, Zoe Murphy Compton, the Victorian mine-camp flavor of the hotel is painstakingly restored. More than 150 antique light fixtures of brass, cast iron, cut silver and etched cranberry glass were restored. Original cast iron door hinges, ornate examples of Eastlake craftsmanship, are polished and put back to use. Bronze, ceramic and cut glass doorknobs have been restored to their original luster, as are the copper and brass fire extinguishers, door latches and striker plates. In addition to the restored original furnishings, the interior of the hotel is also augmented by the contents of the Herschel Bartlett Mansion, built in St. Louis, Missouri in 1891. When Missourians could not find a benefactor to maintain the fine old Victorian, its fireplaces, paneled transforms, cherry wood doors and other antiquities find a new home at the Jerome. Many of the wallpapers have been custom-made to recreate the finest Victorian Eastlake patterns found in museums. The famed Jerome Bar is the single hotel area that has been maintained in its original style for more than 100 years. 1995 Today the restored Jerome is a $30,000,000 museum piece whose smallest detail is an exquisite reflection of the whole. Upon entering the hotel, the broad sweep of the main lobby carries the eye to the great fireplace -- full relief-carved in oak, with a silver-dust mirror mantel. Its mate sits back-to-back in the Century Room dining area (formerly known as the Silver Queen) beyond. From the lobby's earthtones to the rich, jewel-toned guest rooms and suites, cheerful colors are abundant throughout the hotel. Broad arched hallways are carpeted in brilliant florals on black background. All 93 guestrooms are unique, containing period antiques, authentic wall-to-wall carpeting, down comforters and crocheted bed coverings. 1998 The Hotel Jerome, renown for its luxurious accommodations and exemplary service, is named one of the elite members of The Leading Hotels of the World, an exclusive organization comprised of the world’s top luxury hotels. In addition to being one of the small number of members in the nation, the elegant property further distinguishes itself by being the only member hotel in the state of Colorado, and the only ski resort property in North America. 1999 The James Beard Association nominates The Century Room’s Chef Slossberg as "Best Chef in the Southwest." The legendary J-Bar undergoes a month-long face-lift to bring the bar back to its original luster. Using historical photographs of the 111 year-old bar and hotel, former local antique store owners John and Ricki McHugh and designer Peter Kunz design the J-Bar renovations and oversee the project. The great J-Bar itself, which is the original maple bar that has been part of the hotel for the last 111 years, is gently restored to preserve its integrity and pay respect to the master craftsmen who originally hand carved it. 2000 Ski Magazine editors name the Hotel Jerome as one of "The 10 Best Ski Hotels." The legendary Hotel Jerome is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a charter member of the Historic Hotels of America program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. More than 100 years after its beginnings, the luxurious landmark hotel remains a stunning tribute to the elegance and charm of a bygone era and a testament to mine-camp splendor.