Neil House

Neil House
File:Neil House, Columbus.jpg The third Neil House building c. 1970s
General information
Location	41 South High St., Columbus, Ohio
Coordinates
Opened	1842
Closed	1980
Demolished	1981
Technical details
Floor count	13 (3rd building)

The Neil House was a historic hotel on High Street in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The hotel operated on Capitol Square from 1842 to 1980.

Attributes

File:High Street looking south from Broad Street 01.png

The first hotel building, 1846

File:Second Neil House.jpg

The second hotel building, c. 1915

The hotel buildings were located on South High Street across from the Ohio Statehouse.

First building

The first hotel building had five stories and 334 rooms. It was made of brick and black walnut, all taken from William Neil's farm in Wyandot County, Ohio.

Second building

The second Neil House building had 168 rooms.

Third building

The third hotel building was the largest, with 657 rooms at 13 stories. It was built in the Beaux Arts architectural style. It featured a 13-panel mural by Rainey Bennett. This building was painted by folk artist William L. Hawkins, in Neil House with Chimney and Neil House with Chimney #2.

History

File:Columbus, downtown street scene 01.jpg

The third hotel from street level, 1965

File:Columbus aerial 1981a.jpg

The third hotel's demolition in 1981

There were three hotel buildings successively built on the site. William Neil built the hotels after arriving in the city in 1818, and having operated a tavern in the location from 1822 to 1839. Neil and his wife Hannah also became known for his stagecoach company, her mission for orphaned children, and their farm that became the Ohio State University campus around 1870.

The first hotel built on that site was completed in 1842 at a cost of about $100,000. It was destroyed in a fire, along with the neighboring Odeon Theater, on November 6, 1860. The loss was only partly insured ($10,000, with a structural loss of $150,000), but Neil proceeded to build a smaller hotel on the site by 1862. This second hotel became future president William McKinley's home as the Governor of Ohio from 1892 to 1896 (the McKinley Memorial stands where McKinley would stop and wave to his wife every morning). This second building was demolished in 1923 to make room for the larger third building. This third hotel opened in August 1925, in a celebration that included a dinner and dance for 770 investors and leading residents. It was a large building, twice as large as Columbus's second-largest hotel. The third hotel was designed by Cincinnati architect Gustave W. Drach. It closed in 1980 to make way for the Huntington Center.

The hotel was one of few sites listed in The Green Book in Columbus.

External links

• Emporis page (archive)