OLDEST - Hotel in East Texas - Jefferson, TX - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

Constructed in 1858 and listed in the US National Register of Historic Places, the Classical Revival "Excelsior House" hotel in downtown Jefferson, Texas is a mid-19th-century roadside inn which has been in continuous operation since its opening. It was built by Captain William Perry, one of the town's first settlers and commercial developers (and ultimately the city's Mayor). With 19 guest rooms and boasting several original furniture, it was recognized by the Texas Historical Commission as the oldest hotel in East Texas. Several famous people have lodged at this site, including two past US presidents.

Its official historical marker reads:

"Excelsior House

Oldest hotel in East Texas. Frame part built in 1850s; brick wing added 1864. Among famous guests during river port days of Jefferson were Presidents Grant and Hayes, and poet Oscar Wilde.

Restored 1961-63 by Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966"

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Per its original 1969 National Register nomination form: (visit link)

"The scene of much of the past of Jefferson, Texas is closely associated with the Excelsior Hotel, which began operations in the 1850's. During Jefferson's more prosperous days many famous people stopped there. Among them were two presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes; financiers John Jacob Astor, Jay Gould, and W. E. Vanderbilt; and playwright Oscar Wilde. The hotel has remained in continous operation since it first opened which makes it one of the oldest establishments of its kind to still be in business. It has been restored and now serves as a hotel and museum run by the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club who presently owned the building, in 1966 it was designated a historic landmark by the Texas State Historical Survey Committee.

The northeast wing of the Excelsior Hotel, which was constructed around l858, is in the Classical Revival style. It is similar to many mid-century road-side inns built in other sections of the country. The two-story frame section is thirty-four feet wide and seventy-one feet wide. The walls are seven inches thick. On the northeast (rear) elevation there is a roofed balcony with a wood railing which extends the full length of the building. When the front door to the original hotel was replaced in 1954, it was moved approximately ten feet to the southwest. The doorway opening onto the garden appears to be original. The doors, which appear to date from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, are double with four panels below and two panels above a large panel of glass. The original wood windows were double-hung with six-over-six lights. A solarium was created in 1954 by glazing between the columns under the north corner of the balcony. The glass is all fixed-pane consisting of three-over-four lights and six-over-four lights . The hipped roof has a standing-seam, sheet-metal covering and a twelve inch overhang. The construction of the cornice is simple, consisting of a plain frieze, facia, and beveled crown-molding. The first floor of this original building has a central corridor with guest rooms off a rear corridor. Walls and ceilings are plastered throughout this section of the building. Every room has a wainscoting which varies in height and design.

The southwest wing was added in 1872, This two-story brick section is approximately thirty feet by one-hundred feet. The walls are eighteen inches thick. A three-and-a-half foot high parapet wall screens the hipped roof. There are two-panel French doors in rectangular openings. There are four openings across the Austin Street facade of the brick section of the hotel. On the second floor of this elevation there is a central doorway with a single door, sidelights, a transom, and one window on each side of the door. The door opens onto the upper deck of the porch with cast-iron posts and balistrade which extends across the Austin Street elevation of both the 1858 and 1872 buildings.

The ground floor contains a lobby, museum, ballroom, and dining room. The second floor has a central hall on either side of which are guest rooms. There were apparently nineteen guest rooms when the building was constructed. Each chamber was approximately nine feet by ten feet with a small fireplace, the hearth of which was one-and-three-fourths fee twide by two feet high. There were nineteen chimneys for these fireplaces. On the first floor of this section, the walls are plastered except in the ballroom where the walls are finished with stamped-metal paneling. There is a wood wainscoting in all the first floor rooms. The original walls on the second floor were one inch by thirteen inch boards installed vertically with one inch by three inch battens.

The courtyard, or garden, created by the ell arrangement of the buildings was landscaped in 1954; this included brick paving and a fountain. The fountain, probably nineteenth century, is a cast-iron piece of garden sculpture with female figures around the base and a large basin above."

FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location Date of FIRST: 01/01/1858 More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/07/2022 WalksfarTX visited it 09/12/2021 The Snowdog visited it 07/08/2017 Raven visited it

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